Will AI Replace Copywriters? (Our Review Of Unbounce Smart Copy)

Editor’s Note: In May 2021, landing page builder and platform software company Unbounce acquired Snazzy.ai to add AI copy generator technology to its platform. Since that acquisition, Unbounce has rebranded the tool as “Unbounce Smart Copy.”

In the world of artificial intelligence, the “singularity” is when the AI becomes indistinguishable from human thinking. There have been countless science fiction books and movies written about this premise.

The Matrix, Terminator, Bladerunner.

Side note re: Bladerunner – the good one, NOT that one with Ryan Gosling. How did that movie even get made?

All these movies captured the imagination by positing the idea that A.I. might one day overtake us in the very cognitive abilities that make us human. 

So it’s not too much of a surprise that the news of Unbounce’s acquisition of Snazzy.ai in 2021 caused a ripple throughout our offices. Our content people in particular could be seen wiping sweat from their brows when they thought nobody was looking. 

When asked about it, they responded with platitudes about the human mind’s irreplaceable capacity for creative thought and so on. However, privately they worried at their desks and imagined a future where all writing was automatically generated by an electronic super mind that was totally incapable of making errors. 

For a lot of businesses and marketing professionals, such a thing would be the most welcome innovation since on-page SEO tools. Imagine having an endless source of instantly generated content to drive your marketing efforts!

Let’s take a look at this leading AI copy generator and get to the bottom of just how worried our flesh and blood content writers need to be in the face of this new technology. 

Unbounce Smart Copy: The AI Copy Generator Formerly Known As “Snazzy AI”

Snazzy.ai was a name that was heavily featured in marketing news circuits for a while, and with good reason. The AI copy generator had been used extensively by marketing professionals for things like email copy, Google Ad copy, social media posts, etc. The acquisition by Unbounce in 2021 simply elevated the buzz around its capabilities. 

Today, Unbounce Smart Copy gives users an extensive array of options for content types. Having trouble coming up with a blog idea? Unbounce Smart Copy can do that.

Need a mission statement for your brand? No problemo.

Running into a wall generating meta descriptions for your pages? Unbounce Smart Copy has you covered. 

Unbounce Smart Copy In Action

For this exercise, we’ve invented a fake company called Binko’s Space Robots. Binko’s specializes in creating hulking, gigantic Gundam-style space robots for everything from asteroid mining to intergalactic combat. 

We’re planning on running a Google Ads campaign for Binko’s, but our team is busy and doesn’t have the bandwidth to devote to writing the copy, so we’ll have to rely on Snazzy.ai’s expertise to whip something up. 

So right off the bat, we have to make a new Snazzy account. When you create an account, you fill in your company’s information. Everything you do with the tool from there is based on this initial information, so it’s not really possible to use an account to generate content for other businesses (in the free version, at least). 

For instance, upon account setup you’re asked to fill in your company description, the audience, and some brand keywords. 

For Binko’s Space Robots, we entered the description as worded above, “creating hulking, gigantic space robots etc.” For our audience, we entered space pirates, asteroid miners, space heroes and villains, and starship pilots. 

Our brand keywords are “asteroid mining,” “giant robots,” “space robots,” and “giant robot battles in space.” 

After a popup with introductory information, we’re given the full array of content creation options. Our goal was to create a Google Ads campaign, so let’s start with that. 

Here are the top three Google Ads that were generated for Binko’s Space Robots:

Binko’s Space Robots – All Hands On Deck – Join Our Space Combat League – Locally-owned Giant RobotsAsteroid Mining. Planetary Domination. Intergalactic Combat. Massive Robots. Huge Giant Robots for Sale. Our Robots Can Do It All. Grab An Asteroid and Mine it to Smithereens. Crush Your Enemies! The only company to mine for gold in space. Asteroid Mining Giant Robots

Binko’s Space Robots – Giant Robotic Mining Platforms – Asteroid Mining Robots – Welcome to the FutureSpace Robots. Giant Robots. Giant Robot Battles in Space. The Best Space Robots Available. Huge selection of space robots. Fully Modular, Customizable Robots. Battles and Mining in Deep Space. The Ultimate Asteroid Mining Game. Blast, Hover & Boost Your Way to Riches.

