Transcription
AI tools can now generate full emails, reports, and essays in just seconds, many entirely for free. So, is Grammarly even still relevant? And do you even need it? I partnered with Grammarly to find out.
Grammarly started back in 2009, and it was originally designed to help students improve their grammar and spelling. Over time, it became a full-fledged writing assistant that can generate, rewrite, and summarize text with the goal of helping you communicate better. However, many of these free AI tools can also do much of that, and they do a very impressive job. In this video, we'll look at what Grammarly does especially well, and what the other AI tools do well. So, that way, you can decide which one is the best for you, and if Grammarly is even worth considering these days.
First, let's have a look at what Grammarly does best, and why it might still be worth using. Here I am writing an email in Microsoft Outlook. I'd like to let all of our customers know that we now offer drone delivery at the Kevin Cookie Company. Finally, we can get cookies to customers while they're still hot. Unfortunately, I'm staring at a blank email. This is often the hardest part of writing. Instead of struggling with a blank slate, let's have Grammarly help brainstorm a solid email structure.
When I click into the email body, in the bottom right-hand corner, you'll see this Grammarly overlay. Let's click on this icon with the light bulb. This offers me a few different ways that I can get started with my message. But let's actually go to the top right-hand corner and click on this icon for my voice. This feature lets me provide Grammarly with context on how I want to craft my message. That way I can make sure that it aligns with my personal writing style. This is an email to customers at the Kevin Cookie Company. In terms of formality, I'd like it to be casual. For the tone, let's go with engaging. Then I could also choose my profession. This is going to be a sales email. So, I think sales professional is appropriate. And also, I write in American English. I'll make sure to select that, and then let's click on use this voice.
Right up above, I see some ideas for how I could use Grammarly. For example, I could ask for a favor. I could write a thank you note. Now, those don't match what I'm trying to do. Down at the bottom, we also have this text field where I can type in a prompt. I'll type in my prompt: "We would like to send an email to customers at the Kevin Cookie Company, letting them know that we now have a new delivery method." This is my prompt. The more detailed you could be, typically, the better the results will look. Over here, let's send that to Grammarly. If we look right up above, we can see that Grammarly has pulled together a sample message, and it also included all the different details that I called out in my prompt. For example, I mentioned that we have a coupon code called cookie fly, and it incorporated that into the message. I like it. Now, here at the very bottom, we can continue refining this message. For example, maybe we'll want to make it more friendly. Or here, make it more persuasive, and then we also have some additional ideas. Now right here at the bottom of the message, I could also retry or try generating this message again. But I think overall, this is a really good place to start. So over here, let's insert this into the message.
One of the neat things about Grammarly is I get access to this overlay just about anywhere I write. Now, I happen to be in an Outlook email message, but maybe I'm on LinkedIn writing a post, or maybe I'm responding to a message on Slack. I get that same exact overlay. Also, with a free Grammarly account, you also get this same exact overlay, and you could use it to generate or refine text up to 100 times every single month, and it won't cost you anything.
I'd like to continue writing my message. Before we say warm regards, let me enter in some text: "We think you'll very much enjoy this new service. Thank you so much for your support, and we hope you enjoy this brand new super-fast way to get your cookies." Now, I think that line of text looks good. But you'll notice as I type this in, I get these underlines in my text. Here, it recommends instead of saying "and we," it recommends just ending the one sentence and then starting a new sentence. I think that probably improves the message, so let's accept that. Also, here at the beginning, I get another underline. I said, "We think you'll very much enjoy," but it's probably not all that confident. Over here, it says, "You'll enjoy this new service." That does sound a lot better. I'll select this. The neat thing is I get instant suggestions as I type. Basically, Grammarly is working in the background and provides real-time feedback on my writing. Now, honestly, this is one of Grammarly's biggest strengths. I don't have to go to another AI tool in another tab and ask for that feedback. I just get it.
As much as I like this text, I think the opening sentence could probably use a little bit more humor. That's how you really hook a customer and get them to read the entire email message. One of the neat things about Grammarly is you can target feedback and improvements to just specific areas of your text. Here, I’ll highlight the opening sentences, and when I do that, over on the left-hand side, you'll see this icon appears or what Grammarly refers to as the sidebar. This is a pro feature. When I click on this, I get an overlay, and it offers instant improvements. Over here, I could also rephrase. When I click on more, I have additional options like Shorten, Friendly, and Formal. Or over here, I could also type in my own. Now, I don't see one of these options for Make it Humorous, so let me type that in myself. I'll type in some text that says “Make it more humorous,” and then let's press Enter. Look at that. Right down below, I see the revised text, and I think it's a lot more humorous. I like that extra personality. Now, I could copy this text, or over here, I could simply click on Accept, and that'll replace the text that I had with the new recommended text that's more humorous.
