The requests that work best are around 21 words and carry context; the ones most people write are under 9. The difference is almost never a magic word: it’s telling the assistant what you want, who it’s for, and in what format.
You can write your request in English. The product interface and the assistant’s answers are currently in Portuguese, so the reply comes back in Portuguese unless you ask for English.
A good request, taken apart
Here’s a real request from a sales team’s week:
It works because it has three parts:
Three tips that solve almost everything
- Talk the way you’d talk to someone on your team. There’s no secret command. Write it the way you’d explain the task to someone who joined the company yesterday.
- Say what you want to get back. A table, a five-line summary, an email ready to send, a list of points to watch: when you don’t say, the assistant picks for you.
- Iterate: the first result is a draft. Ask for adjustments in the same conversation (“make it shorter”, “drop the jargon”, “add a column with price per square meter”) instead of starting over.
If typing out all that context feels like work, use the microphone button next to the message box and say your request out loud. What you say becomes text in the draft, for you to review before sending.
When in doubt, ask the assistant itself for help. Write “Improve this request: [your request]” and it gives you back a fuller version that you can adjust and use.
