Chatbots have become an increasingly popular means of interaction, thanks, in part, to the recent boom in AI bot popularity. GPT-based chatbots are gaining the most attention for their conversational abilities, so learning to create effective and specific ChatGPT prompts is becoming a real need.

As you probably know by now, ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI. The model uses deep learning techniques to understand user inputs and generate natural language responses in a way that sounds natural and human-like. 

These user inputs can be simple questions or prompts that give the chatbot a task to perform.

Well-crafted AI chat prompts will allow you to unlock your GPT chatbot’s full potential. So let’s have a look at the main strategies to write the best ChatGPT prompts for your bot so that you can boost their quality and effectiveness.

Understanding ChatGPT Prompts

Let’s first understand what a prompt is. It is basically the instructions you give to a chatbot, in this case, ChatGPT, to guide it and receive a specific response that covers your demands. To give you an example, it’d be like a starting point for a conversation, with which you normally give some context to the other person, and you also set a tone and a direction. You need to keep in mind that writing a clear ChatGPT prompt is a crucial step, because the better the prompt, the more accurate and relevant the chatbot’s response will be. They play a crucial role in shaping the output of language models like GPT-4o. 

In this context, prompts are what guide the chatbot’s response generation process. They lay out the context for the model to understand what the user wants from it. 

In simpler terms, a prompt is nothing more than a set of instructions for your GPT chatbots. 

Depending on your goal, prompts for ChatGPT can take different forms, such as a question or a statement. The model then processes these prompts, generating a coherent and contextually relevant response based on the information it has been trained on.

For something more straightforward, like requesting information, an AI chat prompt can be formulated as a question, directing the model to answer it in its response. However, if you want GPT to perform a more complex or even creative task, like writing a story, the ChatGPT prompt will need to include other elements, such as tone of voice or style, so that the outcome matches your expectations. 

Types of GPT Prompts

Different types of prompts will elicit different types of responses from GPT chatbots. 

Closed-ended ChatGPT prompts, like yes or no questions, or questions that are just looking for a specific piece of information, will restrict the bot’s response to a narrow set of choices, leaving little room for misinterpretation or deviation from what was asked. 

On the other hand, open-ended ChatGPT prompts give the bot more “creative” freedom to generate any kind of response. The broader or more generic the AI chat prompt, the more this creativity will show either in the length of the response, how it’s phrased, or even how accurate it is. It’s something very different to ask a GPT bot to, for example, “write social media copy to promote my new product” than to ask: “Write social media copy of about 150 words to promote my new product, highlight that X and Y features are new, and use a friendly, yet convincing tone.” 

The answers resulting from each type of ChatGPT prompt will be more or less a match to what you were expecting and might need more or less tweaking until you reach the desired result. But sometimes, a bot will go rogue and make up an answer altogether. When that happens, it’s called a hallucination. 

Writing clear prompts for ChatGPT can minimize the probability of it hallucinating. So, without further ado, let’s dive into…

Guidelines for Writing Effective ChatGPT Prompts

As was just mentioned, a clear prompt will help your GPT chatbot yield the best possible results. But what exactly does a “clear ChatGPTprompt” entail? 

In our “Building WhatsApp Chatbots Powered by AI” webinar, we walked attendees through building a GPT-based customer satisfaction bot that was designed to collect data and summarize the incident in case a customer was unsatisfied with the service/product. 

The bot’s goal was to collect the customer’s order number, email address, and a summary of what went wrong — the reason they were interacting with the bot.

Would an AI chat prompt like “you’re a customer support bot who collects users’ information to solve their problem” work? Maybe, to a certain extent. But we didn’t want to leave any room for hallucinations, so here’s the prompt for ChatGPT we used instead:

A client (@name) is contacting us because something went wrong. You must act as a friendly agent in charge of collecting a clear idea of what went wrong with the order, you need to ask them. We know there was an issue but we need to know what it was, so you need to find out. Also, get their email address and order number (don't show the summary to the user and do not create any info.) Ask only one question at a time and be friendly. Your job is not to give support, only to collect the information. Don’t create any information, it must be given by the client. Here's your conversation history with the client: @conversation_history. Once you've gathered all three pieces of information from the client and they no longer need help say ‘An agent will look into this’, be sure to use the keywords ‘An agent will look into this’ only when you have a clear summary of the issue (at least one sentence from the user), an order number, and an email address and the client no longer needs help. Client: @user_text. You: \n"

With this prompt as a guideline, let’s break it down and have a look at the main tips and strategies for effective, ChatGPT prompt writing. We recommend you sign up for free and start building your chatbot to test the next steps!

