Write a prompt that gets a usable first draft

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Lesson 1 · 7 min

Write a prompt that gets a usable first draft

By the end

A four-part prompt you can reuse, and a first draft of a real email that needs only a light edit.

  1. 1Learn
  2. 2Try it
  3. 3Human check
  4. 4Quick check

Learn · 3 min

Why answers come out generic

An AI assistant doesn’t know your business, your customer or what happened last week. Give it a one-line prompt (the request you type in) and it fills every gap with the most typical answer it can write. That’s why “write an email about a delay” gets you an email nobody would send.

The fix isn’t clever wording. It’s the briefing you’d give a capable new colleague on their first day.

Role, task, context, format

A good prompt covers four things. You don’t need labels or perfect grammar, just all four. If you only add one, add the context: it does most of the work.

  • Role: who it’s writing as. “You’re writing as the owner of a small bakery.”
  • Task: the one job, starting with a verb. “Draft an email to a café that orders from us every week.”
  • Context: the facts it can’t know. What happened, what you can offer, what you can’t promise.
  • Format: length, tone and shape. “Under 120 words, warm and plain, ending with one question.”

What the difference looks like

The one-liner: “Write an email saying our delivery will be late.”

The briefed version: “You’re writing as the owner of a small bakery. Draft an email to a café that orders bread from us every Friday. This week’s order will be two hours late because our oven is being repaired. We can deliver half at 7 a.m. and the rest by 10, or add a credit to next week’s order. Under 120 words, warm and plain, no excuses. End by asking which option they prefer.”

Notice what the second one adds: who it’s from, who it’s for, what happened, the options, the limits and the shape. Nothing clever, just facts. It takes a minute longer to write and usually saves you the rewrite.

Habits that save a second try

A few habits help once the four parts are in place:

  • Paste the message you’re replying to, so it answers the real question.
  • Say what to avoid: “No discounts. Apologize once, not three times.”
  • Let it ask: “If anything important is missing, ask me before you draft.”
  • Keep the prompts that work. Next time, you only change the facts.

Try it on your business

4 min

Pick an email you actually need to send this week: a reply, a quote follow-up, a delay, a thank-you. Fill in the brackets and run it in ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini.

  1. 1

    Choose one real email you’d otherwise write from scratch today.

  2. 2

    Fill in every bracket with specifics: names, dates, what you can offer. Leave out anything private, like account numbers or home addresses.

  3. 3

    Paste it into a new chat and answer any questions it asks.

  4. 4

    Compare the draft with what you’d have written. If it’s off, find the thin part (usually the context), fix it and run it again.

  5. 5

    Save the filled-in prompt. Next time, you only change the facts.

You’re writing as [YOUR ROLE] at [YOUR BUSINESS, IN A FEW WORDS].
Draft an email to [WHO IT’S TO, AND HOW YOU KNOW THEM] about [WHAT THE EMAIL NEEDS TO DO].
What they need to know: [THE FACTS: WHAT HAPPENED, KEY DATES, WHAT YOU CAN AND CAN’T OFFER].
Format: under [NUMBER] words, [TONE, SUCH AS WARM AND PLAIN], ending with [THE ONE NEXT STEP YOU WANT FROM THEM].
Don’t invent facts, dates or prices I haven’t given you. If something important is missing, ask me before you draft.
Open ChatGPTOpen ClaudeOpen Gemini

Human check: before you use it

Quick check · question 1 of 2No grades

“Write an email about a late delivery” got you a bland, generic draft. What’s the most useful thing to add?

Ask the Distillery

Answers come from The Distillery’s own pages, with sources.

If the Distillery doesn’t know, it says so and points you to a person.