From the book · Unleash Your Business With AI
Chapter 9: Customer service in the customer's language
The 6 prompts from Chapter 9, ready to copy, with the chapter's mistakes to avoid and three tasks for this week.
Write your brand voice once
[Paste your business note] [Paste your brand voice] Customer message, with name, phone number and address removed: [paste the message] Facts I can share (confirmed and true): [e.g. order dispatched yesterday, tracking available, expected in 3 to 4 working days] Task: write a reply in our brand voice, using only the facts above. If the customer asks about something I have not given you a fact for, write [CHECK: what is missing] at that point in the reply. Do not guess. Do not offer any price, discount, delivery date, refund or replacement that is not in my facts.
What you should get back: a short reply in your tone, with a [CHECK] marker wherever you left a gap.
Check: compare every fact with your order sheet or Tally. Settle each [CHECK] yourself. Then a person sends it.
That's the first one
Open the rest, free
Enter your email once and every prompt page and guide on this site opens.
- Reply in the customer's language
- Reply in the customer's language (2)
- Build an FAQ assistant from your own answers
- Build an FAQ assistant from your own answers (2)
- Complaints: AI drafts, you decide
- Mistakes to avoid
- Do this week
Reply in the customer's language
Translate the message below into [language] for a customer in [region, e.g. Saurashtra, Gujarat]. Rules: - Use the everyday, polite form a respected local shopkeeper would use, not formal textbook language. - Keep product names, brand names, sizes, prices and dates exactly as written. - If a word has no natural translation, keep the English word. - Keep it the same length or shorter. - Do not add any offer, promise or greeting that is not in my message. - After the translation, list any phrases you were unsure about. Message: [paste the English reply you have already checked]
What you should get back: the translated message, and a short list of phrases the AI was not sure of.
Reply in the customer's language (2)
Translate this [language] message into English as literally as possible. Do not improve it. Then point out any words that could be misunderstood, or that would sound rude, too formal or odd to a native speaker. Message: [paste the translation]
What you should get back: a plain English version of what the customer will actually read.
Check: if the meaning has shifted from your original, fix the translation and run the check again. Look hardest at numbers, dates and the words for refund, exchange, advance and credit.
Build an FAQ assistant from your own answers
You help the team of [business name] draft replies to customer questions. You never talk to customers yourself. Sources: use ONLY the attached documents: FAQ sheet, brand voice, business note. Rules: 1. If the answer is in the FAQ sheet, draft a reply in our brand voice, under 80 words. 2. If the answer is NOT in the FAQ sheet, say: "Not in our FAQ. Please check with [name]." Never guess. 3. Never state a price, discount, stock position, delivery date or refund as final. Write [TO CONFIRM] next to each one. 4. If the customer seems angry, or mentions legal action, a health issue or a safety problem, write "Escalate to [name]" and do not draft a reply. 5. If asked to translate, add "TO BE CHECKED BY A NATIVE SPEAKER" under the translation. 6. At the end of each draft, show which FAQ number you used.
What you should get back: a draft reply with the FAQ number it came from, or a clear refusal.
Check: read the draft against the FAQ row it names. Confirm every [TO CONFIRM] from your own records.
Build an FAQ assistant from your own answers (2)
Here are customer questions our team received this month, with personal details removed: [paste the list] Here are the questions already in our FAQ sheet: [paste the questions only] Task: 1. List the questions that our FAQ does not cover. 2. Group similar ones together. 3. Suggest which five to add first, based only on how often they appear in my list. Do not write the answers. I will write them.
What you should get back: a short list of gaps, grouped, with five to fix first.
Complaints: AI drafts, you decide
[Paste your business note] [Paste your brand voice] Complaint, with personal details removed: [paste the complaint] What we know so far: [the facts, honestly] What I have authorised: [e.g. replacement after we receive photos, OR nothing yet, we are checking with the godown] Task: write a reply in four parts: acknowledge, facts, fix, follow-up. Rules: - Do not promise any refund, replacement, compensation or deadline beyond what I have authorised. - Do not admit legal liability and do not blame any third party. - Calm and respectful, under 100 words. Then add one separate line for me only: anything in the customer's message that I should handle personally.
What you should get back: a calm draft that stays inside what you authorised, and a private note on anything risky.
Check: the person who made the decision reads the draft. If the customer mentions a lawyer, a consumer forum, an injury or a public post, the owner handles it personally. AI is not legal advice.
Mistakes to avoid
- Sending a translation nobody on your side can read. Run the back-translation at least, and get a native speaker to approve anything that becomes a template.
- Letting AI write the FAQ answers. It writes plausible policy. Only you know the real one.
- Pasting whole chat exports with names and phone numbers. Copy only the words you need.
- Letting the draft decide the remedy. Decide the offer first, then ask for wording.
- Skipping the "last checked" date on the FAQ sheet. A stale answer on delivery time or returns is a wrong answer.
Do this week
- Write your brand voice in six lines with your sales head, and save it beside your business note.
- List the 15 questions your team answers most often and write the real answer to each. That is the start of your FAQ sheet.
- Take one message you send often, such as a dispatch update. Translate it into your customers' main language with the two prompts in this chapter, have a native speaker approve it, and save it as a template.