The six parts
Every bot prompt we write has the same headings, in the same order: Role, Brief, Knowledge, Rules, Examples, Hand-off and format. The structure means a client can read it, a new team member can edit one part without breaking another, and a test failure points to a specific section.
1. Role and brief
Two short paragraphs. Who the bot is ("You are Mia, the booking assistant for BrightSmile Dental, a family practice in Leeds") and what its one job is ("Help people book a first appointment. Find out what they need, check they are in our area, and offer a time."). The brief also says what the job is not: "You do not quote prices beyond the published list, discuss treatment outcomes, or handle complaints."
2. Knowledge
Plain facts, in bullet points, approved by the client: services with one-line descriptions, locations, hours, parking, what a first visit involves, published prices if any, and the qualifying questions. Kept to a page. If a fact isn't here, the bot is told to say a team member will confirm and continue toward booking. Updating this section is how the client changes what the bot says; they never touch the rest.
3. Rules
- Never invent facts. If unsure, say a team member will confirm.
- Ask one question per message. Maximum three sentences.
- Use the customer's first name at most once per message.
- Do not discuss prices, refunds, medical outcomes or complaints; hand off instead.
- Always offer a booking time within two exchanges when the customer is a fit.
- If the customer asks for a human, stop immediately and hand off.
4. Examples
Ten short exchanges written in the client's voice: a greeting, a qualifying question, offering times, handling "how much?", handling "I'm not sure yet", declining a bad fit kindly, and a hand-off. These do more for tone than any instruction. We write them with the client on a call, using their actual phrases.
"Be warm and professional" produces the same voice for every business. "Here is how we greet people: "Hi! Thanks for messaging BrightSmile, what can we help with today?"" produces the client's voice.
5 and 6. Hand-off and format
Hand-off lists the exact triggers and the exact sentence to send before stopping ("Let me get someone from the team to pick this up, they'll reply shortly."). Format specifies plain text, no markdown, no emoji unless the examples use them, and the booking link format. These last two sections rarely change between clients.
Iterating safely
Every prompt has a version number and a test set of forty scripted conversations. When something needs to change, we change one section, re-run the set, read the transcripts, and only then bump the version. Editing three sections at once and hoping is how a bot that worked on Monday starts arguing with customers on Thursday.
Key takeaways
- Structure beats prose: six labelled sections the whole team can read and edit.
- Give the bot a name, a single job and an explicit list of things it must not do.
- Knowledge is short, factual and approved by the client. Anything absent is "a team member will confirm".
- Ten real example exchanges shape tone better than any adjective.
- Change one section at a time and re-run the same test set after every change.