1. Define the Conversation Context 

To engage a GPT chatbot successfully, your prompts for ChatGPT should provide a clear context of the situation at hand. Start by setting the scene for the conversation; this will allow the chatbot to understand the context and provide more accurate responses. 

Just think about exactly what you want GPT to generate or achieve, and provide it with the prompt that’s most likely to get there. 

In this case, we opened the prompt for ChatGPT by telling the chatbot why someone is interacting with it — “a client is contacting us because something went wrong” — and then telling it its role in the situation — “you must act as a friendly agent in charge of collecting a clear idea of what went wrong with the order, you need to ask them.”

As you see, this is a much more specific starting scenario than just telling GPT it is supposed to take on the role of a customer support chatbot.

2. Be as Specific as Possible 

This leads me to strategy number two — you should aim to be as specific and clear as possible when writing your ChatGPTprompts. 

Vague or ambiguous AI chat prompts might lead to your GPT bot hallucinating, or simply producing an outcome that’s not what you were expecting or which doesn’t meet your expectations. 

For example, when I asked ChatGPT to “write about ChatGPT prompts”, it produced eight paragraphs about prompts but didn’t provide much detail on any of the topics it mentioned. However, when I made my request more specific, it gave me exactly what I asked:

For the AI WhatsApp bot we built during the webinar, we also aimed to be as detailed as possible. We included the tone of voice/personality we wanted the chatbot to use (“you must act as a friendly agent”), and we told it what it needed to do (“find out” what the issue was) and how (“don't show the summary to the user and do not create any info”; “your job is not to give support, only to collect the information.”)

In the end, we even told the chatbot the keyword it should use once it had all the information needed and could finish the conversation. This way, we guaranteed that the customer wouldn’t be stuck in a conversational loop, but also that the chatbot would use the desired phrase we wanted (“An agent will look into this”) to finish the interaction.

3. Take Turns 

If you’re using GPT to perform a task for you, like writing a piece of text or doing research on a topic, you can take multiple turns in your ChatGPT prompts. So instead of asking for everything all at once, you can create a back-and-forth exchange that keeps building on the bot’s previous response. This way, you can funnel down the conversation until you’ve reached the desired outcome. 

In the case of our WhatsApp bot, we didn’t do this in the prompt, since we used just one. What we did was instruct the GPT bot to be dynamic in its interaction with the customers: “Ask only one question at a time and be friendly. “ This way, the customer’s experience will be more conversational and, thus, feel more natural.

4. Incorporate User Context

Incorporating user context in your ChatGPT prompts can enhance the personalization and relevance of the conversation. This can be their name, location, or something else that’s relevant to the context at hand. Whatever you pick, it should make sense to create a more tailored experience. 

If you’ve been using Landbot for a while, you’re probably familiar with Fields. Fields allow your bots to store a user’s answers under specific “boxes” that can be used later in the conversation to make the whole user experience more personalized and human.  

Because our example GPT bot is a WhatsApp chatbot, you already have your user’s name without having to ask for it. This means you can personalize the conversation right from the start. All you need to do is tell the bot where that information is stored (“A client (@name) is contacting us”), and that’s it. 

5. Provide Examples

We didn’t do this for our chatbot, but a great tip is to include examples of what you are or are not looking for so that GPT can come up with a more accurate response. This helps it understand your expectations more clearly.

In our bot-building scenario, for instance, we could have included in the AI chat prompt an example of a friendly interaction with a customer. Like this: 

“Ask only one question at a time and be friendly. Here’s an example of how not to ask for information: Hello, can you please give me your order number, and contact information and tell me what’s wrong, please?”

6. Test and Iterate 

Even though there are tips and strategies you can follow, crafting ChatGPT prompts is an iterative process. So before you set it out in the wild, you should test and tweak it as needed. 

You can experiment with different phrasings and approaches to understand what works best for your bot’s goal. You should test your AI chat prompts as you go and observe how the chatbot responds. Then, you can analyze the generated output and refine your ChatGPT prompts accordingly. 

