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Write an inbox auto-reply with hours and a holiday closure

  • For Customer support teams
  • You practice Asking for a format you can use
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Beginner

About this exercise

Write the support inbox auto-reply. Line 1 is exactly "Subject: We received your request". Then exactly 3 sentences, plain text, under 60 words total. Give the reply time from the policy, the urgent route for outages only, and the holiday closure dates. Last line exactly "Support Team".

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Promising fast replies. The marketing draft says minutes, day or night. Try: Say: "Replies within 1 business day. No same-day promise."
  • Opening the phone line to everyone. The AI lets all customers call. Try: Say: "The urgent number is for full outages only."
  • Missing the closure or format. The AI forgets the holiday or writes a long email. Try: Say: "Exactly 3 sentences incl. the Nov 26-27 closure."
  • Getting markdown back. AI adds bold and headings by default, which show up as stray symbols where this is pasted. Try: Say "plain text, no bold, no headings, no asterisks".
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting and usually runs long, so a vague "keep it short" lands well over the limit. Try: Cap each part instead of the total, for example "each line under 15 words".

What a strong prompt includes

  • Asks for plain text
  • Sets a length limit
  • Sets exact lines
  • States the reply time

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