{"id":"sb-angry-review-reply","audience":"small-business","category":"customer-replies","technique":"tone","title":"Reply to an angry online review without arguing","free":true,"task":"A customer left an angry 2-star review of your bakery, Maple & Rye. Write your public reply under 70 words, in plain text, owning the late cake without disputing how long she waited or the frosting color. Offer only your current make-it-right deal and your manager's number, and skip robotic phrases like \"we value your feedback.\" Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.","materialLabel":"The review and your notes (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"REVIEW - 2 stars - Kristen M.\nOrdered a birthday cake for my son and it was a mess. I showed up at 3:00 like they told me and waited TWO HOURS. And I asked for blue frosting and got purple. Party was ruined. Won't be back.\n\n---\nMy notes (Gina, owner, Maple & Rye Bakery)\n- Pickup was booked for 3:00. Cake was ready at 3:40. Our oven went down that morning and we fell behind. That part is on us.\n- Tom checked the receipt timestamp: she paid at 3:42. Not 2 hours.\n- Order form says \"purple/lavender\" in her own handwriting.\n- Old policy was a free replacement cake. We stopped that in March (too many requests). Current make-it-right offer: 25% off her next order.\n- Dana, our manager, handles complaints: 555-0186.\n- Note to self: order more cake boxes. New sign goes up Friday.","rules":[{"type":"maxWords","max":70},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for \"under 70 words\" and it often lands well over.","fix":"Cap each part instead: \"3-4 short sentences, each under 15 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]},{"title":"Letting the AI defend you","why":"The AI sees the receipt time and order form in your notes and uses them to correct the customer in public.","fix":"Add: \"Own the late cake. Don't argue: don't mention the receipt, the order form or how long she waited.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Offering the old deal","why":"Your notes mention the free replacement cake, and the AI may offer it because it sounds generous.","fix":"Add: \"Offer 25% off her next order only. No free cake.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Sounding like a robot","why":"AI review replies default to stock lines like \"we value your feedback\" that make angry customers angrier.","fix":"Add: \"No filler phrases. Ask her to call Dana at 555-0186.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Forgetting where it's posted","why":"AI may bold the offer, and review sites show that as stray asterisks.","fix":"Add: \"Plain text, no bold.\"","checks":["plainText"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Says it's a public reply","patterns":["public","review"]},{"label":"Sets a word limit","patterns":["\\d+\\s*words","word (limit|count)"]},{"label":"Says not to argue","patterns":["don'?t argue","not.{0,15}(argue|dispute|defensive)","no excuses","order form","receipt"]},{"label":"Names the current offer","patterns":["25","current (offer|deal)","no free"]},{"label":"Bans filler phrases","patterns":["filler","value your feedback","robot","generic","clich"]}],"hint":"Your notes include facts that prove you right, and the AI will use them unless you say not to. Tell it the length, what to own, what to leave out, and which offer is current.","rubricLabels":["Owns the late cake (the oven problem was the bakery's fault) without disputing her account: doesn't mention the receipt time, the order form or her handwriting, and doesn't say she waited 2 hours","Offers 25% off her next order and does not offer a free or replacement cake (that policy ended in March)","Invites her to call Dana at 555-0186 and uses no generic filler (such as 'we value your feedback', 'thank you for taking the time', 'we strive for excellence')"]}