LAB NOTES / AI FOR DIRECT MAIL COMPANIES

Draft personal card variations with AI, for direct mail companies

Writing dozens of slightly different, friendly notes for a client's campaign drains an entire afternoon. AI drafts natural phrasing variations from your core message so your writers or machines have fresh copy to use.

What to gather first

• The client's main offer or message
• Card word limit and character count
• Three past cards the client liked

Which app

For this one, a plain AI chat window is enough: ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. Open the chat, paste what you gathered, and type the message below. First time? Read how to talk to an AI.

How to do it

1. Paste your core message. Put the client's offer and the tone notes into the chat. Tell AI who receives the cards. This gives AI the boundaries before it writes.
2. Ask for phrasing variations. Tell AI to draft different ways to say the same note. It writes options with varied openers, middle lines, and sign-offs. It keeps each note short enough to fit the card stock.
3. Sort out stiff lines. Read through the list of drafts. Delete any card that sounds like sales copy or uses corporate words. AI rewrites the weak ones when you point them out.
4. Export the approved batch. Copy the clean variations into your production sheet. Your pens and plotters now have unique text for every recipient. You keep the list for the client to review.

What to type first

Change the words to match your business. AI follows what you say, so say what done looks like.

Before you trust it

• Read each card aloud to make sure it sounds like a real person wrote it by hand.
• Verify the word count fits your actual physical card layout.
• Check that the core client offer did not change across the variations.

Try feeding in local town names or neighborhood references to make the card variations feel closer to home.

More for direct mail companies

• Draft quotes for mail campaigns
• Answer client questions on turnaround