Shopify Magic: What it is, how it works, tips, and alternatives

Shopify Magic is an AI-powered writing tool that helps you write on-brand content in seconds. It’s free to use and supports eight languages, including English, German, and Spanish.

Whether you’re new to Shopify or a seasoned e-commerce pro, read on to discover how Shopify Magic can simplify writing blog posts, product descriptions, and email subject lines.

I’ll explain everything you need to know about Shopify Magic, including what it is, how it works, and how to use it correctly. I’ll also share tips for using Shopify Magic and answer common questions like “Is Shopify Magic bad for SEO?”.

Let’s start with the basics.

What is Shopify Magic?

Shopify Magic is an AI-powered writing tool that helps Shopify users generate landing page copy and content for their stores quickly and easily. It uses advanced algorithms and natural language processing technology to generate text.

When it first launched on April 20, 2023, Shopify Magic only allowed users to generate product descriptions and email subject lines. However, over the following months, Shopify introduced support for other tasks like blog content and landing page copy writing.

Shopify Magic is that it takes the guesswork out of writing compelling copy for your online store. And it’s available free of cost with all Shopify plans.

You don’t need to pay for Shopify Plus or worry about added costs for using it. As long as you’re a Shopify customer, you can use it to generate content for your store in seconds.

How does Shopify Magic work?

Shopify Magic uses Large Language Model (LLMs), a type of artificial intelligence algorithm that uses machine learning to generate text.

LLMs analyze vast amounts of text data and use algorithms to learn patterns and relationships between words and phrases.

They break down human language into individual components, such as words, grammar, and syntax, and then use those components to create text.

Shopify Magic integrates different text fields in the Shopify admin with LLMs to help you generate text for headings, blog posts, product descriptions, and email subject lines.

All you need to do is add some basic information about your store, product, or the purpose of your email. Shopify Magic will generate different text options for you to choose from. You can use its suggestions as-is or treat it as a starting point for your copy.

Is Shopify Magic bad for SEO?

Shopify Magic isn’t bad for SEO.

Like other AI content tools, it can produce irrelevant, false, and even offensive content. And if you’re using Shopify Magic to create that type of content, chances are, you may see a negative impact on your store’s SEO.

But that doesn’t have to be the case. Let me explain.

See, Google officially states that it doesn’t care how you produce content.

All it cares is that your content needs to be helpful and provide a great user experience to its customers.

It uses systems like SpamBrain to scan its index for low-quality content and removes those pages from search results to ensure Google users only get high-quality results.

So how do you ensure Shopify Magic generated content doesn’t hurt your SEO? It’s simple: review and edit your content before publishing.

As long as you ensure everything is high-quality, relevant, and useful to your customers it won’t impact your search rankings or conversions. You’ll be able to use AI for ecommerce without hurting your Shopify SEO.

I’ll teach you how to do that in a bit.

First, let’s understand how to use Shopify Magic to write product descriptions and email subject lines.

How to use Shopify Magic to write product descriptions

Follow these steps to write product descriptions with Shopify Magic:

1. Log in to the Shopify admin, go to Products, and select a product from the list.
2. Select the Shopify Magic icon in the product description text box toolbar on the product editing page.
3. Write two or more words describing the product features to give the AI a better idea of your product. Optionally, choose a specific tone for your description, or provide special instructions for generating your description, like “include emojis” or “use gen z slang”.
4. Choose Generate text to see the first version of your AI-generated content.
5. If you’re happy with the output, select Keep to add the content to your product description, or choose Try again if you want a different version.
6. Edit and optimize the product description to match your brand voice, and choose Save to update your product description.

