How to use ChatGPT to generate effective email responses

Artificial intelligence is taking the world by storm right now. From students and freelancers to entrepreneurs and business owners, it seems everyone's trying out and using the sensational ChatGPT to ease their workload. And of course, artificial intelligence is changing email management as well.

Research shows that the average professional gets around 121 emails every day. But, let's face it, many of these messages don't require detailed responses. This is where AI email replies enter the picture.

Since you're reading this blog post, it's safe to assume that you already know that ChatGPT is a powerful virtual assistant and AI email reply generator. But how does ChatGPT actually work and how can you use it to write effective email responses? Read on to find out.

First things first: What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a state-of-the-art language model developed by OpenAI. It interacts in a conversational way and can answer follow-up questions, challenge incorrect premises, and even decline inappropriate requests.

To be able to use ChatGPT, you must create an account using your email address (I used my Gmail address) and phone number. You might, however, not be able to access the AI language model whenever you want due to the incredibly high demand it's experiencing right now.

The good news is that ChatGPT is completely free at the moment, which gives you the chance to familiarize yourself with the software and decide whether it's a smart investment for you. Yes, that's right - ChatGPT may not stay free forever.

How does ChatGPT work?

ChatGPT uses machine learning algorithms to analyze text data and learn how words and phrases relate. It also makes use of natural language processing techniques to understand human language and generate human-like text based on the input it receives.

This enables ChatGPT to go through emails, discover intent, and quickly generate a smart reply to each based on the context and writing style.

How to write effective email replies with ChatGPT

Using ChatGPT to generate effective replies to emails can be challenging and a bit time-consuming. To help you get the hang of it and save time, we put together an easy-to-follow step-by-step guide.

Step #1: Ask ChatGPT to generate an email reply and brief it with the message you want to respond to

Start the conversation by asking ChatGPT to compose a reply for the email of your choice. Then, copy and paste the message into the chat.

Here's my example email (it's one I didn't have the bandwidth for but also didn't want to ignore):

And here's the smart reply ChatGPT generated:

Not bad at all! However, ChatGPT assumed I wanted to give a positive reply, which wasn't the case. This leads us to the second step...

Step #2: Ask ChatGPT to adjust the content and tone of the email response

As I mentioned above, I didn't want to continue the conversation but didn't want to ignore it either. So, my next instruction for the AI tool was to write a new draft in which I politely decline the collaboration offer.

Here's the result:

The explanation ChatGPT came up with is valid as nowadays most companies, including Mailbutler, take their brand identity seriously.

Step #3: Instruct ChatGPT to make the email response shorter/longer

Finally, I wanted to shorten the email so I sound more determined. That's exactly what my next instruction was about:

This, of course, doesn't have to be the email I actually send. I can edit the draft a bit, change the closing sentence, and then hit send.

4 tips for getting the most out of ChatGPT's email reply writing capabilities

• Provide clear and specific inputs. ChatGPT generates quality message replies when provided with clear and to-the-point prompts, so make sure that's exactly what you do. Copying and pasting the email you want to respond to is the easiest and quickest way to do it. To save time, you might also want to specify the word count and tone of the reply.
• Reply directly in the chat to fine-tune the results. If your first attempt doesn't get the response you have in mind, you can instruct ChatGPT to make specific changes by replying in the conversation. For example, you can ask the tool to make the email response friendlier/less formal, replace the sign-off with the one you normally use, add a CTA placeholder, etc.
• Talk to it the way you would talk to another human. Remember - ChatGPT uses machine learning and natural language processing techniques to understand your messages, follow your instructions, and answer your questions. This means you don't have to use technical terms to get the AI email response generator to reply to emails. However, you also need to...
• Be aware of its limitations. Although game-changing and incredibly useful, ChatGPT has its limitations. For example, the computer program has trouble understanding idioms and is often too wordy. On top of this, ChatGPT can sometimes generate incorrect/irrelevant results. This is why you should always review the responses ChatGPT provides you with.

ChatGPT email reply writing pros and cons

Pros

• Unique email responses. ChatGPT generates one-of-a-kind email replies and adds placeholders so you can personalize your messages.
• No grammar or spelling mistakes. ChatGPT is a fantastic option for people who aren't confident in their English skills, as it doesn't make grammar or spelling mistakes.
• No blank page syndrome. ChatGPT is never stuck for words - it always generates decent email replies.
• Time-saving. More often than not, ChatGPT composes quality email replies in just a few seconds. You might, however, need to wait a few minutes if it's being used by an extremely large number of people at the same time.

