You may have seen our articles showcasing prompts ready to use in ChatGPT. Finding these successful prompts came with trial and error. In this article, you’ll learn how we use ChatGPT prompts that flopped to templatize our successful prompts.
Let’s jump in!
Coming Up with Prompts, Simplified
We have a few tricks for creating new prompts for ChatGPT, like the IAF Method. But the beauty of ChatGPT is that you can simply talk to it and get an output. Here’s a straightforward way to create prompts for anything:
- Consider what you’re using ChatGPT for. Ask yourself, What do I want from ChatGPT? What am I using AI for?
- Use that answer to write your prompt: “Organize my tasks based on level of urgency.”
- Evaluate the output and assess if you like it.
- Test and tweak the prompt until the output is correct.
Did you hop into ChatGPT to try it? Let me guess—these instructions were a little too simple, right? There is more to the madness of writing up prompts, especially if you’re using ChatGPT in your business. We learned early on to use ChatGPT for quizzes and quickly discovered flopped prompts.
ChatGPT Prompts that Flopped
When developing our internal prompt templates for ChatGPT, we went through trial and error. In this example, we gave ChatGPT quiz copy that was ready and asked it to convert the text into a specific format. The output we get from this prompt is what we would use to import the information we used to create the quiz in our platform.
Prompt: “I want to convert this text into the format in my prompt. Please print out everything completely. [insert quiz copy]”
Prompt: “Can you convert what’s in the system into this format? [insert the desired format]”
Instead of fully following the instructions, ChatGPT gave a shortened output of what we initially requested. It also included “notes” indicating there were more of the questions and unique outcomes than listed.
Troubleshooting Your Prompts
Let’s troubleshoot these flopped ChatGPT prompts and get a better idea of the underlying issue. First, reconsider what you’re asking ChatGPT to do and the length. ChatGPT can read about twenty thousand characters.
ChatGPT has settings options you can play around with until the output is right. This is both a blessing and a curse—more control but a little more confusing.
To troubleshoot our flopped prompt, consider that we’re asking ChatGPT to do too much within the length of tokens we set when the prompt was submitted. In addition, double-check all your ChatGPT settings and understand what each setting is for and how it affects the output.
Furthermore, revisit your prompt design. Use the IAF Method to write prompts, but also look closely at your prompt flow. For example, split up your main prompt into smaller prompts to give ChatGPT more information before the next instruction.
How We Fixed Our Prompts and Templatized
In this example, we gave a ton of information at once and ran the next prompt. When we realized this prompt refused to work how we wanted, we decided not to take shortcuts. (Patience is a virtue, right!?)
To build prompt templates to build quizzes, we started by breaking down the prompt into each section of the quiz-building process. For example, we started with a quiz outcomes prompt, then a quiz title prompt, then a quiz questions prompt, and so on.
Breaking down the prompt flow also requires transition words. Think: “Now, do this” or “Then do that,” etc. This allowed time for ChatGPT to catch up and required less editing and creating work on our end. From here, we tinkered with the settings.
The settings will vary, but we’ve consistently used 0.33 Temperature and zero Top P. This part of templatizing your prompts depends on your brand voice and writing style. For example, when I use ChatGPT for blog post outlines or TikTok scripts, I adjust the settings to 0.5 Temperature and 0.7 Top P. It’s all about personal preference!
ChatGPT is a software that will receive updates over time. Write down your prompt templates and settings for future adjustments. This will change as ChatGPT is updated and learns more information.
Wrap Up on ChatGPT Prompts that Flopped
When using ChatGPT for your business, it’s wise to templatize prompts you know you’ll use repeatedly. We learned early on to use our flopped ChatGPT prompts to establish templates for quicker work later.
To fix your prompts, first troubleshoot them and understand what’s not working and what needs to be adjusted. Start by breaking down your prompts into smaller steps, then adjust the settings to work better for your brand voice and writing style.
ChatGPT gets frequent updates, so write down your prompt templates and settings so you can easily adjust over time!