AI prompting: a comprehensive guide to writing effective prompts

Introduction to AI prompting

The rise of intelligent agents is revolutionizing workflows. These agents can understand our intent and perform tasks dynamically beyond simply following instructions. This means we must be extremely precise when giving AI instructions or practicing effective AI prompting. Good prompts get better results, whether working on AI text or content generation, analyzing data, or automating workflows with tools like Make. This guide will teach you how to write prompts that work across different AI platforms. 

What is an AI prompt?

An AI prompt is an instruction or question you give to an AI model. It tells the AI what you want it to do. Think of it as providing directions to a friend; the more precise your directions are, the better they can understand where you want to go. A specific AI prompt gives the AI all the information it needs. A vague prompt leads to ambiguous answers, so be clear about what you want.

How to write effective AI prompts

Here are some tips for writing prompts that get the best results from any AI, including those you might use in Make.

• Be specific and add context: Don't just say, "Write an email." Tell the AI who the email is for, what it should be about, and how long it should be. For example, you could say: "Draft a 100-word email to a customer explaining our new refund policy."

• Give the AI a role: Pretend the AI has a job. Give it context to work with. For example, "You are a social media manager. Write a tweet announcing our new product."

• Say what you want to see: Tell the AI how to present the information. Do you want a list, a paragraph, a poem, or a table?

• Keep improving your prompts: If the AI doesn't give you what you want, try changing your prompt. Be more specific or provide more details. “Write a recipe for cookies” can be insufficient and can only provide you with a basic sugar cookie recipe. You can always improve your prompt by giving the AI more context: “Write a recipe for soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies that includes instructions for chilling the dough and using browned butter for a richer flavor. Provide measurements in grams and include baking times for both standard and convection ovens.”

• Use examples: Show the AI the response you're looking for.

• Break it down: For complex tasks, give the AI instructions step-by-step.

• Practice makes perfect: The more you use prompts, the better you'll get.

Consider using the CLEAR framework when writing AI prompts: 

• Context: Provide sufficient background information for the AI to understand the task. Don't assume prior knowledge. For example, if you are asking about a marketing campaign, include details about the target audience, product, and goals. Saying just "write a social media post" will be too vague.

• Length: Specify the desired length of the output. Do you need a 100-word summary, a 500-word blog post, or a 10-line poem? Being specific avoids an answer that is too short or too long.

• Explicitness: Clearly state what you want. Avoid vague language. Instead of "Write something about cats," say, "Write a 200-word description of the physical characteristics of a Maine Coon cat breed."

• Audience: Tell the AI who the response is for. Is it for technical experts, children, or the general public? It will help the AI adjust its tone and vocabulary. For example, "Write this for a highly technical audience familiar with AI" vs "Write this for 5th graders."

• Refinement: Be prepared to iterate. If the initial response isn't what you expected, adjust your prompt and try again. This iterative process is crucial for getting optimal results. Look at the output. What is wrong with it? How can you change the prompt to avoid the bad parts?

Watch the following video to learn more about different prompting techniques.

AI prompt examples

Here are a few examples demonstrating these principles for different industries:

Marketing:

• Basic: "Write a slogan for a new brand of coffee."

• Intermediate: "Craft a catchy and memorable slogan for our new organic, fair-trade coffee beans line. The slogan should emphasize freshness and ethical sourcing."

• Advanced: "Develop three distinct slogan options for our new organic, fair-trade coffee beans line. Target audience: environmentally conscious millennials. Tone: sophisticated yet approachable. Options: One should emphasize freshness, one should emphasize ethical sourcing, and one should combine both elements."

Customer support:

• Basic: "Write an email to a customer with a shipping delay."

• Intermediate: "Generate a compassionate and helpful response to a customer complaint about a significant delay in their order shipment. Offer a 10% discount code for their next purchase as an apology."

• Advanced: "Write a personalized email response to a customer named Alex complaining about a two-week delay in their order #12345. Explain the reason for the delay, apologize sincerely, offer a 15% discount code, and provide a clear timeline for when they can expect their delivery. Also, give them a number they can call 24/7 if they have more issues."

Sales:

• Basic: "Write a subject line for a sales email."

• Intermediate: "Create a persuasive email subject line for a cold outreach campaign targeting marketing managers in the tech industry. The subject line should be personalized and intriguing."

• Advanced: "Develop three different personalized subject line options for a cold outreach campaign targeting marketing managers in the tech industry. Each option should use a different angle: one focusing on time-saving, one on cost reduction, and one on improved efficiency."

Content creation:

• Basic: "Write a blog post about Make."

• Intermediate: "Write a short blog post (300 words) about the key benefits of using Make for streamlining workflows in small businesses. Include at least three specific benefits."

• Advanced: "Create a blog post outline (including title, introduction, three main sections, and conclusion) for a post about the benefits of using Make for automating marketing workflows. Each section should include 2-3 specific examples. Target audience: marketing professionals with some automation experience."

AI image prompts

AI can also create images from prompts. These prompts need to be very descriptive. For example, instead of "a cat," try "a hand-drawn illustration of three distinguished cats: a tubby cat, a sleek black cat, and a majestic grey and white Maine coon wearing a top hat". Clarity and detail are your greatest assets when creating compelling AI-generated images. The more information you provide about the subject, style, and mood, the better the AI can bring your vision to life.

Exploring different AI platforms

While the principles of effective prompting are universal, different AI platforms may have unique strengths and weaknesses. Experimenting with platforms like ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, and DeepSeek AI can help you discover what best suits your needs. Each platform may have specific parameters or settings that you can adjust to fine-tune the output. For example, you can adjust the "temperature" setting in some models to control the randomness and creativity of the generated text. Think of "temperature" as a creativity dial. Higher temperatures produce more unexpected and imaginative outputs, while lower temperatures produce more predictable and focused responses.

Advanced prompt engineering techniques

As you become more comfortable with basic prompting techniques, you can explore more advanced methods to enhance your AI interactions further:

• Chain-of-thought prompting: This involves guiding the AI through reasoning steps to arrive at a valuable solution for complex or multi-step problems.

• Few-shot prompting: Provide examples of the desired output to help the AI learn the pattern and generate similar results.

• Prompt chaining: Combine multiple prompts to create a more complex instruction, allowing you to achieve more sophisticated outcomes.

Writing good AI prompts is an increasingly valuable skill. You can achieve excellent results from AI using the tips in this guide. As AI becomes more powerful, AI prompting will become even more critical. Are you eager to put these AI prompting techniques into action? Sign up for a free trial with Make and begin automating your processes with AI right away.

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