Tuesday Memo · 12 May 2026 · Issue 01
Why most UK businesses are using ChatGPT backwards.
If your Ai output sounds robotic, the problem is not the tool. It is the way the question is being asked. Three useful Ai things this week, three minutes to read, no pitch in the body.
Most UK business owners we speak to have a ChatGPT subscription, used it twice, and concluded it does not work for them. The tool is fine. The way they are using it is the problem. The fix takes 30 seconds to understand and pays off forever.
──── One thing worth your time ────
Anthropic’s prompt engineering guide. The two pages worth reading.
Anthropic published a guide on prompt engineering that finally puts the most important advice on paper. It is around 3,000 words. The two pages worth reading are “Be clear and direct” and “Use examples.” If you do nothing else with Ai this week, read those. The principle behind both is the same: stop asking Ai to do work blind. Start giving it the same context you would give a new hire.
Link: docs.anthropic.com/prompt-engineering
──── One prompt to try ────
Customer email replies that do not sound robotic.
Most owners give ChatGPT a customer message and ask for a reply. The reply sounds like it was written by ChatGPT. The fix is not a better prompt. It is giving the model the context it needs to sound like you. Try this on your next customer email this week.
Reply to this customer email. Customer message: [paste their message here] Context for the reply: - This customer has been with us for [X] years - They have raised this same issue [once before / never] - Our policy on [refunds / scope / extensions] is [paste your real policy] - Our tone is warm, direct, does not grovel - The reply needs to acknowledge the issue, give a concrete next step, and not [promise X / over-commit] Write the reply in 4 short paragraphs. Sign off as [your name].
The thing that makes this work is the policy line. Paste your real policy in word-for-word. The output goes from generic Ai voice to your voice in the first try.
──── One thing to ignore ────
The “Ai tool of the week” content cycle.
This week alone we saw three “must-try” Ai tools that are last year’s tools renamed, plus four “Ai agents that will replace your team by Christmas” pieces. None of it is worth your time. The signal is small: roughly one or two genuinely new Ai categories appear per quarter. The rest is repackaging. Get good at the tool you already pay for before chasing the next one.
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That is it for this week. Try the prompt above on a real customer email. If it lands, save it for next week. If it does not, hit reply and tell us why. We read every one.
If you want a senior Ai team to build context-rich prompts for your specific business across email, reporting, admin, marketing and the rest, that is what Breezi Membership is for. From £89 a month.