How to use ChatGPT prompts to write effective emails
Have you ever wished you had a personal assistant to help you with your emails? ChatGPT and other AI chatbots can be valuable tools in upping your email game – but only with effective guidance from you. So let’s chat about the best prompts and instructions you can use to get the most out of your AI assistant.
by Alyssa Schmitt
By now you have probably heard of ChatGPT, Open AI’s artificial intelligence chatbot that took the world by storm in late 2022. This also spawned the release of other AI-based tools such as Google’s Bard and an AI-enhanced version of Microsoft’s Bing search engine. ChatGPT has moved beyond the initial beta release GPT3 and is now available in a free version of GDP3.5 as well as GPT4 through the paid GPTPlus version. These new AI-tools are being welcomed by many as valuable assistants in professional and personal settings.
Since mail.com is all about email, we’ve been exploring email writing with GPT3.5. Our experience shows that the chatbot can be a useful tool in crafting email content – provided you give it clear instructions and prompts. Here’s a look at some of the ways you can harness the power of AI to create the perfect email message.
What are ChatGPT prompts and why are they useful?
ChatGPT may seem like a technological miracle – you type in a question and get instant answers! Individual milage will vary, however, depending on the wording of your question or request. A poorly phrased question will result in an answer that might be too vague or general to be of any use, or even incorrect. Experienced AI chatbot users recommend certain formulations, known as prompts, to get the best results.
Examples of ChatGPT prompts
As you can see from the above, one of the keys to using ChatGPT, Bard, etc. is to provide as much context and information as possible for your specific query. So, even more important than a specific prompt is formulating a question that covers all the bases. For example, you could enter a detailed query like this for best results: “I need to change a project timeline due to a lack of resources. Can you help me phrase an email to my supervisor explaining the situation and asking for their support?”
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Be aware of privacy issues and accuracy of information
Unfortunately, there is always a “but…”: You need to give ChatGPT enough information to get a useful reply, but don’t make your question so specific that you enter in personal details like your name, employer, confidential company information, etc. The makers of ChatGPT state openly that it is not confidential, with any information you enter being recorded and stored in the company’s servers. Your chat can also be reviewed by AI trainers working to improve the system.A second “but”: AI chatbots can make useful assistants, but don’t take it for granted that every answer you receive is correct. There is a widely known AI phenomenon called “hallucination,” where the chatbot puts together wrong information it finds on the web. Keep in mind that ChatGPT and its AI siblings do not actually “know” any facts – they simply analyze vast amounts of data available online and provide you with the most likely answer to your query. So always double-check the answer before using it.
Best ChatGPT prompts for emails
With all this in mind, how can you use ChatGPT or other AI chatbots to up your email game? Here are four handy-dandy ways you can make the chatbot work for you, complete with an example of a query you could use.
Ready to try using AI as your personal email assistant? Before you get started, why not leave us some feedback below? And if you still don’t have a mail.com email account, you can sign up today!
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