Stop typing AI prompts. Start talking.
You think 4x faster than you type. So why are you typing prompts? Wispr Flow turns your voice into ready-to-paste text inside any AI tool. Speak naturally, tangents and all, and Flow cleans it up. Available on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android.
Every week there's a new "must-have" AI tool. Try them all and you'll spend more time managing logins than building your store.
Here's the better approach: pick one assistant and give it the right jobs, in the right order. Use it to find a real customer problem, write pages that answer buyer questions, build a trustworthy gallery, sort out the details and test your first promotion. Keep everything you learn in one simple document, so each job builds on the last.
Why the order matters
Most new stores start backwards: name, logo, website, and only then the big question, "does anyone actually want this?" That order is expensive. When CB Insights studied why startups fail, the most common reason, cited by 42%, was no market need.[1] Plenty of those founders built something good. They just built it before checking.
The five jobs below flip that order, starting with the customer. And there's good reason to use AI along the way: your shoppers already do. In an April 2026 survey of 1,009 US consumers, 77.6% had used AI to help with a purchase decision in the previous six months.[2]
Pick your assistant: ChatGPT or Claude
Both can research products, read files you upload and help you write. Choose the one you already like and stick with it. Consistency matters more than the brand.
Both also connect to Shopify through official integrations, so you can work with real store data right from the chat:
ChatGPT: Install the Shopify plugin, then use @Shopify in your chat to bring your store into the conversation.
Claude: Add the Shopify connector and authorize access to your store.
Once connected, you can do things like add or edit products, check inventory and orders, create discounts and review store performance. Exactly what's possible depends on the integration and the access you approve.[3]
Connecting is optional. Every job below works in a regular chat. Connecting just saves you copying store information in by hand. Prefer to stay inside Shopify? Its built-in assistant, Sidekick, is another good option.
Start with a store brief
Here's something most people don't realize: every new AI chat starts from scratch. Ask "write me a product description" with no context, and you'll get something generic because your assistant knows nothing about your product or customer.
A store brief fixes that. It's a living document, usually one or two pages, that describes what you sell, who it's for and what customers need to know. Share it at the start of a task and your assistant's answers become about your store.
How to set it up:
Create a document. Google Docs, Apple Notes or Word all work. Call it "Store Brief."
Add these headings: My product. My customer. Customer complaints. Questions before buying. My price range. My policies. My best hooks.
Fill it in as you go. Gaps are fine. Each job below fills in a section or two.
Share it every time. Paste or upload the latest version, or save it in a ChatGPT or Claude project so it's always there.
Example: a travel dog bowl
My product: A leakproof travel bowl that clips shut between stops.
My customer: Dog owners who road-trip or camp, often with medium to large dogs.
Customer complaints: Competitor bowls leak in the car, tip over and are hard to clean.
My price range: Similar bowls sell for roughly $18 to $35. (Assumption: check against current listings.)
One tip: label guesses as assumptions. As you learn more, swap them for facts. That's how your brief gets more valuable over time.
Job 1: Find a problem worth solving
Spend 20 minutes studying competitors, and you'll know what your product needs to do better before you order a single unit.
Look at what's already for sale, what it costs and what buyers keep complaining about. One angry review means little. The same complaint across several brands is an opportunity. If travel dog bowls keep getting "leaks in the car," a bowl that truly doesn't leak has a reason to exist.
Then check your hunch with real people before spending money. A few easy ways: post a quick poll in a relevant Facebook group or subreddit, ask five people who fit your customer profile what frustrates them, or put up a simple pre-order or waitlist page and see who signs up.
Prompts to try:
"Find five popular [product] options sold in [country]. Compare their prices, main features and the complaints that come up most in reviews. Include links so I can check."
"What do reviewers praise at each price point for [product]? Where does the price start to feel too high, and what makes people happy to pay more?"
"Based on this research, suggest three ways my product could stand out. For each one, tell me what I should confirm with real customers before ordering."
Add to your brief: your top three complaints, comparable prices and anything you still need to test.
Job 2: Turn customer questions into product copy
Collect the questions buyers already ask, and you'll have a product page that answers their doubts before they leave.
Gather a few competitor pages, reviews and forum threads, then ask your assistant to find the questions that keep coming up. Those become your FAQ and shape your product description, written the way real buyers talk. Answer them with your actual specs, materials and policies.
Clear product pages matter even more now. Through Shopify's Agentic Storefronts, eligible products can appear in AI shopping channels including ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot.[4] Accurate, helpful product information gives those channels a better picture of what you sell.
Prompts to try:
"From these sources, list the 10 questions shoppers ask most about [product], using their own wording where possible."
"Using my store brief, write a short, honest answer to each question in under 50 words. If I haven't given you a fact, say 'needs confirmation' instead of guessing."
