Intro to AI prompting

The fundamentals of writing AI prompts that produce usable ecommerce copy.

Fundamentals · Beginner · 6 min

A prompt is a brief. The reason most AI output reads like filler is that the brief was thin — a job title with no audience, no constraints and no example of what good looks like.

Four things do almost all the work: who the reader is, what the piece has to achieve, what it must avoid, and one sample of copy in the voice you want. Add those and the same model produces noticeably better work.

Treat the first output as a draft, not an answer. The second instruction — tighten this, cut the adjectives, lead with the objection — is usually where the quality arrives.

Steps

• Write one sentence describing your customer in their own words.
• State the job: what the copy has to do, and where it will appear.
• List your constraints — length, tone, words you never use.
• Paste one example of copy you'd be happy to have written.
• Generate three variations, then edit rather than regenerate.