Draft and sort customer enquiries with AI, with you approving every reply

Quick answer

Give an AI assistant your own facts and an anonymised customer message, ask for a draft reply, then edit, check and send it yourself. Never let it invent prices, dates or promises.

  • For: Freelancers and independent providers, Retailers and walk-in businesses, Small business owners and solopreneurs
  • Level: Beginner
  • Estimated setup time: 30 to 45 minutes for the first set-up (an estimate; yours may differ)

This playbook has no recent review date. Check tool details on the official sites before you rely on it.

The problem

Answering the same customer questions again and again takes time, and replies can come out rushed or inconsistent.

Before you start

  • A list of the facts you always give customers (prices, hours, policies)
  • Five to ten recent enquiries you can anonymise
  • An AI assistant you are allowed to use for work

Tools you can use

  • A general-purpose AI assistant (several are available; check each provider on its official site for current plans and data settings)
  • Alternative: message templates saved in your email or messaging app, if you only need fixed answers

Step by step

This playbook shows a careful way to use an AI assistant for first drafts of customer replies. You supply the facts, the AI helps with the wording, and you check and send every message yourself.

Step 1: Write down your facts

List what you tell customers again and again: prices or price ranges, opening hours, delivery or collection, refunds, booking or deposit rules, and anything you never do. This list is the only source the AI may use.

Step 2: Remove private details

Before you paste a customer message, delete names, phone numbers and addresses. Replace them with placeholders such as [customer].

Step 3: Ask for a draft

Reply drafting prompt
You are helping me reply to a customer enquiry for my [type of business]. Facts you may use: [paste your facts]. Enquiry (anonymised): [paste]. Write a polite, clear reply in my tone ([friendly or formal]). Do not promise anything that is not in the facts. List any questions I should ask the customer.

Step 4: Edit and check

Read the draft slowly. Compare every price, date and policy with your fact list, fix the tone, and delete anything you would not say yourself.

Step 5: Send it yourself

Copy the checked reply into your email or messaging app and send it yourself. Do not connect an AI tool to your customer chats until you have tested drafts by hand for a few weeks and are comfortable with the results.

Step 6 (optional): Sort a batch of enquiries

Sorting prompt
Here are 10 anonymised customer enquiries: [paste]. Group them by what the customer needs. For each group, suggest a standard reply outline that uses only these facts: [paste your facts].

Use the groups to build a small set of reusable replies that you review and update yourself.

What good looks like

  • Every price, date and policy in the draft matches your fact list
  • The tone sounds like you
  • Nothing is promised that you cannot deliver
  • After ten enquiries, most drafts need only small edits

Common mistakes

  • Pasting customer names, numbers or addresses into the AI
  • Sending a draft without reading it
  • Letting the AI guess a price or a delivery date
  • Connecting AI to live customer chats before testing drafts by hand

Privacy and human review

Customer messages often contain personal data. Remove it before you paste anything. Some providers state that conversations may be reviewed or used to improve their models, so read the data controls first. You stay responsible for every message you send.

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