How to use Shopify Magic to write email subject lines

Follow these steps to write email subject lines with Shopify Magic:

1. Log in to the Shopify admin, and choose Email from the Apps list.
2. Choose Create campaign and select a template for your new email campaign.
3. Select the Generate text icon in the subject line toolbar to access Shopify Magic.
4. Write a few words describing the purpose of your email and add a few keywords to provide Shopify Magic with more data to create a relevant email subject line. Optionally, assign a tone for your subject line using either the preset options or adding a custom tone.
5. Select Generate text to create three versions of your AI-generated subject lines.
6. To generate more versions, select Try again or modify your tone and prompt and select Try again.
7. Once you find a version you like, select it to add it to your email subject line.

5 tips for using Shopify Magic: How to get the best output

Shopify Magic is an amazing tool that helps simplify some incredibly challenging tasks. Here are some tips to help you get the best out of Shopify Magic.

1. Choose the right tone

Your writing tone conveys your brand’s personality and influences how customers react to your content. That’s why it’s important to choose a tone that matches the situation and aligns with customer expectations.

Shopify Magic currently supports six predefined tones as follows:

1. Expert: Professional and objective language that sounds like an industry expert.
2. Supportive: Friendly and approachable language that sounds like someone who empathizes with the customer.
3. Persuasive: Language that appeals to the senses and inspires strong emotions in the buyer to sound convincing and inspiring.
4. Daring: Strong action words that motivate and inspire the buyer to be bold and adventurous.
5. Playful: Fun or quirky language, including humor and slang expressions, that sounds like someone who doesn’t take themselves or life too seriously.
6. Sophisticated: Language that appeals to a buyer’s desire for high quality and taste to sound sophisticated and refined.

You also have the option to set a custom tone to match your unique brand voice.

So experiment with different tones till you find the one that’s best for your brand and the purpose of the content. Once you have the right voice, use it across all your products and website copy for consistency.

2. Add product features and keywords for context

Shopify Magic requires only a few words about your products or email campaign to work. But adding more details can improve the accuracy and uniqueness of the generated content.

Here are some ways in which you can provide more context and improve Shopify Magic’s output:

• Product-related keywords: If your product title doesn’t indicate the product type, such as “Wayfarers”, without mentioning sunglasses, adding keywords that describe the product type or category can help Shopify Magic generate better results.
• Target audience information: Make sure to include keywords that reflect the interests and needs of your target buyer, such as their demographics or values. This can help the tool generate product benefits and use appropriate vocabulary.
• Specific product details: Any product specifications you provide, like lens size or color for sunglasses, can help Shopify Magic generate better quality content.
• Important brand-specific keywords: Add unique words or phrases, such as brand names or descriptive words, to add them to Shopify Magic’s generated suggestions.
• Other product details: Use the product details, such as vendor, category, or collection names, to provide additional keywords and generate new ideas.

Here’s what it looks like in action:

Improving the output quality of Shopify Magic also improves your Shopify store SEO. When search engines detect that your content well-written, descriptive, and helpful, they’ll push your website higher in search results.

3. Provide clear instructions

Providing clear and precise instructions is crucial when using AI content-generating tools like Shopify Magic. It’s the only way to ensure you get what you have in mind.

For example, if you’re creating a product description, provide specific details about the product’s features, benefits, and target audience

A detailed input will always result in high-quality output.

For example, here’s the output Shopify Magic gives me when I ask it to write a product description with a special instruction to use emojis:

While it’s good, we can make it a lot better by being more specific.

Here’s what happens when I tweak the input and ask Shopify Magic to use an emoji for each product feature:

All it took was a little specificity to get Shopify Magic to improve its output!

4. Experiment with special instructions

Experimenting with the special instructions can help you generate more diverse and creative outputs from Shopify Magic. Instead of using the base prompt every time, try adding suggestions using the optional special instructions field.

For instance, if you’re trying to generate a product description for a new t-shirt, you could add “Highlight the 100% cotton and 150gsm material of the t-shirt” or “Highlight the benefits of the 100% cotton and 150gsm material to a fashion-forward audience.”

Play with different keywords and tones and use the Try again feature to get more content variations.

