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Reply to an angry customer about a lost package
- For Customer support teams
- You practice Getting the tone right
- Time about 5 minutes
- Level Beginner
About this exercise
Reply to Nadia in plain text, at most 80 words. Open by naming her desk mat order and what she has been through. Do not blame the carrier or the warehouse. Offer two choices, reship or refund, and make your last line exactly "Which would you like?"
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Passing on the internal gossip. The chat note blames the carrier and the AI echoes it to Nadia. Try: Add: "Do not blame the carrier or warehouse."
- Offering only one fix. The AI picks reship or refund and decides for her. Try: Say: "Offer both choices, free reship or full refund, her choice."
- Starting with a stock apology. The AI opens with 'I'm sorry for the inconvenience' and never mentions her day off. Try: Say: "Open with her desk mat and the day she took off."
- 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
- Names the choices
- Sets the last line
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