The more you repeat this process, the better outcome your chatbot will achieve, and the better you will become at writing effective prompts. Start experimenting today!

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing ChatGPT Prompts

Now that we have a solid basis for writing effective ChatGPT prompts, it’s also worth considering that we can avoid certain errors to improve the chatbot's performance and accuracy, ensuring it delivers consistent results: 

Being Too Vague or Ambiguous 

We all appreciate simplicity, but sometimes, it’s not the best option, especially when writing ChatGPT prompts. Being too simple and unclear with our prompt can confuse the chatbot, leading to inaccurate responses that don’t meet your expectations and needs. So, instead of, for example, writing “Help me with my social media strategy”, try being more specific, describing the problem, the platform you want to use, and the audience. 

Overloading the ChatGPT Prompt With Too Much Information 

It’s true that being too simple can lead to inexact answers from our chatbot, but being too descriptive might not be the solution either. Including too much information in a single prompt can overwhelm the model, resulting in broad responses or missing key information. What’s the best approach, then? Breaking down your request into smaller and more manageable ChatGPT prompts. 

Forgetting About the Formatting 

Do you find it easy to read disorganized texts without separations or punctuation? Well, the same happens with your ChatGPT prompts. Writing multiple instructions with no prioritization, bullet points or clear delimiters can confuse the chatbot. Whenever you can, opt for simple sentences, bullet points, and clear punctuation to guide the model as much as you can. 

Not Defining the Right Context 

If you want to avoid the chatbot's answers being too generic, it’s important to give proper context in your ChatGPT prompts. Picture this: asking for budgeting tips is not the same as saying, “Act as a financial advisor for a college student with a part-time job and limited income. Suggest budgeting tips.”

Avoiding to Define a Specific Tone or Style 

The same that happens with your marketing strategies, the tone of your chatbot will impact how the user feels when interacting with it, making the interaction feel impersonal, or even uncomfortable. Therefore, it is important to indicate the tone in your ChatGPT prompt, whether you want it to sound formal, friendly, or conversational. 

Relying on a Single Draft

Sometimes you might get what you need right from the start, but most of the time you will need to iterate and refine the ChatGPT prompt to align it better with your goals. For example, follow up with “Can you rewrite this with a more professional tone?” or “Add statistics to support the points.”

ChatGPT Prompts for SaaS Use Cases

GPT-powered chatbots can address a wide range of needs from SaaS companies: from customer support tasks to sales enablement processes. Truth being said, the effectiveness of these chatbots will heavily depend on the AI chatbot prompt you provide. 

To help you overcome some of the challenges SaaS businesses encounter, we have gathered a few examples of ChatGPT prompts you can use, tailored to common SaaS use cases.

Customer Support Automation

Example ChatGPT Prompt:‍

"You are a customer support bot for a project management software. When users report an issue, ask for their account email, project ID, and a description of the problem. Provide troubleshooting steps for common issues (refer to this database: @troubleshooting_guide). If the issue cannot be resolved, escalate it by collecting additional details and ending the conversation with, 'Our support team will contact you shortly.' Avoid offering advice outside the scope of this product."‍

This prompt sets a clear role, defines the chatbot’s objective, and ensures essential details are gathered before escalation, helping you enhance the support process.

Lead Qualification

Example ChatGPT Prompt:‍

"Act as a lead qualification assistant for a SaaS CRM tool. When a visitor interacts with the bot, ask questions to determine their company size, industry, and current CRM challenges. Based on their answers, qualify them as 'high potential,' 'medium potential,' or 'low potential' leads. Provide a personalized demo scheduling link if they are high or medium potential leads. If low potential, politely direct them to a resources page for more information."‍

‍This AI chat prompt enables the chatbot to qualify leads effectively, providing tailored responses according to leads’ potential, while optimizing sales resources.

Onboarding Assistance‍

Example ChatGPT Prompt‍

"You are an onboarding assistant for a SaaS analytics tool. Guide new users step-by-step through setting up their first project. Start by confirming their primary goal (e.g., tracking website traffic, or analyzing conversion rates). Then, provide specific setup instructions based on their goal. Check for understanding after each step and offer further resources if needed."‍

This structured approach ensures users feel supported and helps reduce churn during the critical onboarding phase.

