Prompting Essentials

Why the same tool gives different results

A prompt is the message you type to an AI assistant. The assistant can't see your screen, your files, your customers or your situation. It only knows what's in the conversation. When the prompt is vague, it fills the gaps with the most average guess it can make, and you get an average answer.

Here's the same job asked two ways, with the kind of reply each one gets.

Vague prompt:

Write a message to a customer about a date change.

Typical reply:

Dear Valued Customer,

We hope this message finds you well. We would like to inform you that
there has been a change in the date of your scheduled service. Please
contact us at your earliest convenience to discuss the new arrangements.

Best regards,
[Your Name]

It's polite and useless: no names, no dates, nothing the customer can act on, and a tone nobody uses on WhatsApp.

Specific prompt:

I run a small catering business in Ibadan. A customer, Mrs Adeyemi, paid
a ₦150,000 deposit for 80 guests on 12 July. She has asked to move the
event to 19 July and we can do that. Write a short, warm WhatsApp message
confirming the new date and that her deposit still stands. Under 60 words.
No "valued customer".

Typical reply:

Good afternoon Mrs Adeyemi! Just confirming your event has moved to
Saturday 19 July, still for 80 guests. Your ₦150,000 deposit stays on
your booking, so nothing changes there. We'll call you the week before
to finalise the menu. Thank you for choosing us!

You could send that almost as it is. The only difference was the prompt.

The four parts of a good prompt

Most weak answers are fixed by checking that your prompt has these four parts:

A quick test: if you gave this job to a new assistant on their first day, what would they need to know? Tell the AI the same things.

Show it an example

To get a particular style, show the AI one example instead of describing the style.

Here is a product description I like, from our menu:

"Zobo, brewed fresh every morning with hibiscus, ginger and a hint of
pineapple. No preservatives. Chilled and ready in 50cl bottles."

Write descriptions in exactly the same style and length for: kunu,
chapman and fresh orange juice.

Kunu, made fresh daily from millet, ginger and cloves. Lightly sweet,
naturally thick, no preservatives. Chilled and ready in 50cl bottles.

Chapman, our house blend of fruity soda, bitters and a slice of cucumber.
Mixed to order. Served ice-cold in 50cl bottles.

Fresh orange juice, squeezed every morning from sweet local oranges.
Nothing added. Chilled and ready in 50cl bottles.

The AI copied the length, the rhythm ("made fresh daily… no preservatives… chilled and ready") and the ending. This "show, don't describe" approach works for emails, captions, reports and almost anything with a house style.

Improve the draft, don't start again

The first answer is a draft. Instead of opening a new chat and retyping everything, reply with what to change. The assistant remembers the whole conversation.

A real exchange looks like this:

You:  Write a short email to my manager asking for Friday off.
AI:   Dear Mr Bello, I am writing to formally request a day of leave on
      Friday, 14 March, for personal reasons. I have ensured that my
      responsibilities will be covered in my absence...
You:  Less formal, we usually just message each other. And mention
      Kemi has agreed to cover the 10am client call.
AI:   Hi Mr Bello, could I take this Friday off? Kemi has kindly agreed
      to cover the 10am client call, and everything else is up to date.
      Thanks!
You:  Perfect. One more version that's even shorter, for WhatsApp.

Useful follow-ups to keep in your pocket:

• "Shorter: three sentences at most."
• "Less formal. It's for a colleague."
• "That's wrong: we close at 6pm, not 8pm. Fix it."
• "Give me three different versions to choose from."
• "Explain it as if I'm new to the topic."

Check before you use it

AI assistants write fluently even when they're wrong, so mistakes don't look like mistakes. Three kinds of error to watch for:

1. Wrong numbers. Language models predict text; they don't always calculate. Ask "what's a 15% deposit on ₦240,000?" and you might be told ₦32,000. The right answer is ₦36,000. Check any figure that matters with a calculator.
2. Invented facts and sources. Ask for "three studies that show…" and you may get three convincing titles, authors and years, some of which don't exist. Never use a fact, quote or reference you haven't found in a real source yourself.
3. Out-of-date information. Prices, laws, fees and requirements change. For anything official, check the organisation's own website.

And protect people's information: don't paste customers' phone numbers, passwords, bank details, payslips or confidential company documents into an AI tool unless your organisation has approved that tool for it.

Try it

Do these with any AI assistant open in another tab (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot), then paste your work here.

Here's a first draft an AI produced for a bakery's Instagram post. The owner wants it shorter, more casual, and the price is wrong: it should be ₦4,500, not ₦5,400.

We are delighted to announce the launch of our brand-new coconut bread,
lovingly baked fresh every morning using only the finest ingredients.
Each loaf is available at the incredibly affordable price of ₦5,400.
Visit us today to experience this delightful new addition to our menu!