You know you should be working on your automation—but you’re struggling with what to say. Good news: AI tools can help. Great news: you don’t have to be techy or ‘creative’ to use them well.

5 Things to Do When Using AI to Write Your Emails

Give context, not commands

Instead of: “Write me an email”

Try: “Write a short, casual reminder email for guests who booked our kayak tour and might need water shoes. Explain that we have some to purchase in the store, but if they already have them, they should bring them.

Mention it’s going to be hot, and that they should bring water but adult beverages are not allowed on the water. Tell them it’s not us; it’s the city law.”

Use your actual voice

Paste in a previous email you do like and tell AI: “Match this tone.”

It could be something you wrote months ago that actually felt like you—friendly, clear, no fluff. It doesn’t even need to align with your business; you’re just setting the tone.

This helps AI avoid the corporate-speak default and gets you something that sounds more like a human (because it started with one).

Start rough

Even if the prompt is messy (“I need something to follow up with people who downloaded my local guide”), AI will give you a jumping-off point. Edit from there.

Don’t worry about being precise—just describe the situation like you would to a coworker.

You can always refine it later or ask, “Can you make this sound more like me?” once you see what it gives you.

Break it into pieces

AI works best when you feed it one step at a time. Asking it to write a full, polished email in one shot is like handing a 16 year old the keys and saying, “Drive us to dinner.” You’ll probably get there—but not without a few wrong turns and a lot of backseat editing.

Better to guide it slowly. Take it step by step. A couple sentences at a time, then edit. Then move to the next piece. You’re building something together, brick by brick.

Get help rewording, not just writing

AI is great for saying something you’re struggling to phrase. Drop in your rough draft and ask, “Can you make this feel more friendly/casual/clear?”

One of the best ways to use it? Just brain-dump everything you want to say—messy, unfiltered, run-on sentences, all of it—and then ask AI to organize it. Once you’ve got it in a cleaner shape, you can take each part and work from there. It’s surprisingly good at turning broken ideas into something cohesive you can actually use.

5 Things Not to Do When Writing Emails with AI

Don’t accept the first version it gives you

Think of it like chatting with a junior assistant—not a mind reader. Tweak it, push back, ask for a redo. You’re the boss here.

It might miss the tone, skip a detail, or over-explain something that doesn’t need it—and that’s okay. Just give it clearer instructions and try again. The more you guide it, the better the result.

Don’t forget your reader is human

If it sounds like a formal business email? Scrap it. Ask for something warmer, shorter, or “like a tour guide is writing it.” Aim for helpful, not stiff.

Instead of saying “We are reaching out to inform you…” try “Just a quick heads-up…” or “Wanted to let you know…”

Swap out “experience our premier offerings” for “check out our most-loved tours.”

Use contractions (“you’ll” instead of “you will”), casual phrasing, and real-life words your guests would actually say. Think: “grab,” “hop on,” “worth it,” “heads-up,” “before you go.” Those little tweaks make a big difference.

Don’t let AI guess your business.

Instead of saying “Write a reminder email,” try “Write a reminder email for a ghost tour in Savannah—people usually forget where to park, and it starts right at sunset.”

You know your guests better than any machine ever will. Feed AI the details you’d give a new employee on their first day—what to highlight, what to avoid, and what makes people say “That was the best part of our trip.”

Pro Tip: Ask AI what it needs to know to write better content for your business. Then spend a little time answering those questions—things like tour types, guest demographics, location quirks, common questions, and your brand voice.

Save those answers in a doc and reuse it. Every time you use AI, upload that doc first so it knows who it’s writing for. (If you’re using a personal GPT, you can even set that doc as your default knowledge file.) A few minutes of prep = way better results.

Don’t skip the sensory stuff

AI doesn’t know how your tour feels. It’s never zipped through the trees, felt the mist from the falls, or seen the look on someone’s face when they reel in their first big catch.

That’s your edge. Add those sensory and emotional details yourself—because that’s what makes your email sound like you, not like every other business using AI out of the box.

Don’t skip the test-send

Always give yourself 24 hours, and send yourself a test before it goes live. If it doesn’t sound like something you’d actually say? Rewrite it. Or ask AI to try again—this time with your voice in mind.

Reading it out loud is a great gut check. If you’d cringe saying it to a guest face-to-face, it’s not ready to send.

Build Your Own AI Cheat Sheet

Before you ask AI to write anything, give it something to work with. Spend 15-30 minutes filling out the answers to these questions, then save it in a doc you can upload anytime you write with AI.

You only have to do this once—and it makes everything faster (and way more accurate) going forward.

🧭 Tour Info

  • What kind of tours do you offer? (Include names, types, length, audience)
  • What makes your tours different or better?
  • What’s something your guides do that guests always mention or love?
  • What location-specific details matter (e.g., weather, terrain, views)?
  • What kinds of upgrades or add-ons do you offer?

🧍 Your Ideal Guests (Create 2–4 Types)

For each type, describe:

  • Approximate age
  • Gender identity (if relevant)
  • Solo traveler, couple, family, group?
  • Where they live (local, suburban, out-of-town, international?)
  • Household income (if you know it)
  • Any shared interests or values? (e.g. sustainability, fun over frills, fitness, family time)
  • What kind of experiences are they drawn to?
  • How do they usually find you?
  • What’s their vibe? (adventurous, laid back, social, curious, introverted, etc.)
  • How do they make travel decisions—what drives them?
  • What are their hobbies or interests?
  • What do they dream of doing or achieving?
  • What do they dislike or avoid?

💥 Pain Points + Hesitations

  • What do potential guests worry about before booking?
  • What questions do they ask repeatedly?
  • What objections come up during booking?
  • What gets in the way of them choosing your tour over others?
  • Do they book early or last-minute? Why?
  • Any differences in mindset between the person booking and the people attending?

💡 How Your Tour (or Business) Helps

  • What problems do your tour solve? (Think: boredom, stress, disconnection, decision fatigue)
  • What transformation or feeling do guests leave with?
  • How do you make the experience easy or memorable?
  • What do guests say in reviews that shows what made a difference?
  • What kind of people do you love working with—and why?

🗣️ Brand Voice + Tone

  • If your company had a personality, what would it be like?
  • What words do you love using with guests? (e.g., “laid back,” “epic,” “no stress,” “just show up”)
  • What phrases or tone should AI avoid? (e.g., overly formal, corporate, hype-y)
  • How do you want people to feel when they read your emails?