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Shrink a customer survey report into 3 bullets for your VP

Practice: Keeping the AI to your sources. About 5 minutes.

About this exercise

Your VP, Carla, asked for the headline from the 300-word quarterly customer survey report before her budget meeting. She wants at most 3 bullets under 60 words in total, plain text, with the one thing she must decide in the first bullet. The report has an erratum at the bottom, so use the corrected number, and skip how the survey was run. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Burying the decision. The AI follows the report's order, so the funding ask lands at the end. Try: Add: "First bullet: the decision Carla must make and the deadline."
  • Missing the erratum. The wrong NPS appears first and in bold-looking spots; the fix is at the bottom. Try: Add: "Use the corrected NPS from the erratum."
  • Keeping the method details. The AI thinks response rates make a summary look rigorous, but Carla doesn't need them. Try: Add: "Skip how the survey was run. Keep the booking drop."
  • Not limiting the bullets. The AI gives one bullet per finding, with bold headings. Try: Be exact: "At most 3 bullets, plain text."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 60 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Cap each part instead: "each line under 14 words."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Limits the bullets
  • Says who it's for
  • Puts the decision first
  • Uses the correction
  • Sets a word limit

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