How To Write Shopify Product Meta Descriptions Using ChatGPT

Time needed: 10 minutes

We’ll walk through making two workflows. The first will take the Title and Description of a newly created product in Shopify, prompt ChatGPT to write a meta description then save the result to Google Sheets.

The second workflow will run on a daily schedule to loop through the Google Sheets doc, and based on a Status column change, will take the meta description and then update the product in Shopify.

To get started, be sure to add MESA to your Shopify store before starting.

1. First, start a new workflow using Shopify then, select the Product Created trigger event.

   When creating a workflow from scratch, choose the Shopify app to get started. Then use the search fields to locate the Product Created event from the list.

2. Next, add the Custom Code app

   In the description field, add the comment “Remove HTML tags” so you’ll remember what this does later.

3. Add this code snippet in the Code Editor

   Now, click the “Edit Code” link to enter the code editor. Where you see the comment “Add your custom code here” paste the following snippet:
   
   Mesa.log.info("payload: ", payload.body_html);
payload.body_text = payload.body_html.replace(/<\/?[^>]+>/gi, '');
Mesa.log.info("body text: ", payload.body_text);
   
   When you’re done, be sure to Save your changes then, exit the code editor.

4. Next, add the Shopify “Retrieve Product Metafields” action to your workflow

   Under the Step Configuration section, add the Product Created > ID variable. Then specify the Namespace as global and the Key as description_tag

5. Next, add ChatGPT to your workflow

   Be sure to authenticate ChatGPT with your OpenAI API key if this is your first time. Following the instructions to acquire your API key.
   
   Then, click the Add Message button and paste the following prompt in the “Content” field:
   
   Write an SEO optimized meta description that is a max of 160 characters for the following product:
Title: {{shopify.title}}
Description: {{custom.body_text}}
   
   The {{shopify.title} is a variable that comes from the original Shopify Product Created step. The {{custom.body_text}} variable comes from the Custom Code step so the text is cleaner for the AI.

6. Next, add the Google Sheets, Create Row action

   Be sure to authenticate Google Sheets if this is your first time.
   
   Then, we’ll create a new spreadsheet file called “Product Meta Descriptions”. Click Create Spreadsheet when you’re ready.

7. Add Columns to your new Google Sheets spreadsheet

   Click the Add Column link to make spreadsheet columns for the following:
   
   ID –> {{shopify.id}}
   Name –> {{shopify.title}}
   Meta Description –> {{shopify_2.value}}
   Description –> {{shopify.body_html}}
   AI Meta Description –> {{chatgpt.choices[0].message.content}}
   
   You can also use the {+} icon on each field to open the Variable Selector to find these values manually.
   
   Then, when you’re ready, be sure to Save then, name your workflow some unique. Turn this workflow On to enable it.
   
   Important: You’ll want to run a test to be sure everything is coming over to Google Sheets correctly. Having a single row in your spreadsheet will also help your efforts in the next workflow needed.
   

8. Now, we’ll make another new workflow using the Schedule by MESA app

   Depending how often you plan to make changes to your Google Spreadsheets, you can change the frequency interval. For this example, we’ll leave this to run Hourly.

9. Next, add the Google Sheets List Row action to your workflow

   Using the Step Configuration, choose the Product Meta Descriptions spreadsheet that we created in the last workflow. Select Sheet1 for the worksheet then, under Range, we’ll enter A1:G10 to grab the first 10 rows of data.

10. Next, add the Loop by MESA steps to your workflow

    In the field, Values to loop over, add the following snippet: {{googlesheets}}

11. Next, add the Filter by MESA step to your workflow

    Define the filter rules to look at the Loop step field “Status” column {{loop.fields['Status']}} to see if it equals “Publish”.

12. Next, add the Shopify, Set Product Metafield action to your workflow

    We’ll need to define the values from the Loop step to correlate to the right Product Metafield. Following these field values to map the data correctly:
    
    Product ID –> {{loop.fields['ID']}}
    Key –> description_tag
    Namespace –> global
    Type –> Text Field
    Value –> {{loop.fields['AI Meta Description']}}
    
    Then, when you’re ready, be sure to Save then, name your workflow some unique. Finally, turn this workflow On to enable it.