5. Don’t rely solely on the tool

While AI content-generating tools can be beneficial, they should not be your only source for creating content. Always review and edit the generated content to ensure it meets your standards and fits your brand.

Tools like Shopify Magic assist with content creation. But they’re not perfect. And no matter how good they get, AI-generated content cannot substitute human creativity and expertise.

They can’t provide unique insights and perspectives from human thought and experience. That’s why it’s important to use the AI writing tool to complement your creative process rather than replace it.

Shopify Magic Alternatives: 5 free and paid options you can use

Shopify Magic is a highly effective tool. But it can’t social media or ad copy for you. If you’re looking for a tool to do it all beyond your Shopify store, here are five free and paid Shopify Magic alternatives.

1. Writesonic

Writesonic is a powerful AI writing tool designed for 80+ unique use cases, including writing product descriptions and ad copy. It supports 25+ languages, which is perfect for creating website copy and product descriptions for your customers all over the world.

Key Writesonic features:

• 80+ AI writing tools.
• 25+ languages supported.
• Uses GPT-4.
• Integrates with Shopify.

Writesonic pricing: Free trial with a 10,000-word limit. Paid plans start from $12.67 per month for 100,000 words when paid annually.

2. Writer

Writer is a customizable generative AI platform and one of the best alternatives to Shopify Magic. It can do all the basics like other AI content generators on this list. But it truly shines when it comes to learning from your brand assets and producing on-brand content.

Key Writer features:

• Proprietary AI model.
• Multi-format inputs.
• Style guide and terminology manager for on-brand content.
• Top-of-the-line data privacy and security features.

Writer pricing: Free 14-day trial. Paid plans start from $13.50 per month for 15,000 words when paid annually.

3. Rytr

Rytr is a cost-effective alternative to Shopify Magic. It can do all the basics like writing product descriptions, email copy, and even social media post copy. Plus, it supports over 30 languages and 20 tones of voice and offers image-generation tools.

Key Rytr features:

• Generous word count limits.
• Supports 40+ use cases.
• Built in plagiarism checker.
• SEO-friendly features. 

Rytr pricing: Free for up to 10,000 characters per month. Paid plan starts at $7.5 per month for up to 100,000 characters and $24.16 per month for unlimited characters when paid annually.

4. Copy.ai

Copy.ai is an excellent AI tool for writing emails and blog posts. The best part about Copy.ai is that it offers an unlimited word plan with over 90 copywriting tools. It also supports 29+ languages so that you can send personalized content to all your customers worldwide.

Key Copy.ai features:

• Generous free tools.
• 90+ copywriting tools.
• Knowledge base for brand-specific content.
• SOC 2 Type II compliant.

Copy.ai pricing: Free for up to 2,000 words per month. Paid plans start from $36 per month when paid annually.

5. WordHero

WordHero is a well-rounded Shopify Magic alternative that covers all the bases for ecommerce store owners. It offers an unlimited word plan and supports 108 languages. So whether you need multilingual product descriptions or blog posts, WordHero has you covered.

Key WordHero features:

• User-friendly interface.
• 70+ writing tools for different use cases.
• Supports 108 languages.
• Built using GPT-3.5.

WordHero pricing: Starts from $29 per month when paid annually. WordHero offers a 14-day no-questions-asked money-back guarantee on its pricing plans.

Shopify Magic next steps

There you have it. I’ve explained what Shopify Magic is, how it works, and how to use it to write product descriptions and email subject lines. I’ve also shared five AI writing tools to help you create amazing social media posts and ad copy in minutes.

Shopify’s going all-in on their vision for integrating AI into the Shopify admin. It recently launched Sidekick, an AI-enabled assistant to simplify admin tasks. If you’re interested in learning about Sidekick, make sure you give my Sidekick first-impressions article a read.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to comment below, and I’ll do my best to help you. And make sure you subscribe to my newsletter so you don’t miss out on the latest Shopify developments.