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Show three months of email list growth with net percent

  • For Marketing and content
  • You practice Asking for a format you can use
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Intermediate

About this exercise

Your CMO wants a quick view of email list growth. Write a prompt for a markdown table with columns Month | Start | Added | Removed | End | Net % for September, October and November, where Removed = unsubscribes plus bounces, End = Start + Added - Removed, and Net % = (End - Start) / Start to one decimal. Then a line starting "Slowest month:" with the month and its Net %. Under 90 words, no other text.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Not adding bounces. The AI uses only unsubscribes as Removed. Try: Say: "Removed = unsubscribes + bounces."
  • Resetting each start. The AI uses 10,000 as the start every month. Try: Say: "Each month starts where the last ended."
  • Using the CMO's guess. The AI echoes 5%. Try: Say: "Calculate from the data only."
  • Letting markdown through. AI adds bold text and headings by default. Try: Add: "Plain text only, no bold, no headings."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting and often runs past a word limit. Try: Cap each part (for example "each line under 15 words") so the total lands well under the limit.

What a strong prompt includes

  • Names the columns
  • Defines Removed
  • Defines End and Net
  • Chains the months
  • Asks for the Slowest month line

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