Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task, Format: step-by-step guide with screenshots

Step 1: Click the message box

Let's start the way most people use ChatGPT: one quick sentence, and hope for the best.

Step 2: Paste a vague prompt

Here's our prompt. It's a real request, but it gives ChatGPT almost nothing to work with.

Step 3: Send the message

Send it and let's see what comes back.

Step 4: Start a new chat

Look at that. Dear Valued Customer, emoji in the subject line, and blanks everywhere for your company name and your service. ChatGPT had to guess, so it wrote something that fits everybody and nobody. Let's ask again, the right way.

Step 5: Click the message box

This time we'll build the prompt in four parts: role, context, task, and format. Watch each part stack up in the message box.

Step 6: Add the role

First, the role. Tell ChatGPT who it's writing as. That one line sets the voice for everything that follows.

Step 7: Add the context

Next, the context. This is everything ChatGPT can't know on its own: who your customers are, what the new service is, what it costs, and when it happens.

Our customers are Harrisburg homeowners who already get weekly mowing from us. New this fall: core aeration and overseeding, $149 for most yards, done between September 29 and October 17.

Step 8: Add the task

Now the task. Say exactly what you want back, and what the reader should do next. One email, one clear call to action.

Step 9: Add the format

Last, the format: length, tone, and layout. This is where you rule out the emoji and the fluff before they ever show up.

Step 10: Send the structured prompt

Role, context, task, format. Same request as before, just with the details ChatGPT was missing.

Step 11: Open the Google Docs tab

Now that's an email you could actually send. Your company name, the real price, the real dates, and one clear next step, all in under a hundred and twenty words. You'll want this prompt again, so let's save it in a Google Doc.

Step 12: Click into the document

This Google Doc is called Prompt Templates. Keep the prompts that work in here, so you never start from a blank box again.

Step 13: Add a heading

Start with a heading, so you can find this one later.

Step 14: Paste the template

Here's the same prompt, with blanks where the details change: your business, the service, and the details. Next time, copy it into ChatGPT and fill in the brackets. These four parts work for social posts, ads, and replies to customers too.

Role: You are the owner of [BUSINESS].
Context: We're launching [SERVICE] for our existing customers. Details: [DETAILS].
Task: Write a short email announcing it, with one clear call to action.
Format: Under 120 words, friendly and plain, no emoji. Subject line first, then the email.