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Brief a support agent to handle cancellations by the rules

  • For Customer support teams
  • You practice Setting limits and rules
  • Time about 5 minutes

About this exercise

You want an AI agent to handle this week's cancellation requests. Write its brief: offer one free month only to customers with 12 or more months of tenure who cancel over price, send anyone cancelling over a bug to tier2 with escalate, schedule the cancellation for the end of the billing period for everyone else, never offer more than one free month and never delete data. Output exactly 5 numbered plain-text lines: one per request in order, then DONE.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Not showing the log format. Left alone, the AI writes a friendly report with headings instead of a checkable action log. Try: Show it literally: "Format every line like 1. ACTION: tool(args), then ASK_HUMAN: and DONE: lines. Plain text."
  • Not giving the save rule. The AI offers a deal to everyone who mentions price. Try: Add: "One free month only for 12+ months tenure cancelling over price."
  • No rule for bugs or deletions. The AI treats a bug like a price complaint and deletes data because the customer asked. Try: Add: "Bugs: escalate to tier2. Never delete data. Schedule cancellation for Nov 30."
  • No cap on offers. The AI improvises bigger discounts to save the account. Try: Add: "Never offer more than one free month or any discount."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Gives the tenure rule
  • Routes bugs
  • Schedules, doesn't delete
  • Caps the offer
  • Shows the action-log format

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