If someone asked you what your most dreaded tasks at work are, what would you say?

Zapier did and the results were not all that surprising! The clear winner? Data entry or moving information from one place to another, with 73% of respondents wasting 1-3 hours each day on it.

The key to becoming more productive at work is simple—minimize time spent on such wasteful tasks that neither create value nor bring personal satisfaction. And focus on tasks that move the needle. 

But it’s easier said than done. After all, ‘wasteful’ tasks are often necessary. And someone has to do them. The good news is that that someone doesn’t have to be you!

You can delegate such repetitive tasks to automation tools. Another survey by Zapier reports that using automation at work 

• reduces burnout by taking on recurring tasks (38% of respondents)
• frees up time so knowledge workers can focus on the work they enjoy (48% of respondents)

In this blog, we will explore how a particular kind of automation software—AI writing assistants—can let you blaze through your workday by taking over your repetitive writing tasks with precision and finesse. 

What is an AI writing assistant?

An AI writing assistant is a software tool that uses artificial intelligence to assist with writing tasks. Writing assistants are designed to help you improve the quality, speed, and consistency of your writing by providing helpful suggestions and automatic corrections. 

They also perform your repetitive writing tasks far more efficiently by letting you create templates for them and automating them.

Who can use AI writing assistant software?

Anyone who frequently communicates through writing can benefit from using an AI writing assistant.

The software can be used for a variety of purposes, such as automating data entry, writing emails, creating reports, composing social media posts, and much more. Hence, it can be used by all sorts of knowledge workers, business founders, students, writers and content creators etc. 

Benefits of using AI writing assistant software

Some of the top advantages of using AI writing assistant are: 

1. Grammar and spell checking: AI tools make sure your writing is error-free and consistent by automatically detecting and correcting typos as well as grammar and spelling mistakes.

2. Writing style improvement: They suggest alternative word choices, sentence structures, and tone to improve the overall readability and clarity of the writing.

3. Content optimization: Some AI writing assistants come bundled with benefits such as search engine optimization (SEO) for the text you produce and improve the visibility of content on the web.

4. Productivity spike: One of the many capabilities of AI writing assistants is converting spoken words into text, saving time and increasing productivity for knowledge workers. 

They also automate repetitive typing by replacing frequently used chunks of text, code, messages etc. with quick shortcuts. In addition, they can autocomplete writing by anticipating the next words, phrases, or even sentences, helping people get things done faster. You can complement AI writing assistants with an automatic AI photo editor such as Picsart to generate content that contains polished and professional-looking images without much ado.

From producing professional, polished content to improving the speed of your writing, AI writing assistants do it all. 

Read on to discover how you can speed up your workflow and your workday with AI writing assistants.

How to power through your workday with an AI writing assistant

AI writing assistants have dozens of use-cases. 

They are a blessing for knowledge workers including Customer Support executives, Sales representatives and Account Managers, Human Resource (HR) professionals, and even founders. 

Here are some of the everyday tasks that can go more quickly and smoothly with AI writing assistants.

1. Scheduling meetings & applying insights

Imagine you're a superhero with the power to schedule meetings in a snap, track RSVPs with x-ray vision, and transcribe meeting notes faster than a speeding typist! That's what using a writing assistant for scheduling a meeting can feel like. It saves you time and ensures you never miss important details. 

With a writing assistant/text expansion app like OSlash, you can even create a snippet that expands your recurring meeting URLs in email invitations. 

My manager and I just type o/content-meet into the address bar everyday and land at meet.google.com/abk-pkj-qft like magic. Plus it makes it easier to share the meeting information in an email whenever we want other people from the team to join in.

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Other AI-powered specialized writing assistants such as otter.ai can help you transcribe meeting notes in real-time, too! This way, you can create the minutes of the meetings much faster and share them while they are still relevant for the participants. 

2. Responding to repetitive emails 

You know that feeling when you're drowning in a sea of emails? An AI writing assistant is like having a life raft that helps you respond to emails lightning-fast. 

Quick response suggestions, auto-completing frequently used phrases, and even letting you create full-fledged templates for personalizing the responses are just some of the ways it saves you time and makes responding to emails a breeze.

3. Messaging

When you're chatting with your team, time is often of the essence. In the absence of speedy access to information, people may be unable to get their jobs done effectively and efficiently. 

AI writing assistants can help improve communication speed on chat apps by suggesting quick responses, automating message formatting, and integrating with other apps and tools. 

This can reduce the time spent typing messages, ensuring faster and more efficient communication, which can avoid delays in executing important projects, landing or servicing customers, and other vital business processes.

4. Inserting email signatures

Writing assistants can help ensure that all emails sent from an organization have a consistent, polished, and professional signature, saving time and improving the overall look of communications. 

With preset templates, they can help make sure that important details such as name, designation, contact information, links to the company’s online presence (website and social media etc.) are all included in the signature. 

Additionally, by designating a custom shortcut such as o/sign to invoke the signatures automatically in each new email thread, they can save everyone keystrokes, the frustration of copy-pasting, and the effort of navigating to a page with multiple clicks. 

5. Sending out email pitches and requests

Sending out requests can be a tedious task, especially if you're sending the same type of request over and over. 

“Please review this document”. “Please advise on the next steps.” “Please share your feedback on the deck.” It can get mind-numbing to do this all day, everyday. 

