Kristin vs. Jasper: A Content Writer's Battle with an AI Copywriter
Full disclosure: I earn money by writing words for people. As such, I’m not keen on hearing about robots who do “just as good of a job” as I do for a fraction of the price. So I fully admit that I went into my AI copywriting experiment totally biased and hoping it would fail.
It failed.
You can take that for what it’s worth, but hear me out for a bit as I explain why I count it as a failure. I’ll also share some instances when I think it could be helpful.
And if you already know that you have an inherent distrust of robots unless they are Rosie from the Jetsons and do all your chores, then let’s talk. I can handle your website copy, blogs, and email campaigns so that you can focus on your business. Grab a time on my calendar, and let’s connect!
Why Did I Do Battle with an AI Copywriting Robot?
If I was already so sure that a bot would fail miserably when I needed it most, why did I even bother with this little experiment? I did it for a few reasons.
First, I was bored and irritable and didn’t feel like doing any of the things on my to-do list:
Create social media posts for myself.
Schedule my mammogram.
Try to remove those weird butt-floofs my dog gets in her fur in the summer.
Battling a robot seemed much more worthwhile and entertaining.
Second, I was already rolling my eyes at AI copywriting options, so I figured I should at least try one to see how they work and if they are helpful.
Third, I use other digital tools when I’m writing, like an online thesaurus. So I thought maybe this one wouldn’t be so bad and wouldn’t actually bring about the demise of the written language as I envisioned.
When I decided to go for it, I used Jasper (formerly Jarvis) since it was one of the top choices available. It has a Facebook group for support and a fairly generous free trial of 10,000 words. I chose a blog topic, spent some time learning the ropes a little, and then got to work.
Here are some of the supposed benefits of AI copy bots and how my experience using Jasper went.
Claim #1: You Will Write Your Content Much Faster
Ok. Here’s where it went off the rails almost immediately for me. I spent some time watching tutorials and reading through tips and tricks before attempting to write a blog with the bot.
When I finally dove in and went for it, the process was agonizing and took forever. I easily could have written an original blog in the time it took me to watch the videos, try it out, rewatch the videos, and try it again. I never got more than 300 words of original content in nearly 45 minutes of trying. For comparison, if I’m uninterrupted, I can write 1000 words in about 45 minutes to an hour.
Because here is the kicker. You have to input a ton of information to get Jasper to spit out the blog post. And I had to do it for every paragraph to get something different from the section above. (There was also some command I was supposed to type in to make each paragraph unique, but I had no luck making that work.)
By the time I added all the necessary input, I could have been halfway to a finished blog if I’d just written it instead. I had to include loads of details and variety to get just one paragraph out of the bot. It was exhausting!
Claim #2: You’ll Have SEO-Friendly Original Content
Originality is vital when you create blog posts and other website copy. Google can penalize you for having duplicate content, tanking your rankings in search results. And considering 75% of internet searchers don’t scroll past the first page of results, you can’t afford to do anything that will jeopardize your ability to show up there.
So, the benefit of having an AI copywriter make original content is great! If it works. Which it didn’t.
Once I trudged through all the inputting I had to do to get up to about 500 words of content, I ran it through an online plagiarism checker. I won’t publish anything on my clients’ sites with even a hint of duplicate content. I don’t want ANY.
That 500-word article had seven sections that popped up as being duplicate content! If I had actually wanted to use it, I would have had to do a fair amount of rewriting to have anything functional.
Claim #3: You Can Get Rid of Writer’s Block
Potentially, this claim may have some merit. While I didn’t find any way that Jasper helped me write a blog, it did work reasonably well for generating blog titles. So, if you feel stuck and unsure what to write about, an AI copywriting option might be helpful.
However, there are also many free ways to generate blog ideas without needing a subscription to something like Jasper. Additionally, the AI-created topics may or may not carry much SEO value, so you’ll need to be sure you include relevant keywords before using them.
A Few Ways AI Copywriting May Be Useful
Blog writing is my bread and butter. It’s what I spend the majority of my time on for clients, so it’s what I wanted to try out with an AI option. Personally, I hated using the AI copywriting platform for blogs. It was far too clunky and time-consuming, and I’m much better off just writing articles myself.
But I also tried Jasper for some shorter pieces of content with better success. In particular, using the bot to write meta and product descriptions was pretty user-friendly and quick. If you own a product-based business, this service could be a big help when you feel like you can’t think of any more ways to describe your stuff.
Aside from that, AI writing isn’t my cup of tea. I didn’t find it to be helpful or a time-saver. Of course, the caveat is that I enjoy writing and have decades of practice doing it. Someone who doesn’t have that same enthusiasm or experience may find Jasper and the like to be worthwhile.
So, there you have it, my extraordinarily imprecise, unscientific review of one AI copywriting platform. It isn’t the tool for me.
If you’re interested in having a human content writer on your team, I’d love to connect and chat. From blogs to emails, I can give you the words you need to show up online, amplify your voice, and attract your people. Book a free consultation to get started.
