Are you sending authentic emails or AI Slop?

AI Slop is taking over the internet.

Internet users spot it a mile away, they hate it, and a lot of them are calling out the companies and content creators that make it.

According to Wikipedia major corporations like Coca-Cola, Paramount Pictures, and Activision have all been accused of creating AI Slop in recent advertising campaigns.

It’s shown up in politics, music, books, and all over social media. In fact, social media companies like Meta have created tools to help users generate more AI Slop.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver did an entire episode on AI Slop in June. And yes, some of the images and videos he showed were hysterical, as were some of his comments. I watched it. It’s brilliant.

And yes, AI Slop is showing up in your inbox as well.

What Is AI Slop?

In case you didn’t see the LWT episode or you have magically managed to escape this bizarre internet phenomenon, here is the definition of AI Slop, again, according to Wikipedia.

“AI slop is low-quality media made with generative artificial intelligence. It is characterized by an inherent lack of effort and is currently being generated at an overwhelming volume. Coined in the 2020s, the term has a pejorative connotation similar to spam.

AI slop has been variously defined as “digital clutter”, “filler content [prioritizing] speed and quantity over substance and quality”, and “shoddy or unwanted AI content in social media, art, books and […] search results”.”

Examples have been:

• Images of Jesus made out of shrimp, (yes, it’s a thing, I don’t understand either)
• A picture of Donald Trump with Taylor Swift while she was wearing a t-shirt that said “Swifties for Trump”
• Fake articles purporting to give advice on everything from cooking to plant care.

That’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

I’m sure you’ve seen AI Slop, even if you didn’t realize what it was.

Now that AI platforms are getting better at creating realistic images and video, and starting to write more like humans, it’s just going to get worse.

People HATE AI Slop

The common reactions to AI Slop on the internet are that it’s formulaic, soulless, and fake.

Humans can sniff out AI Slop, even when it’s convincing. And they’re becoming so jaded that they’re calling real content, made by other humans, AI Slop because they see it everywhere.

No one likes this stuff. So why do people (the primary source of AI Slop) keep doing it?

Because it attracts attention. And in a world that is full of noise and chaos, everyone wants attention focused on them.

Personally, I would argue that the best way to get attention and stand out from all of the AI Slop, noise and chaos, is with original, authentic content, whatever form that may take for your business.

I’ve said this before; I’ll say it again. Humans want to engage with other humans. We are social creatures. We thrive on our collective humanity because we’re all interconnected. This goes back to the whole ecosystem theme of this newsletter.

We want to connect. We want to understand each other. We want to engage with real, authentic expressions made by and for humans.

AI is a great tool. And it can help spur our creativity. But if we give it our ideas and let it take over, it generates… well… slop. It may look or sound cool, but is it really an expression of us if we don’t create it ourselves?

AI is Artificial Intelligence Not Emotional Intelligence

To me, this is the biggest difference between humans and current AI.

AI can give us information. It can even describe an experience, based on what it has scraped from the internet, books, movies, and other data used to teach it.

But AI has not lived that experience. It doesn’t have memories or emotions associated with that experience.

It’s not meant to be able to do this. It’s a tool. It’s not that advanced. AI companies may claim that it can, or that it will be able to someday, but we’re not there yet.

What Does All of This Have to Do with Your Email Marketing?

Two things, one technical, one human.

First, the technical aspect.

Internet Service Provider (ISP) spam filters are getting really good at filtering out AI Slop.

A lot of spam emails are AI generated, so the spam filters look at the content as well the headers, attachments, etc. In terms of the text, spam filters are looking for repetitive word patterns, synthetic tone, and similarity in content.

All issues with AI generated content.

So, if you’re using AI to write your emails and not reviewing that text before you hit send… i.e. you’re generating AI Slop… your emails will get caught in the spam filters.

As I have said many times before, this causes a world of problems, the worst of which is that your sender reputation is tanked and your domain is blacklisted.

Now, the human aspect.

As mentioned above, humans want real, authentic connection with other humans.

That means your subscribers, your ideal customers, want to connect with you.

They don’t want your vague ideas parsed by a Large Language Model and turned into something that sounds jargony, “strategic” and bland, like it could have been written by an 11^th grader.

They want your ideas. Your opinions. Your feelings.

They want to know who you are, so they feel confident buying from you.

