Write an AI-Ready Voiceover Script for a 30-Second Product Ad
Objective: Take a normal ad script full of symbols, abbreviations, and unclear numbers, and rewrite it so an AI voice generator reads it the way a human narrator would.
You're a marketing coordinator at Warby Parker, the DTC eyewear brand that went public via direct listing in 2021. The team needs a 30-second AI-narrated ad for a new frame line, and it has to be ready to generate in ElevenLabs today, not after a studio booking.
Rewrite the raw ad copy so every number, symbol, and abbreviation is spelled out the way it should be spoken, then generate and review the audio output.
Before you start
What you'll need
Free path (everything below is enough to finish)
Free tier includes 10,000 characters/month, enough to draft and test a 30-second ad script repeatedly
Free, no account friction, easy to share with a copywriter for review
The process
1 step
Step 01 of 01
Stage 1 of the lesson's playbook says to keep sentences under 20 words and spell out anything the AI might mispronounce: 'percent' not '%', 'United States' not 'U.S.', 'two thousand dollars' not '$2,000'.
The raw script reads: 'Get 20% off our new frames, now $89 in the U.S. & Canada, ships in 2-3 days.' What does this sound like read literally by a text-to-speech engine, and how do you fix it?
Procedure
- Read the raw script aloud literally, symbol by symbol, to hear what the AI will actually say
- Replace every symbol with its spoken form: '%' becomes 'percent', '&' becomes 'and', '$89' becomes 'eighty-nine dollars'
- Spell out abbreviations: 'U.S.' becomes 'United States'
- Convert numeric ranges into words: '2-3 days' becomes 'two to three days'
- Paste the rewritten script into ElevenLabs, generate audio, and listen to the full output before approving
RAW: "Get 20% off our new frames, now $89 in the U.S. & Canada, ships in 2-3 days." AI-READY: "Get twenty percent off our new frames, now eighty-nine dollars in the United States and Canada, ships in two to three days."
Healthy
The generated audio reads every number and symbol the way a human narrator naturally would, with no spelled-out punctuation leaking into the speech.
Unhealthy
The AI says 'twenty percent sign off' or 'dollar sign eight nine' because the raw symbols were never converted to words.
What this means
AI voice models read text literally; a script written for the eye, not the ear, produces audio that sounds robotic even on a high-quality voice model.
So what do I do about it?
| Symptom | Action | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Generated ad audio mispronounces prices or percentages | Rewrite every symbol and abbreviation as spoken words before generating, not after | 5 min |
Final deliverable
An AI-ready version of the 30-second ad script, plus the generated ElevenLabs audio file, with every symbol and abbreviation spelled out for correct pronunciation.
See a reference example
ThredUp, Fall Resale Drop, AI-ready script (excerpt) "New arrivals just landed: thousands of secondhand pieces, up to seventy percent off retail. Free shipping on orders over thirty-five dollars, in the United States only. Shop the drop before it's gone."
Success criteria
You're done when you can:
- Every symbol and abbreviation in the raw script is converted to its spoken form
- The generated ElevenLabs audio has no mispronounced numbers, percentages, or currency