Feature Education and Upselling‍

Example ChatGPT Prompt:‍

"You are a virtual assistant for a productivity SaaS tool. When users inquire about advanced features, explain the feature clearly and provide one practical example of its application. If the feature is available on a higher-tier plan, politely inform the user and offer a free trial or upgrade link."‍

This prompt educates users while gently driving upsell opportunities, improving both satisfaction and revenue.

Churn Prevention‍

Example ChatGPT Prompt:‍

"Act as a retention specialist for a SaaS subscription platform. If a user mentions canceling their subscription, ask why in a polite and empathetic tone. Offer solutions to address their concerns (e.g., discounts, feature tutorials, or alternative plans). If they are firm in their decision, provide clear steps for canceling while thanking them for their feedback."‍

This approach helps retain customers by addressing their pain points and frictions while leaving a positive impression, even if finally decide to cancel their subscription. 

Feedback Collection

Example ChatGPT Prompt:‍

"You are a chatbot collecting user feedback for a SaaS collaboration tool. Ask users to rate their satisfaction on a scale of 1-5 and provide a brief explanation for their rating. If they provide negative feedback (1-3), politely ask for more details and suggest they contact support for immediate help. End by thanking them for their input."‍

This prompt gathers actionable insights while demonstrating a commitment to customer satisfaction and improvement. 

These AI chat prompts can help you and your team automate tasks, improve efficiency, and deliver better customer experiences. As we’ve previously seen, the key is adapting the prompts to align with business goals and user needs.

More Tips and Examples

Even though ours is a good example of a prompt you can use to quickly and easily build and integrate a chatbot with OpenAI on your WhatsApp channel, it is, of course, not the only one. 

If you’re looking for more inspiration to get your prompt writing journey started, here are a couple more. 

In this LinkedIn post, Sam Szuchan highlights how powerful GPT’s outcomes can be if you feed it the right prompt. He exemplifies the difference between asking GPT what museums he can visit in Madrid:

And asking GPT to act like a travel guide who gives location-based recommendations:

The second prompt yielded a much more complete and personalized response, that is more helpful than just a list of places to visit. Check out his post to see more prompt examples. 

Another useful tip from a different example is to have GPT as YOU questions before you give it an actual task, so that it has all the information it needs to better help you. 

In this Instagram post, you can see how the user applies this trick before asking GPT to come up with content ideas for their business. 

Why Writing a Killer Prompt Is Important When Building Your Chatbot 

Creating effective prompts is not just about making your GPT chatbot sound smarter and human-like—it’s the key for achieving specific goals with precision and reliability. Whether you’re using your chatbot for customer support, lead generation, or personalized user engagement, the prompts you create will determine the bot's ability to deliver meaningful, accurate, and engaging interactions. 

Being able to write killer prompts will help you unlock your chatbot’s full potential, making it perform at its best because it will capable to deliver accurate and tailored responses to the person who’s interacting with it. 

Believe it or not, proper ChatGPT prompts will also support your business goals. Why? Because they can guide your chatbot to achieve specific outcomes, such as collecting customer data, qualifying leads, or resolving issues without wasting time or frustrating prospects and customers. It can also help your business save time and resources, relying less on constant revisions and human intervention, lowering operational costs. 

Last but not least, even though you implement your GPT chatbot for multiple use cases, a killer prompt ensures responses are aligned with your brand voice, helping you build consistency throughout all your brand touchpoints. 

We really recommend you start testing your GPT chatbot potential for free at Landbot!

Conclusion

In this relatively recent world of GPT chatbots, well-crafted prompts can make the difference between being successful in your GPT business strategy and needing help to keep up with the technology.

By following these guidelines, you’ll be on your way to creating killer ChatGPT prompts that will unlock their full potential. 

If you want to learn more about how to use ChatGPT for business, you can visit our blog. Also, we recommend you to check our Knowledge Center to know more about the integration of ChatGPT-4 with your chatbot and also the step-by-step process you need to follow to build a customer service bot with ChatGPT and get all the information from your customers. 

Transform your chatbot interactions with Landbot's intuitive no-code platform. Whether you're looking to create seamless customer support, engage leads, or automate FAQs, Landbot will help you design intelligent chat experiences with ease. Unlock the full potential of GPT chatbots and boost your business efficiency. Start for free or schedule a personalized demo today!