This comes back to the whole “Know, Like, and Trust” factor. People want to know who they’re giving their hard-earned money to when they make a purchase.

There are dozens if not hundreds of companies out there doing whatever you do. Do you share their ideals? Are you an ethical company or person? What do you stand for?

You have to answer all of these questions, along with the “What’s In It For Me” question every consumer asks before they make a purchase.

This is why I advocate writing a weekly email, from you, by you, for your subscribers.

It’s why I do this every week, and have for the last 7 years. (Yes, it really has been that long, I just checked. Wow. 🤯)

It’s also why I’m distributing these emails beyond my email list, which is new for me. I want more people to know who I am, what I think, how I feel, and what I stand for.

And yes, I want more people to work with me to write their own emails. This is what I do for a living, after all.

But Writing Emails Is Hard and Time Consuming…

Yes, it is. Trust me, I wrote this one. And as mentioned, I’ve done this every week for 7 years.

And I write every word myself.

Do I use AI? Yes. I used Perplexity to research a lot of this week’s newsletter. But all of the words, all of the thoughts, all of the ideas came from me.

AI is a great tool. But it’s not you.

It’s getting better at replicating our voices, but it still can’t replace us. It can’t replicate our life experiences, our thought patterns, our innate humanness.

I realize that I am a good writer. I have a degree in creative writing and theater. I am a trained direct response copywriter. I’ve been doing this for 15+ years. I have an edge over most people. That’s why companies of all sizes hire me to do this for them.

But I also know that when it comes to expressing your beliefs, sharing the passion for what you do, and showing your ideal customers who you are, you’ll do a much better job than I, any other copywriter, or AI ever can.

Which is why I advocate for you writing this one email a week yourself.

Do I Have to Write Every Word Myself?

Honestly, no.

Yes, that’s what I do. And I know a lot of other business owners, thought leaders, and visionaries who do the same thing.

But this is where AI is actually useful.

With careful prompting and input from you, most LLMs can churn out a decent messy first draft.

From there, you can go through and revise it to make it your own. And I really mean make it your own.

The majority of members in my Email Writing Accountability Group use AI to start their emails. I really don’t have a problem with this. Staring at a blank page, having no idea what to write is hard.

But during our group review time, when my eyes are on everyone’s emails during our writing sessions, here are my 3 most common critiques for everyone’s emails:

• It doesn’t answer the “What’s In It For Me” question.
• I don’t see immediate or deeper benefits, telling me what I’ll get.
• It doesn’t sound like you.

During these sessions, I work with my group members to improve their writing so all three of these critiques are resolved.

And all of my group members say they’ve had great responses to their emails, and an uptick in sales. Because that is what this is all about.

So, to model my own behavior, I will now clearly address these 3 common critiques here in this rather long email.

The “What’s In It For Me” Question and Deeper Benefits

For you as the business owner, writing your own emails once a week lets you express yourself and share who you are with your subscribers and ideal customers. They get to know you through these regular nurture emails and have an easier time saying yes when they’re ready to buy.

For your customers, they’re getting a direct connection with you. You’re bringing them into your community, which makes them more loyal to your business. They’ll buy again and recommend you to their friends and family.

Making Your Emails Sound Like You, AI Generated or Not

This is exactly what the Email Writing Accountability Group is for.

This is true whether you write every word yourself or you have help from ChatGPT or Claude.

I work with you to establish your voice and help you come up with topics every week, if needed. Then you write for 30 minutes.

Once your first draft is written, I give you that necessary feedback, so you can “make it sound like you.” In some cases, this is just smoothing out what’s already there. In others, I help you figure out what you’re actually trying to say, so you can do a better job of expressing yourself.

You get another 20 minutes to incorporate those edits into your email.

And voila! You’re done with your weekly nurture email and you or your VA can load it into your ESP to deliver to your subscribers. (FYI, this is the immediate benefit of the Email Writing Accountability Group.)

So, there you are. Examples of me practicing what I preach.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Email Writing Accountability Group, please click on the button below.

Whatever you do, please avoid contributing to the AI Slop that is taking over the internet.

You’ll be happier, your customers will appreciate you for who you are and what you do for them, and your business will thrive. 

And just to end this newsletter on a happy note, here is a very cute, definitely not AI slop picture of two of my cats, Lugh and Arawn.