Guide, 3 min read

Show, don't tell: put examples in your prompt

Describing what you want is hard. Showing it is easy. Paste one or two samples of a result you like, and the AI can match the length, tone and shape without a long list of rules.

Why examples work so well

Try to describe the tone of a friend's text messages. It is hard. Words like "casual" or "punchy" mean different things to different people. But paste one of their texts, and anyone can see the style right away.

AI works the same way. It is very good at spotting a pattern and following it. One example quietly answers many questions at once: how long, how formal, what goes first, and whether to use lists. People who build AI tools call this a few-shot prompt. "Shot" just means example.

Before

write 5 instagram captions for my bakery. make them fun and short

After

Write 5 Instagram captions for my bakery's new cinnamon rolls. Match the style of these two captions that did well for us. Example 1: "Fresh out of the oven and gone by noon. You know what to do." Example 2: "Monday called. We answered with croissants." Keep the same length and playful tone, use new words, and skip hashtags.

"Fun and short" is a guess. Two real captions are a target.

What makes a good example

  • Use real ones. Your own past emails, posts or notes that worked are the best examples you have.
  • Pick ones you would be happy to get back. The AI copies the good and the bad. If your sample has a weak opening, expect more weak openings.
  • Two or three is plenty. One example shows the pattern. Two or three that differ a little show what can change and what must stay the same.
  • Vary the right things. If you want captions for many products, give samples about different products. That way the AI learns the style, not the topic.

Skip examples when you want something fresh and do not care about style, like a quick list of gift ideas. An example pulls the answer toward itself, which is great for matching and not so great for surprises.

Label your examples clearly

Tell the AI what the examples are and what to do with them. Otherwise it may treat them as part of the task, or copy whole lines. Use plain labels like "Example 1:" and "Now write:". Then say what to copy, like "match the length and tone", and what not to copy, like "do not reuse these words or facts".

Copy this

You are a writer who is great at matching a style. I need: [what you want written, like 3 product descriptions] Match the style of the examples below. Copy their length, tone and structure, but not their words or facts. Example 1: [paste your first example] Example 2: [paste your second example] Before you write, tell me in one line what you noticed about the style. Then write.

Examples beyond writing

Examples help with much more than words. A few ideas:

  • Formats. Show one row of the table you want, and the AI will fill in the rest the same way. The guide on getting the format you need has more.
  • Sorting. Show how you sorted three customer emails into "urgent", "can wait" and "spam", then paste the rest and ask it to sort them the same way.
  • Answers to common questions. Show one reply you wrote to a customer, and new replies will sound like your team wrote them. This works well for salons and spas and any shop that gets the same questions every day.
  • Your own voice. Samples of your writing are the best way to make AI sound like you. Our guide on making AI write like you goes deeper.

If the result copies your examples too closely, reply in the same chat: "Keep the style, but use all new words and ideas."