Assistants that talk to your customers represent your organisation. Their prompts need extra care.
Define Scope
State what the assistant helps with — orders, returns, product questions — and what it doesn't. Tell it how to respond to out-of-scope requests politely.
Ground Answers
Provide policies, product information and account data through retrieval or tools. Instruct the assistant to answer only from provided information and say when it doesn't know.
Set the Voice
Describe tone with examples: friendly, concise, plain English, no jargon. Include phrases to use and avoid.
Handle Commitments Carefully
Assistants shouldn't promise refunds, discounts or outcomes they can't authorise. Route these to proper processes or staff.
Escalation
Define when to hand over to a person: complaints, distress, complex account issues, repeated misunderstanding.
Protect Customers
Don't ask for unnecessary personal data; follow identity verification rules before discussing accounts.
Test Broadly
Test with real customer messages, including angry, confused and adversarial ones. Review conversations regularly after launch.