You can delegate sending out email requests to your AI writing assistant which can auto-type them for you. Whether it's for information, follow-up reminders, or status updates, it saves you time, makes routine requests a breeze, and prevents you from burning out over nothing.

You can even program your writing assistant with a customizable template for cold pitches, leaving out placeholders for dynamic text which you can fill in later. This way, you don’t have to type pitches from scratch every time you have a new prospect or investor. Win-win!

6. Copywriting and producing content

Generating compelling copy and marketing content can keep creatives locked in their cubicles or chained to their desks for hours, waiting for inspiration to strike. Especially when you aren’t a born wordsmith. But having a writing assistant is akin to having a team of copywriters at your beck and call, 24x7. 

It can generate the product descriptions, social media posts, and other marketing materials you need—in about as much time as it takes for you to feed it the perfect prompt. 

You can also use writing assistants to create blog outlines, templates for inserting metadata into posts, adding the icing of title tags/meta descriptions/alt tags etc. to the content cake you bake. This will save you even more time and ensure your content is always on-brand and on-point.

Recommended reading: Using a text expander to speed up writing related tasks

7. Customer support communications

Dealing with customer inquiries as a rep can seem like riding a train that never stops! There is a flood of issues coming at you at breakneck speeds and you’re supposed to resolve them all—with patience and empathy to boot!

Enter AI writing assistants, your lifesavers. Armed with a plethora of canned responses, they can resolve common customer inquiries, such as dispensing product information, communicating shipping status, and managing billing inquiries. This helps free up the customer support team to focus on more complex issues that require human intervention.

8. HR communications

If you’ve ever tried to attempt the challenging mission of finding the right candidate for a role, you would have definitely wanted an AI writing tool to take some parts of the process off your plate. It’s far from easy. It’s hectic, long-drawn, and frustrating. 

This is why automating as much of it as possible is a splendid idea!

You can use an AI writing assistant to automate (and scale) writing candidate outreach emails, follow-up emails and meeting scheduling emails, LinkedIn connection requests and InMails, detailed job descriptions, offer letters, and repetitive sequences of onboarding communications for each candidate. 

You can also use them to templatize performance reviews, share details of compensation packages/benefits, and communicate policy updates org-wide in a consistent voice and tone.

9. Sales communications

AI writing tools improve the quality and speed of your sales interactions with prospects and customers. They can help you automate parts of the sales cycle and boost overall sales productivity. By connecting your AI writing assistant with your email and chat platforms, such as Gmail and Slack, you can easily streamline your sales communications. 

You can train it to respond to common sales inquiries, such as product questions and follow-up requests with canned replies as well. In addition, AI writing assistants can suggest personalized responses based on the context of each individual interaction, helping to build stronger relationships with prospects and customers.

Text expanders can also help you automate CRM processes including data entry, adding notes after each customer call, and sharing prospect information and updates across the entire team. 

Recommended reading: How to use a text expander to simplify sales communications and CRM success

10. Shipping code

Whether you're working on a large-scale project or just a quick bug fix, a writing assistant can save you time and streamline your development process. It can automate routine coding tasks, such as inserting commonly used code snippets, conducting testing, and debugging, freeing up your development team to focus on more complex issues and helping you ship faster. 

11. Reducing context switching

With AI writing assistants, especially text expanders and autocomplete solutions, you can often generate and edit text right within the apps you’re working on—word processors, text editors, email clients, messaging apps and so on. 

You can also say goodbye to copy-pasting by switching from one tab to another in quick succession.

By automating workflows and providing you quick access to information, they reduce context switching and make you more focused and productive every minute. 

No matter what your use-case for AI writing tools, relying on one is a surefire way to speed up your workday!

5 tips for choosing the best AI writing assistant software

If you’re considering partnering up with AI writing assistant software, keep these top tips in mind to find the right fit for yourself:

1. Features and functionality: Consider what features and functionalities you need in an AI writing assistant, such as grammar and spell check, automated responses, and personalized suggestions, to ensure it meets your specific requirements.

2. Integration with existing tools: Choose an AI writing assistant that integrates with your existing tools, such as email, chat, and project management platforms, to streamline your workflow.

3. Usability: Look for an AI writing assistant that has a user-friendly interface and flatter learning curve, to help you get started and achieve results quickly.

4. Data security and privacy: Make sure the AI writing assistant you choose has strong data security and privacy features, so that your sensitive information is safe.

5. Cost: Consider the cost of the AI writing assistant, including any subscription or per-user fees, to ensure it fits within your budget and provides value for money.

Or you could skip the heavy lifting and consult the extensive blog we wrote on the top 10 free AI writing assistants to try out this year!

Try OSlash—the writing assistant you won’t forget!

Find yourself indulging in too much repetitive writing? 

Let OSlash take it over. With OSlash text expander, it’s easy and intuitive to create templates for things you  type out repeatedly (snippets) and insert them wherever you want, in just a few keystrokes. 

Like typing o/meet and having it expand into a meeting request email, magically.

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All OSlash snippets can be either plain or rich-text, include images, macros/variables, and the ability to add multimedia content and lines of code, among other powerful editing features. You can also share snippets with friends and coworkers. 

OSlash works on all browsers and natively across your Mac apps. Get it here and start flying through your workday by typing 30x faster ⚡️