The Real Reason AI Ads Don’t Convert ❌

Hey again!

AI makes it unbelievably easy to produce ad copy now.

And like it or not, pretty much everyone realizes that…

Which is exactly why most ads today sound the same.

Scroll any feed and you’ll see the pattern:

The problem isn’t the tools.

It’s that most people are prompting AI to describe a product, instead of prompting it to trigger a response.

There’s a big difference between:

“We help you streamline your workflow.”

and

“You’re losing hours every week to problems you shouldn’t still be dealing with.”

One is information.

The other is motivation. ⚡

The ads that get clicked — whether written by a human or by AI — all leverage the same psychological triggers:

So in this edition, we’re going to break down:

1. Why most AI-generated ads fall flat

2. The psychological levers that actually move people

3. The exact prompt frameworks we use to write high-performing ads in seconds

Most AI-generated ads fail for one simple reason:

They describe the product instead of creating contrast.

👉 And contrast is what makes people care.

Here’s what typically happens… 

Someone writes a prompt like:

“Write ad copy for a tool that helps founders automate workflows.”

AI responds with something like:

“Automate your workflows with ease. Save time and streamline operations effortlessly.”

Dies a little inside

Of course, I have a strong bias against surface-level copy like this, so you’ll have to forgive me.

But this copy is… flat.

There’s no tension.

There’s no threat or major benefit.

It’s just… copy.

Great ad copy is supposed to do one of three things:

If your ad doesn’t trigger at least one of these, it gets ignored.

So instead of prompting AI to “write an ad,” we prompt it to:

Once you do that, the copy practically writes itself.

Every high-performing ad can be reduced to this pattern:

[The Problem They Already Know They Have]

👇

[The Hidden Cause They Haven’t Considered]

👇

[The Specific Payoff of Solving It]

Example (for automation):

You’re losing hours to small tasks you shouldn’t even be touching anymore.

Your workflows weren’t built to scale. They were built to “get it working.”

(And then you forgot to upscale…)

Once you rebuild the system correctly, the manual work disappears.

This is the structure, not the wording.

Once you feed this to AI, the copy becomes sharp, relevant, and clickworthy. ✅

You MUST trigger curiosity in your reader. 

Without it, you’re pretty much guaranteed to lose the battle to the literal ocean of free dopamine parading on social media. 

Here are the exact prompt blocks we use internally to generate ads that perform, not just look clean:

Creates hooks that feel new — without clickbait.

Write 10 ad hooks that highlight a problem the audience is underestimating.

Audience: [ICP]

Context: They believe the problem is [surface explanation].

Reveal the deeper cause: [real issue].

Hooks must:

- Be under 12 words.

- Create a knowledge gap.

- Avoid hype or generic claims.

Return as a list.

Makes inaction feel expensive.

Write 6 short ads that highlight the cost of doing nothing.

Audience: [ICP]

Loss to highlight: [time / money / opportunity]

Each ad should show:

Line 1: The loss.

Line 2: The fix.

CTA: 2 words.

Anchors credibility with details that feel concrete.

Write 7 variations of ad copy emphasizing specificity.

Include:

- One quantifiable outcome

- One clear use case

- One detail that signals real-world familiarity

Keep each under 45 words.

If you want help:

Then we can help. 👏

This is the same system we use internally — the one responsible for:

If you’re ready to implement this properly:

We’ll audit your current messaging and show you where your leverage is.

‘Til then!