A good request to an AI (a prompt) says who it is, what to do, with what information, in what tone and in what format. A vague request gets a vague answer; a request with these five parts gets a first draft that only needs review. The AI writes fast, but it is your company that answers the customer, so the draft never goes out without a person reading it.
The five parts of a prompt
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The role. “You are the customer service desk of an online shop.” It gives the model the right point of view.
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The task. One per request, stated plainly: “reply to this customer”, “write the description of this product”, “summarise this meeting”.
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The information. Paste what the model needs to know, and only that. What you do not give it, it makes up.
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The tone and the limits. “Polite and direct. Do not promise dates or refunds. If information is missing, ask.”
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The format. “One short paragraph”, “a bullet list”, “a headline and three lines”.
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A template for each task
| Task |
What to give the model |
What to ask for |
| Replying to a customer |
Their message, what you know about the case, what you can and cannot promise |
A polite reply that asks for what is missing and promises nothing it should not |
| Describing a product |
Real features, who it is for, the brand’s tone |
A description that uses only what you gave it |
| Summarising a text or meeting |
The full text |
Main points, decisions made and tasks, each with an owner if there is one |
| Rewriting |
Your text and the tone you want |
The same information, clearer and shorter |
A complete prompt for answering a complaint:
You are the customer service desk of an online shop.
Reply to this customer message: [paste the message].
What we know about the case: [what happened].
Tone: polite and direct. Do not promise dates or refunds.
If information is missing, ask one question.
Format: one short paragraph.
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Do not paste data you should not. Passwords, API keys, health data, identity documents and customer data do not go into an AI service. See what never to type into an AI.
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Check facts, names, amounts and dates. The AI writes with the same confidence when it is right and when it invents. See how to check an answer.
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Ask for two versions and pick the better one, or combine what is good in each.
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Say what you did not like (“shorter”, “no exclamation marks”) instead of starting over.
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Keep the prompts that work. A document with your five usual prompts saves more time than any trick.
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If the AI writes generic things, the problem is usually the prompt: concrete information about your case, your customer and your product was missing. The more specific what you paste, the less generic what comes out.
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Want to use AI on your site or in customer service and do not know where to start? Tell us what you have and what you want.
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