Cons

• Too formal. ChatGPT's smart email replies often sound too formal, meaning you might need to do some fine-tuning to get to a result you like.
• A little fiddly. You have to copy and paste the email replies ChatGPT generates from the browser to your inbox, which can be annoying and inconvenient, especially if you want to use the tool to respond to multiple incoming emails on a daily basis.
• Might not stay free forever. ChatGPT is currently completely free. However, OpenAI, the company behind the AI tool, recently introduced ChatGPT Plus - a new paid subscription plan that gives you reliable access to ChatGPT, even during peak times, and provides you with responses much faster. So, even if ChatGPT remains free forever, its non-paying users will have limited access.

Mailbutler's AI-powered email assistant

Mailbutler is transforming into an even more powerful digital email assistant. To help our members spend less time managing their messages and focus on their clients and growth, our product and development team is working round the clock to bring the power of ChatGPT directly to their inboxes so they don't have to switch between different browser tabs or apps to use it.

Power of ChatGPT in your Inbox

Install Mailbutler and access ChatGPT without leaving your inbox.

Try for Free Learn More

The Mailbutler ChatGPT-based email assistant will be able to take mundane email inbox management activities off your hands by:

• Composing full emails
• Writing relevant email replies
• Summarizing messages
• Improving the spelling and grammar of your emails
• And creating tasks and contacts from emails

Want to test-drive Mailbutler's AI-powered email assistant?

We are now offering full access to our new Smart Assistant feature. You can try it for 14 days free.

Ethical considerations of AI in email communication

When using AI tools like ChatGPT for emails, it's essential to be mindful of a few ethical concerns:

Bias Issues: ChatGPT learns from many sources, some biased. This can lead to outputs that might show unintended biases or even share incorrect details. Always double-check the information it gives.

Privacy Matters: ChatGPT stores conversations to train future versions. Avoid sharing personal or false details, as these might appear in future outputs.

Academic Integrity: In school settings, using ChatGPT might lead to cheating, whether you mean to or not. This includes presenting AI-created content as your own or tweaking copied content. Universities frown upon this.

Copyright Concerns: ChatGPT's knowledge comes from various sources, some copyrighted. It might unknowingly reproduce such content.

Being aware of these points ensures you use ChatGPT and similar tools responsibly in emails.

Security and privacy in AI email tools

The integration of AI tools like ChatGPT in email platforms raises valid concerns about data security and user privacy.

Data Encryption: Ensuring that the email content processed by AI tools is encrypted can prevent potential data breaches and unauthorized access. Modern encryption standards, such as AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) or RSA (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman), can be employed. These ensure that even if data is intercepted during transmission or at rest, it remains indecipherable to unauthorized entities.

User Consent: Before using AI tools for email responses, platforms should obtain explicit user consent, ensuring they're aware their data will be processed by an AI model.

Regular Updates: As AI tools evolve and their functionalities expand, platforms should revisit and, if necessary, renew user consent, ensuring continuous alignment with user preferences and awareness.

FAQs

What is the use of ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a revolutionary language model that can be used for:

• Generating text, including emails, email replies, blog posts, ad copy, resignation letters, tweets, recipe ideas, etc.
• Translating text
• Summarizing text
• Answering questions
• Writing HTML code
• Debugging code
• And multiple other purposes

Can ChatGPT write emails?

Yes, ChatGPT can compose new emails. All you need to do is provide the tool with a short prompt, explaining what the email message should be about. To get to a version of the new email you're 100% satisfied with, you'll need to provide quite a lot of feedback, though. Luckily, a few email writing sessions with ChatGPT are more than enough to figure out how to get to the final result faster.

How does AI help with email communication?

Artificial intelligence helps make email communication more efficient and effective by:

• Writing better subject lines
• Optimizing email send times
• Segmenting email lists
• Flagging emails that require a reply
• Flagging dangerous emails
• Composing and replying to emails
• And performing numerous other activities

Can AI reply to emails?

Yes, it can. There are many AI-powered apps that write replies to emails. These tools use machine learning and natural language processing to read and understand incoming emails and generate replies.

Summary

ChatGPT has been one of the hottest topics among students, freelancers, and business owners for several months now. Lots of professionals have found great ways to incorporate the AI tool into their daily workflows. This includes responding to emails as well.

Although it has a few drawbacks, ChatGPT can provide great assistance in replying to "regular" emails such as meeting requests, collaboration offers, refund-related questions, etc.

However, if you need to respond to an important email that calls for attention to detail and human finesse, then you might be better off doing it yourself.