Almost every person I talk to has a story about their first attempt at using AI. Some got nonsensical responses, others received perfect-looking but completely wrong information, and many gave up in frustration. But here’s what I’ve learned after helping hundreds of people: the difference between AI success and failure basically comes down to how you ask the question.

Creating effective prompts isn’t about learning complex technical skills or mastering a new programming language. It’s about clear communication – something you already do every day in your business.

Start With What You Know

Think about the last time you delegated a task successfully. You probably provided clear expectations, necessary background information, and specified the desired outcome. AI prompting works exactly the same way. The main difference? AI has no context unless you provide it.

Imagine you need to analyze customer feedback. You might start with a prompt like “analyze my customer feedback and tell me what’s wrong.” The AI will struggle because it doesn’t know what type of feedback you’re looking at, what patterns matter to your business, or what kind of analysis you need.

A better approach would be: “Analyze these 100 customer feedback responses from our software product. Identify common technical issues, feature requests, and satisfaction trends. Group similar complaints together and rank them by frequency. Present the findings in a clear format with specific examples from the feedback.”

The Magic of Specific Instructions

AI tools don’t make assumptions – they take your instructions literally. This is both their strength and their limitation. When you tell an AI to “make it better,” it has no idea what “better” means to you. But when you say “reduce the reading level to grade 8 and include more concrete examples,” you’ll get exactly what you need.

This applies to every type of business task. Instead of asking for “a marketing email,” specify “a marketing email announcing our spring sale to existing customers who haven’t purchased in 6 months. Highlight our new loyalty program and include their previous purchase category. Keep the tone friendly but professional.”

Breaking Down Complex Tasks

Sometimes the hardest prompts to write are for the simplest tasks – because we take for granted all the implicit knowledge involved. Let’s say you need to create a customer service response. Rather than asking for “a nice reply to an angry customer,” break down what that actually means:

“Write a response to a customer complaint about delayed shipping. The response should:
– Express sincere apology for the delay
– Explain that severe weather affected our distribution center
– Offer a 20% discount on their next purchase
– Provide the new expected delivery date
– Include our standard satisfaction guarantee
Tone: Professional, empathetic, solution-focused”

When you follow these principles, the improvement in AI outputs is dramatic.

So, before you send any prompt to AI, ask yourself:

• Have I specified who this is for?
• Have I included relevant context?
• Have I defined what success looks like?
• Have I specified any constraints or requirements?

If you’re missing any of these elements, add them. It takes a few extra seconds but saves hours of back-and-forth.

And as AI tools become more sophisticated, the basics of good prompting remain the same: clear communication, specific instructions, and relevant context. These skills will serve you well no matter how the technology evolves.

Happy prompting!