Generative AI is transforming productivity for business owners, but how can it create a tangible impact on your CPG business? In this article, I’ll share how I’ve utilized ChatGPT (Generative AI) alongside examples from others to inspire you. From brainstorming to strategic planning and content writing, I’ll discuss the most valuable ways AI has enhanced our workflows and can do the same for you.
Here are 5 very practical ways in using AI to improve my business.
1. Create a ChatGPT Bot for Your Business
What if ChatGPT knew everything about your business every time you asked it a question? Well now it can (Almost). You can train ChatGPT to know everything about your business and how to respond to create more personal and detailed responses. I’ve found that the key is to keep conversations within one chat. Here’s how to get started. Open a new chat and write:
Prompt: Hello, ChatGPT. From now on you are going to act as a team member of Joyful Co. You will represent the brand Joyful Co and assist in any and all business needs. What questions do you have so that you can fully understand the business?
It responded with a list of 12 areas to better understand the business. Take your time to answer these in detail, as if you were training a new team member. Once you do, you can then ask it any questions you’d like and it’ll respond as if it was a real team member. If there’s something ChatGPT doesn’t quite get right, correct it and it’ll learn!
If you have a Pro Plan, you can create your business bot as a “GPT”, by copy and pasting the initial prompt and answers. This will allow you to start a new “chat” each time with the bot, and it’ll still have all the base info about your company.
2. Creating a Brand Guide
For Joyful Co., I used ChatGPT to help craft a detailed and cohesive brand guide that truly captures our mission, vision, and brand personality. Here’s an example of how I used ChatGPT to achieve this.
Prompt: I need your help in defining the mission, vision, and brand personality for my company, Joyful Co. Write a list of questions to help me define these areas of my company
After providing ChatGPT with detailed answers to these questions, it generated these statements for Joyful Co.
Results:
Vision: “We envision a world where acts of giving and receiving become catalysts for positive change, where heartfelt connections flourish, and where the simple act of sharing joy has the power to uplift lives.”
Mission: “Our mission is to help people share meaningful gifts that spread real joy. We deliver joy through uniquely curated gift boxes.”
Brand Archetype:
The brand archetype for Joyful Co. can be described as the “Lover” archetype. The Lover archetype is characterized by its passion, emotional connection, and pursuit of joy and fulfillment. It embodies the essence of love, friendship, and caring, creating deep emotional connections with its audience.
As Joyful Co., we evoke the Lover archetype by emphasizing the overwhelming positive emotions associated with giving and receiving thoughtful gifts. We celebrate the joy, happiness, and excitement that our curated gift boxes bring to both the giver and the recipient. Our aim is to foster meaningful connections and create memorable experiences that ignite a sense of love, appreciation, and warmth.
By embodying the Lover archetype, Joyful Co. establishes itself as a brand that spreads joy, happiness, and meaningful connections through the act of gifting. It invites customers to embrace their inner Lover and indulge in the delight of giving and receiving heartfelt gifts.
Using ChatGPT in this way allowed me to clearly articulate the essence of Joyful Co., ensuring that every team member and stakeholder understands and resonates with our brand’s core principles.
3. Deductions Management:
AI can streamline the deductions process by automating the categorization of claims, reducing manual errors, and accelerating the resolution process. This not only saves time but also recoups more money. You can use ChatGPT to start, but I’d highly recommend using a tool like Glimpse, that leverages AI to automatically download, categorize, and contest dispute deductions on your behalf.
Prompt: Analyze this deduction report by UNFI for a food brand and share a breakdown and analysis on what’s happening
Here’s what I got out of ChatGPT:
1. Report Overview:
- Document Type: Vendor Chargeback Report (MCB Process Type D)
- Period Covered: Week Ending March 9, 2024
- Total Deduction Amount: $2,072.52
2. Details by Customer:
- The report lists several Whole Foods Market (WFM) Northeast (NE) regions or stores
3. Total Deductions:
- Across multiple customers, the same pattern of chargeback is applied, leading to a total deduction of $2,072.52. This suggests that 54 instances of the two products were charged back across various WFM NE stores.
4. Implications:
- 100% Chargeback: The report indicates that UNFI has charged back the full invoice amount for each product. This could be due to a promotion agreement where the vendor agreed to cover the full cost of the products, a pricing error, or some other contractual reason.
- Consistency Across Customers: The chargeback is consistent across multiple stores, which implies that this was likely a planned or expected deduction, possibly related to a promotion or pricing strategy.
5. Possible Causes and Next Steps:
- Promotional Funding: If the chargeback is related to promotional funding, it might align with a pre-agreed arrangement where the vendor covers the cost of products placed in promotional activities.
- Contractual Review: It’s advisable to review any contracts or agreements with UNFI and Whole Foods Market to ensure that these deductions align with the terms of the deal.
- Communication with UNFI: Clarify with UNFI the reason for the chargebacks to ensure there are no errors in the deductions and that they are accurately reflected in your accounts.
This report reflects a common scenario in retail where vendors agree to support promotional activities by covering costs, but it’s essential to confirm the rationale behind the deductions to avoid potential losses or accounting discrepancies.
4. Social Media Strategy
I wanted to start thinking about how Joyful Co could utilize Pinterest for marketing, but had no idea where to start. So I asked my self created Joyful Co GPT bot to create a content strategy for Pinterest
Prompt: Help me create a Pinterest strategy for Joyful Co, just starting a new business account. What do I need to know?
ChatGPT Replied with details on:
- Profile Setup
- Board Creation
- Pin Design and Content
- Content Themes
- SEO and Hashtags
- Engagement and Community Building
- Analytics and Optimization
- Advertising
5. Shopify Sales Analysis
As an e-commerce business owner, I have a lot of questions about my customers and their behavior. While Shopify’s native analytics provides a good start, I wanted my questions directly answered. So I exported my order data from Shopify and uploaded it into ChatGPT. I could then ask it a bunch of questions to analyze my data. I did find that it works best if you ask one question at a time. Be sure to do a quick check of it’s work, as sometimes I found that it ran into errors, or only looked at a certain part of our data. Here are some of the questions I asked and answers:
Total Orders Over Time: How the number of orders changes month-to-month.
Total Revenue Over Time: How revenue trends over the months.
Customer Purchase Frequency: How often customers are making repeat purchases.
Average Order Value: How much customers are spending on average per order.
Customer Segmentation: Identifying different types of customers based on their purchase behavior.
Top Selling States by Number of Orders: Where are our customers concentrated
I’m a huge advocate of ChatGPT and integrating it into your business. Where to start? I recommend approaching it as a thought partner to ask questions that you have. Next, create a list of things you need to do, but don’t particularly enjoy doing. Just getting in a habit of asking ChatGPT for things will improve how you use it!
BONUS: One of my favorite personal ways to use ChatGPT is to help me create dinner recipes. I’ll tell it what kind of cuisine I’m in the mood for, share the ingredients / foods I have at home, and it’ll create a custom recipe for me!
Need help managing distributor deductions? Glimpse uses AI to automatically download, categorize, and contest dispute deductions on your behalf. It works faster, costs less, and recoups more money than doing deductions manually or using any existing services. Get a 2 month free trial to see how much money you can save.