ChatGPT prompt best practice

ChatGPT is one of the most powerful AI tools available and it's what most people think of when they think of AI. But most people don’t use ChatGPT to its full potential. I’ll show you a strategy and few concrete tactics that together can generate much better response

It’s true that the internet is filled with "perfect" ChatGPT prompts. But as AI expert Andrew Ng - founder of Google Brain and Coursera, puts it

I don't pay much attention to the 'perfect' prompts. There isn't one for every use case.
Andrew Ng - Founder and CEO of Landing.AI, Founder of DeepLearning.AI

Each business is unique, hence, the importance of crafting prompts tailored to your needs and your brand voice. Fortunately, this skill can be mastered quickly - all set to unlock ChatGPT's power for your business?

Be clear and specific

ChatGPT responds to the instruction it is given. By providing it with clear and detailed instructions, you can guide the model to generate the type of content you want.

Here are a few concrete tactics that you can adopt right away

Provide context
Ask the model to adopt a persona
Use delimiter to indicate distinct part of the query

For example: I need to write ads copy for a handcraft wooden chair by Awesome Furniture, an e-commerce site selling furnitures. Following are the the before and after prompt and response

Before

Prompt

Act as content writer for Awesome Furniture, an e-commerce store selling artisanal hand-crafted furniture. Write an ads copy for a midcentury armless chair made from mahogany

Response

🌟 Experience Timeless Comfort and Elegance with Our Midcentury Mahogany Armless Chair from Awesome Furniture 🌟

Are you looking for a statement piece that will bring both comfort and sophistication to your home? Allow us to introduce you to our Midcentury Mahogany Armless Chair – a blend of artisanal craftsmanship, sustainable materials, and a design aesthetic that exudes class.

🔹 Vintage Aesthetic, Modern Comfort: This chair draws inspiration from mid-century design, characterized by its clean lines and tapered legs. But don't be fooled by its stylish retro look – we've incorporated modern ergonomics to ensure maximum comfort for lounging, reading, or conversation.

🔹 Crafted with Passion: Our chairs are not mass-produced; instead, they're handcrafted by skilled artisans who pour their hearts into every piece. The attention to detail in our Midcentury Mahogany Armless Chair is evident in its exceptional build and finish.

🔹 Sustainable Luxury: Made from sustainably sourced, premium mahogany wood, this chair not only enhances your living space but also respects Mother Nature. The deep, rich hues of mahogany add a layer of luxury to any room.

🔹 Versatile and Functional: The armless design of this chair doesn't just add to its chic factor, it makes the chair versatile enough to fit into smaller spaces or to be used as additional seating when you're entertaining guests.

Give your home a touch of sustainable luxury with our Midcentury Mahogany Armless Chair. Add this masterpiece to your living space today and relish the beauty of handcrafted elegance! 🌿💺✨

The prompt lacks context such as the output format and what sets the product apart. Therefore the result left a lot to be desired

After

Prompt

Act as content writer for an e-commerce store that sell a specific type of product to a specific type of customer. Your task is to write content about a topic. Store description, target customer, differentiators and product sheet are delimited by xml tags. Write a copy for google adsword for a certain keyword with the goal of maximizing clickthrough rate. The ads should have the following
- Headline: maximum of 30 characters. The headline should contain the provided keyword
- Description: Maximum of 90 characters. Use the description fields to highlight details about your product or service. It’s a good idea to include a “call to action”—the action you want your customer to take. 

<store-description>Awesome Furniture is an online store selling artisanal furnitures made from high quality, responsibly sourced wood. All items can be shipped nationwide</store-description>
<target-customer>Affluent consumers who appreciate the artisanal and craftsmanship that store bought, mass produced future lack</target-customer>
<product-sheet>Handmade Unique and Modern Wooden Chair, Handmade Wooden Chair. The product is produced with plywood and red oak wood. dimensions are: Hight 37" Length 19" width 15.5"</product-sheet>
<keyword>handmade wooden chair</keyword>

Write the ads copy

Before showing you the response, let’s break down tactics used in the above prompt

Adopt a persona

Give ChatGPT a persona with Act as X. This is a powerful technique to help ChatGPT get an appropriate context

Relevant context

The prompt provides context about the store, the audience, what sets it apart and the product itself.

Use delimiters

It uses delimiters to clearly indicate different part of the input that should be treated differently. In this example, I use XML tags. You can use other delimiters such as “““, ```

Output format and length

The prompt specifies that the output format and its length, i.e. Google Adwords copy that consists of the headline and the description at up to 30 and 90 characters respectively. In my experience, output will sometimes be shorter or longer than the specified limit but it’s still a best practice to include that in the prompt

These tactics used together create a much stronger ads copy

Headline:
Embrace Craftsmanship | Handmade Wooden Chairs

Description:
Experience high-quality, artisan-crafted wooden chairs from Awesome Furniture. Nationwide shipping. Add luxury to your space. Shop now!

In summary, it’s imperative to craft a ChatGPT prompt catered to your business’ needs and the first step is to give clear and specific instructions. You can do that by

Adopt a persona
Provide relevant context
Use delimiters
Specify output length and format

That’s all for this week. See you next time with more actionable tips and tricks to unlock AI’s full potential