Why this matters
You ask ChatGPT for a reply to a client, a post or a product description, and it comes back in the same voice it uses for everyone: "Dear valued customer", an emoji, "your satisfaction is our top priority". You rewrite it to sound like you, every time.
Describing your style is hard. "Friendly but professional" means something different to everyone, so the AI falls back on the average. Showing your style is easy: you already have examples you are proud of.
In this module you paste three of your real past replies into the prompt and ask again. The reply comes back sounding like you, without a single style rule. You also learn the one line that stops the AI borrowing facts from your examples.
What you’ll build
Google review replies for Riverbend Bike Shop, a made-up shop run by Marcus. With no examples, a five-star review gets a corporate thank-you signed "The Team". With three of Marcus’s real past replies fenced off between ### lines, the same review gets a three-sentence reply that uses the first name, mentions her wobbly wheel, has no emoji and is signed "– Marcus".
Then you answer a two-star complaint about a slow tune-up without the reply borrowing excuses from the examples, and turn the prompt into a reusable template with blanks.
What you need
- Nothing to start the practiceChatGPT is a practice copy, and Marcus’s past replies are already in the prompt.
- A ChatGPT account, to do it for realA free account at chatgpt.com works. Examples work the same way in Claude and Gemini.
- Three of your own past examplesReal writing you are proud of: three client emails, posts or review replies. Pick three that differ (a happy client, a complaint, something in between) and keep each with what it answered.
- Somewhere to keep the templateYour Prompt Templates doc from Prompt Writing 101, or any note.
Concepts
3 ideas you’ll use in the practice.
Few-shot means showing a few examples
"Few-shot" is the name for putting a few real examples of the result you want inside your prompt. The AI copies the pattern instead of guessing it.
From three short replies it can see how long you write, how you open, whether you use emoji, how you handle a complaint and how you sign off. OpenAI and Anthropic both recommend it in their prompting guides.
Pick examples that differ, and fence them off
Choose examples that are different from each other, so the AI learns your voice, not one situation. Pair each with what it answered: a review with its reply teaches more than the reply alone.
Put a clear marker like ### between examples, so the AI can tell your examples apart from your instructions and your new request. Start with about three. With only one, it copies too closely.
Copy my style, not the facts
Examples work because the AI copies them, and sometimes it copies too much. A late supplier from one example can turn up in a reply to a different client. That is how a made-up excuse ends up under your name.
Add one line: "Copy my style, not the facts. Only use what is in the new request." Then read every reply before you post it.
Practice
Do every step yourself in a practice copy of the real tool. It checks your work, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on.
Do it for real
Now repeat it in your own account. Tick each step as you go.
Downloads
- Few-shot prompt template (.txt)The template ChatGPT builds at the end of the lesson, with the "copy my style, not the facts" line built in.
Quick check
3 questions to check you’ve got it.
1. Why do examples work better than writing "make it friendly and casual"?
- Words like "friendly" mean different things, examples show exactly what you mean
- ChatGPT ignores adjectives
- Examples make the prompt shorter
Show the answer
Words like "friendly" mean different things, examples show exactly what you mean. An example removes the guessing about length, tone, openings and sign-offs.
2. Which three examples teach your voice best?
- Three replies to five-star reviews
- A happy client, a fair complaint and a real problem
- One long example, pasted three times
Show the answer
A happy client, a fair complaint and a real problem. Examples that differ teach the voice, not one situation.
3. A reply to a new complaint blames a late supplier, which came from one of your examples. What line prevents that?
- "Write it longer"
- "Copy my style, not the facts"
- "Use more examples"
Show the answer
"Copy my style, not the facts". It tells the AI to take your voice from the examples and the facts only from the new request.
Catch Made-up Facts Before They Reach Customers using ChatGPT
Good prompts still sometimes get wrong answers. Next, the routine for fixing a bad draft without starting over, and for catching the made-up facts before a client sees them.
Start module 4 →