Keeping your shop's voice the same across every product

The voice has to live in your prompt, because the tool only knows what you put in front of it. Without a voice note, expect generic copy.

Describe the voice in plain terms

OpenAI's guide says the opening section of a prompt should describe the purpose, communication style and high-level goals.¹ For a shop, a few lines will do. Cover:

• who you're talking to (gardeners, new parents, tradespeople)
• how formal you are
• what you never say
• how long a description runs
• your spelling and your habits, such as whether you use contractions

"Friendly" on its own is too thin. A tool can read it as "cheerful and a bit gushing". Concrete rules work better: "Short sentences. No exclamation marks. Say what it is before what it does."

Show it, don't only tell it

The guide also pairs sample inputs with the output you want.¹ Pick your best existing description, the one that sounds like you, and paste it with its fact sheet. Then add: "Match the length and tone of this example."

One example is a start. Two or three, from different kinds of product, stop the tool from copying the sentence shape of the first one. If every new draft opens with the same phrase, your example is too influential. Swap it.

Write a list of things you don't say

Every shop has a few. Stock phrases like "transform your kitchen" or "the perfect gift" are easy to spot once you look for them. Put your banned list in the rules section of the prompt.

The ACCC's advice for claims runs in the same direction: use easy to understand language, and be specific with claims to avoid misunderstandings.² Your voice list and your accuracy rules often overlap. A vague word is both bland and a risk.

Expect drift

OpenAI describes model output as non-deterministic, so it varies.¹ A prompt that gave you the right voice on Monday may give a slightly different one on Thursday. Start a fresh chat for each product and paste the whole prompt again, rather than carrying on in one long thread.

Keep human edits

You'll fix the same few things again and again. Don't make those fixes in the draft alone. Add each one to the prompt as a rule, so you stop paying for it product by product.

Same voice isn't same text

Consistent means the same character, not the same sentences. Google's spam policy can catch sites that churn out lots of AI pages that give users nothing extra.³ If your descriptions differ only by the product name, they add little. Each one should carry the details that make the item different: its materials, its size, how it's used.

Keep a single shared document with the voice note, the banned list and the example pair. Anyone who writes for the shop, person or tool, starts from the same page. Then check what comes back, with the steps in checking AI product text, because a draft in the right voice can still carry a wrong fact.