Binko’s Space Robots – Taming the Galaxy – Battle Intergalactic Villains – Binko’s Space RobotsOne Giant Robot, Two Giant Robots, Three Giant Robots, Four Asteroid Mining Robots. Giant Robot Battles. Planet Destroying Weapons. Binko’s Space Robots – Massive, Hulking Robots for Asteroid Mining. The Leader in Space Robot Technology.

As you can see, Smart Copy by Unbounce filled in some blanks beyond the information that we fed it. For instance, we never said anything about planetary domination, but there it is in the copy of the first ad. 

Also, each of the three ads is focusing on a different audience. The first ad seems to use language that would appeal to villains. The second is more mining focused, and the third is focused on the space hero demographic. 

Are these great ads? We think they’re pretty good. However there is the question of accuracy. In the second ad, the copy mentions that the robots are fully modular and customizable. We did not mention anything about those features, but the AI just included them. 

This is a cautionary example that shows you can’t simply plug and play with Smart Copy’s generator. Some of the results may contain inaccurate or misleading information, so they have to be studied before use. Not only can they lead to unhappy potential customers, but they can get your ads disapproved. 

In general, though, we’re really impressed by these ads. The power to generate copy in the blink of an eye is something to behold. 

The pricing structure is, well, maybe a little less impressive. 

Unbounce Smart Copy’s Pricing

Unbounce Smart Copy has a free option. The way this works is you’re given 40 credits upon account creation. Every time you generate content, you’re using a credit. Every week that you log into the account, you’re given 10 credits. 

For the most part, this freemium model is going to get you what you need without a lot of hassle, assuming you’re okay with what you get on the first or second round of content generation. 

In the Google Ads example from above, it generated 5 total ads the first time we ran it. We could run it as many times as we wanted, but every time we click that “create” button, it burns another credit. 

Additionally, the “Customize” option is locked behind the paid subscription. What this means is your topic for any generated content is going to be related to your initial profile information by default. If you want to make content focused on a related topic that isn’t exactly what you’ve filled in for your profile, you have to pay up. 

Paying up here isn’t anything to sneeze at either. By default, membership costs about $19 per month. There is an option to pay annually for only $96 a year, which works out to be $8 a month. However, if you want to take advantage of the 14-day free trial offer, it seems you’re then forced to pay the more expensive $50 monthly rate. 

Is it worth it? That depends. As a business expense, the cost is relatively light. In return, you’re saving your marketing people a lot of potential hours by letting the platform do the heavy lifting. 

If you’re an individual, however, that’s a large chunk of change any way you slice it. $300 could be anywhere from 20 to 30 pizzas you’re giving up for a more convenient content solution. More if you pay the monthly rate. 

Should You Be Worried About Unbounce Smart Copy?

We’re going to answer this one without any suspense. No, human writers shouldn’t be afraid of AI copywriting. In fact, they should be ecstatic. 

That singularity we talked about at the beginning of this article has yet to be reached. There are no cybernetic organisms from the future that are assimilating into our society on the hunt for the future leader of the human rebellion. AI is still artificial, a bare facsimile of humanity. 

What AI can provide is suggestions for long-form content based on data that can then be used to whip up amazing blog copy and product descriptions. This makes the job of a content writer easier rather than obsolete. 

We asked one of our writers and contributor to this blog, to add his thoughts, which he did:

While short-form copy like Google Ads and social media ads can be generated to hit on all the relevant keywords, there’s still nothing that can replace the skills of a great writer when it comes to creating engaging content that people will read. 

If you’re looking for great content for humans to give your business a boost, Direct Online Marketing has the tools to get the job done. Our experienced team of SEO and PPC professionals will help you reach your goals. Contact us today for a free consultation.  

As a bonus, here are some Unbounce Smart Copy auto-generated DOM taglines.

DOM. We cause things to happen. 

DOM. Break the rules. Be different. 

DOM. Dominate everywhere you go.