It looks like I have a few more words underlined. I could go through them one by one and review the different recommendations, or down here in the bottom right-hand corner, I can click on the overlay, and here too, I can also review all of the suggestions. And in fact, if I click on Show More, here I can see all the suggestions all in this one panel. At the very top, I can also sort the different suggestions based on the different categories. For example, if I just want to see all of the different suggestions related to correctness, I could click on that, and that filters down the set of recommendations down below. At the very bottom, it says Increase the impact of your text. That sounds intriguing. Let's click on that. As a note, this is a pro feature. This opens up additional suggestions that go beyond just style. Here, let's take a look at this one. It says Emphasize the celebration of the launch to make customers feel part of the special event. And here, I can see green text that shows what text is being included. And to mark this special occasion, your first order will be free. I think that helps. Let's click on Accept. Then over here, Reassure customers about the safety and reliability. Here it says Rest Assured, our drone delivery service is safe and reliable, ensuring your favorite treats land right on your doorstep. I think that's also a good addition. Right over here, let's click on Accept. And it looks like there are no more ideas. So, in the top right, I'll close out of this view.
Let's quickly summarize what I like about Grammarly. It's all in line. That way, I don't have to navigate to a different app or switch tabs. Also, it gives me recommendations proactively. The best way to describe it -- it's basically the expert in professional writing best practices, so I don't have to be.
Let's now look at how Microsoft Copilot can help us compose this email message. Here I am again in Microsoft Outlook, and I want to write that same email, but this time we're going to use Copilot. To be able to use Copilot, we can click on this icon, which is directly in line with the text, or in the top right-hand corner, we can click on this icon. You'll only get this icon within Outlook if you have a paid Microsoft 365 subscription. Also, you have to be in a Microsoft 365 app. This doesn't work outside of the Microsoft ecosystem. Right over here, let's click on the Copilot icon. This opens up a window where I have a few different suggested prompts, and up above, I could type in my own prompt. Let's type in the same exact prompt that I typed in earlier with Grammarly. And over here, let's send that to the Copilot. This has now generated some AI text. Down below, I have a few different options. I could keep it, discard it, or down below, I could also refine it. And up on top, I could also type in how I would like to refine it. For now, let's click on Keep It, and that's now inserted my text into this email.
Here too, similar to what we saw with Grammarly, I could highlight text. Let's say I want to make this more humorous. When I highlight it, I get the Copilot icon, and I could click on that, and now I could ask it to refine this text. That's great. Now, let's go down here, and I want to add my own text. So right over here, I'll type in my additional line. Right there, that looks good. Here, I don't get any proactive recommendations. Instead, I'm on my own. I have to highlight the text, and I could prompt the AI if it recommends any improvements here, but again, I don't get any underlines that tell me immediately how I can make this better.
There is one interesting feature though. In the top right, I could click on Copilot, and we have the option for Coaching. Let's try that out to see if I could get similar suggestions to what we got with Grammarly. Down at the very bottom, I get a few different suggestions related to the tone, and right here, it shows me different changes that I can make. However, here too, it doesn't automatically incorporate those changes. I could read all these different suggestions, and I can make those changes myself. But again, that's manual work that I would have to do.
Let's now check out how we can write this same email using ChatGPT. Here I am again in Outlook, and to compose this message using ChatGPT, I have to jump over to ChatGPT. Unfortunately, it does not integrate directly into my email. So over here, I'll go to ChatGPT, and I could type in my prompt, and let's send that to ChatGPT. I get a response from ChatGPT, and overall, it looks reasonable. If I go down to the bottom here, I could copy the output, and then I could go back to my email, and here I could paste it in.
I'd like to start making some modifications to my text. Here too, I'd also like to add some humor to these first two lines. But to do that, I have to copy these lines of text. I'll highlight it, copy it, go back into ChatGPT, and now I could type in my prompt: "Let's say make this more humorous," and then I'll paste in the text, and then I have to send it through to ChatGPT. And it looks like it now modifies most of the message. Now over here, I could highlight this, copy it, bring it back into my message, and then paste it. But it requires a lot of going back and forth between ChatGPT and my email message. Let me go down in my message, and here too, I also want to add a line of my own text. So right here, I'll type in my text. But I don't get any proactive recommendations. Instead, I would have to copy all this text, bring it into ChatGPT, and ask if it has any recommendations on ways to improve my text. It's doable, but it requires a lot more effort.
In this video, we've been looking at writing an email, and Grammarly really shines here. Its laser focused on helping you communicate more effectively. ChatGPT and Copilot also help you communicate more effectively, but they're a little bit more clunky and not as integrated into your workflow. Of course, ChatGPT and Copilot can do more than just communication. They also help with generating images. They could also generate videos, they could analyze data, and so much more. Think of ChatGPT and Copilot more as generalists and Grammarly as a communication expert.
Let's compare prices. All of them offer a free plan, but only Grammarly lets you use it within apps on the free tier. Now, if you're serious about AI assistance, you'll probably want a paid plan. And here's where things get interesting. Grammarly is by far the most flexible. It works across 500,000 apps and websites, like Gmail, Word, and even Slack. Copilot is locked into the Microsoft 365 apps, like Word, Excel, and Outlook. And ChatGPT, you can only use it at ChatGPT.com. There's no deep integration elsewhere.
So, which one's the best? What's your go-to AI tool? Do you think Grammarly is still relevant and useful with all these free AI tools? If you want to start with Grammarly, Copilot, or ChatGPT, you could use the links right down below. Please consider subscribing, and I hope to see you in the next video.