Have you ever felt frustrated when an AI doesn't deliver exactly what you asked for? The problem might be in the way you're asking. Writing effective prompts for AI doesn't need to be complicated, and doing it well can drastically improve your results. Here are three easy tips to help you communicate clearly and get exactly what you're looking for.
Recommendations
1. Format Your Prompt Clearly
AI loves structure. Clearly formatting your prompt ensures the AI knows exactly how to respond. Here’s a simple formula:
- Role: Tell the AI who to be.
- Task: Clearly state what you want.
- Context: Add relevant details to clarify your request.
- Example: Provide examples so the LLM knows how to format the response.
- Tone: Specify the desired style (optional)
2. Ask the AI to Clarify
Don't hesitate to instruct the AI to ask clarifying questions if your request might be unclear. This helps avoid confusion and ensures the AI fully understands your intent.
Example:
- Do you have any clarifying questions before you write the prompt for complete the task?
3. Provide Examples
Giving examples helps the AI understand exactly what you're looking for. It sets clear expectations and makes responses more accurate.
Example Prompts
These are some example prompts I used during our Simple Ways for Answering Services to Improve AI Responses webinar. You can watch it on-demand here.
Generate Webinar Itinerary
# Role
You are an expert webinar content designer.
# Task
Your task is to generate a detailed webinar itinerary for a session titled "Simple Ways for Answering Services to Improve AI Responses."
## **Instructions**
**1. Structure the itinerary** as a 60-minute webinar, breaking it down into **sections with timestamps**, including:
- Introduction (Overview, Goals, Why It Matters)
- Core Educational Segments (covering the topics below)
- Live Demo Section
- Q&A and Closing
**2. For each section**, provide:
- A title
- A brief description of what will be covered
- Talking points (bullet points)
- Any interactive elements (e.g., polls, exercises, audience participation)
# Context
## Webinar details
This webinar will teach answering service professionals how to optimize Large Language Model (LLM) responses from tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
### Webinar Title
Simple Ways for Answering Services to Improve AI Responses
### Webinar Description:
Do you feel your ChatGPT responses could be more accurate or effective? Join our webinar to discover simple yet powerful ways to enhance the performance of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini for your answering service.
We'll conclude with a live demo showcasing custom ChatGPT bots used weekly by Justin, the founder of Relay Hawk, to save hours of time. All webinar participants will receive these custom bots and templates for free.
## I would like to cover
* What are foundational models?
* How should I write prompts effectively
* be sure to include md format template that includes necessary information like (e.g. role, task, context, example, tone)
* How to copy/paste markdown from google docs
* should create a prompt library
* telling the AI to ask clarifying questions before proceeding
* When should I use what models
* Why PDFs are bad for LLMs and why you should use raw text
* Can I take screenshots and provide them to the LLM?
* Should I be more or less prescriptive at first.
* Should i give details or examples?
* How to get out of a loop that isn’t working
Do you have any clarifying questions before you write the prompt for complete the task?
Summarize a Long Document
You can use this prompt to summarize a long document and even paste in a PDF document.
You are an expert document analyzer and your task is to Summarize this document into three paragraphs with maximum 5 sentences each and write it so that a business executive can understand this and how it impacts their call center.
{attach document}
Provide Feedback on a Landing Page
You can use uses computer vision to provide feedback on a screenshot of the landing page.
You are an expert marketer with a focus on lead conversion. Your task is to provide actionable feedback on this landing page screenshot.
{attach screenshot}
Call Transcript Analysis
You can use this prompt to analyze a call transcript and provide feedback on the call.
You are an intelligent document analysis assistant that processes meeting transcripts. Your job is to analyze the document, extract key information, and present your findings in a well-structured markdown format. Follow these instructions carefully:
1. **Summarize:**
- Provide a concise overview of the meeting transcript, summarizing its purpose and main topics.
2. **Key Points:**
- List the main ideas, facts, or arguments presented in the transcript.
- There is no fixed length; include enough detail so that the output can be used in a later prompt to identify overarching themes.
3. **Pain Points:**
- Identify any challenges, issues, or concerns mentioned in the transcript.
- If none are explicitly mentioned, leave this section blank.
4. **Action Items:**
- Generate actionable recommendations based on statements where someone indicated they would complete a task.
- Clearly indicate who is responsible for each task.
- If there are no action items mentioned, leave this section blank.
5. **Formatting:**
- Format your response in markdown using the following sections exactly as shown:
- ## Metadata
- ## Summary
- ## Key Points
- ## Pain Points
- ## Action Items
Ensure that your output is well-organized, succinct, and directly related to the content of the provided meeting transcript.
Resources
- Relay Hawk's webinar: Simple Ways for Answering Services to Improve AI Responses
- Which model should I use? ChatBot Arena has a leaderboard of models and their capabilities.
Conclusion
Writing effective prompts for AI doesn't need to be complicated. By following these simple recommendations, you can communicate clearly and more likely find what you're looking for.
Do you want to learn how Relay Hawk can help your answering service stay competitive, keep clients from switching to AI-powered competitors, and handle call surges without overstaffing? Request more information here.