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Confirm a cancellation without a hard sell

Practice: Setting limits and rules. About 5 minutes.

About this exercise

A customer asked to cancel her streaming plan. Confirm it in under 70 words, plain text: say it's cancelled and the exact date access ends in the first sentence, mention the pause option in only one sentence after that, and include no guilt-trip lines or discount offers (agents can't offer them on cancellations). Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 70 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Cap each part instead: "4 sentences, each under 15 words."
  • Leading with a pitch. The AI opens with "Before you go..." and confirms the cancellation later, or not at all. Try: Add: "First sentence: it's cancelled, and access ends Nov 29."
  • Pushing the alternative. The AI spends half the reply selling the pause option. Try: Add: "Mention pausing in one sentence only, after the confirmation."
  • Adding guilt or deals. AI defaults to "We're sorry to see you go" and may invent a discount. Try: Add: "No 'sad to see you go'. Don't offer discounts."
  • Ignoring where it will be pasted. AI loves bold and headings, which show up as stray ** and # symbols in the email reply. Try: Name the place and the format: "For the email reply. Plain text, no bold or headings."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Confirms first
  • Gives the end date
  • Limits the pause mention
  • Bans guilt and discounts
  • Sets a word limit

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