"Write a product description for [product] that answers the top three customer concerns in the first few sentences. Friendly, plain language, and only claims from my brief."
💡 Tool tip: GemPages makes it easy to build a polished product page with FAQ sections, no code needed.
Add to your brief: your top customer questions and confirmed answers.
Job 3: Build a gallery customers can trust
Pair real photos with careful AI edits, and you'll have a gallery that builds confidence instead of returns.
Images do the heavy lifting. In Baymard's product page research, 56% of participants' first action was to explore the product images.[5] Aim for four: a clean main shot, one showing scale, one in use and a close-up of important details.
Start with real photos from your phone. AI can then help you try new backgrounds and settings. ChatGPT can edit images right in the chat; if you use Claude, Google Gemini's image tools are worth borrowing for this one job.
A word of caution: AI can quietly change labels, proportions and small details, even when you ask it not to. That matters, because 83% of shoppers say they'll return a product if it doesn't match the online image.[6] Use real photos for texture, size and construction, and always compare any AI edit against the actual product before publishing.
Prompts to try:
"Using my store brief, plan a four-image product gallery. Tell me what each photo should show and how to shoot it with my phone."
"Change only the background of this photo to [setting]. Keep the product, label, size and details exactly the same. Don't add accessories."
"Compare this edited image with my original photo. Point out anything about the product that changed or could mislead a customer."
💡 Tool tip: A bigger gallery means heavier pages. TinyIMG compresses images and helps with alt text, so your store stays fast and easier to find in search.
Add to your brief: your image checklist and the product details every image must keep.
Job 4: Work through the details before launch
Ask your assistant to poke holes in your plans, and you'll catch costly mistakes before your customers do.
Shipping costs, return windows, supplier lead times, damaged orders. These decisions catch almost every new owner off guard. AI tends to agree with whatever you tell it, so ask it to push back instead. Once your decisions hold up, use it to draft clear customer-facing pages, then check them against how your business really works.
Prompts to try:
"Here's my shipping and returns plan, including my costs. Play a skeptical business advisor. What am I missing, and where could I lose money or frustrate customers?"
"I'm considering a supplier for [product]. Give me 10 questions to ask about samples, quality, lead times, minimum orders and defects, and tell me which answers should worry me."
"Using only the confirmed information in my store brief, draft a shipping FAQ and return policy in friendly, plain language. Flag anything I still need to decide."
Add to your brief: your confirmed policies, supplier details and any open decisions.
Job 5: Test messages built on real customer concerns
Turn your research into three short videos, and you'll learn which message gets attention before you spend real money promoting it.
Remember those complaints from Job 1? They're your best hooks. Show the problem, show how your product handles it and keep every claim honest. You don't need to be on camera: film the product, then add captions or a voiceover.
When results come in, read them in order. Views and watch time show attention. Clicks show interest. Purchases show whether the message actually sells. Put more behind the winner, and keep testing the rest.
Prompts to try:
"Using the concerns in my store brief, write three 15-second vertical video scripts: one problem-and-solution, one product demo and one answering a common question. No made-up testimonials."
"Give me 10 opening lines under eight words each that would make [customer type] stop scrolling. Base them on my brief and keep them honest."
"Here are my results for each video: views, watch time, clicks and purchases. Which one should I put more behind, and what should I test next?"
💡 Tool tip: Videos bring visitors in. Brevo helps you keep them with a simple welcome email series for people who aren't ready to buy yet.
Add to your brief: the messages you tested, your results and what's next.
⚠️ Before you connect your store
A store connection is handy when a task needs live data, but it also means an AI tool can see real orders and customer details. A few smart habits:
Know what you're sharing. Shopify notes it can't control how a third-party AI tool uses, retains or processes your data once it's shared.[7]
Approve only what you need. Review the access requested, start with a small task and check proposed changes before accepting them.[3]
Leave customer details out when a task doesn't need them. For research and writing, your store brief is usually enough.
Your one task this week
Create your store brief tonight, even if it's just the headings. Then give Job 1 twenty minutes: save your source links, note the patterns and write down what you still need to check.
By the end, you'll have something most new store owners skip entirely: a clear picture of a real customer problem and a plan for proving your product solves it. Everything else builds from there.
Some links in this newsletter are affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you purchase through them, at no extra cost to you.
Sources
[1] CB Insights, via CMO Council: Define the Need Before You Bleed
[2] Exploding Topics survey, via TechWyse: 77% of US Consumers Now Use AI to Shop
[3] Shopify: Shopify plugin for ChatGPT, Shopify connector for Claude and authorizing AI tool access
[4] Shopify Help Center: Shopify Agentic Storefronts
[5] Baymard Institute: Provide at Least One "In Scale" Image
[6] Nfinite: The State of the Shopper in 2023
[7] Aimerce, citing Shopify: You Can Now Run Your Shopify Store From Inside ChatGPT and Claude
