Workshop: Write Better Emails with AI
A 60-minute workshop for professionals who write 10+ emails a day. Build a personal voice profile, practice quick replies, handle difficult conversations, craft cold outreach, and leave with a reusable template library — all powered by AI.
Email is the most common professional writing task — and one of the most time-consuming. This workshop teaches you to pair AI with your authentic voice so every email is faster to write, clearer to read, and more likely to get the response you want. You'll build a reusable voice profile, practice four real-world email scenarios, and leave with five copy-paste templates you can use starting tomorrow.
Before You Start
- ✓An active account on at least one AI chatbot (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.)
- ✓Familiarity with basic prompting (Workshop 1 or equivalent experience)
- ✓3–5 recent emails you've sent (you'll use them to build your voice profile)
Steps
The biggest complaint about AI-written emails is that they sound generic — because the AI doesn't know *your* voice. In this step you'll feed the model 3–5 real emails you've written, ask it to extract your patterns (sentence length, formality, greeting style, sign-off, vocabulary), and distill them into a Voice Profile system prompt. Once built, you paste this profile at the start of any email session and every draft will match your natural tone.
You are an expert writing analyst. I'm going to share 3–5 emails I've recently written. Analyze them and create a **Voice Profile** that captures my personal writing style. Include: 1. **Tone & Formality** — where I fall on the casual ↔ formal spectrum. 2. **Sentence Structure** — average length, simple vs. compound, active vs. passive voice. 3. **Greeting & Sign-off Patterns** — how I open and close emails. 4. **Vocabulary Tendencies** — words or phrases I reuse, jargon I favour or avoid. 5. **Paragraph Style** — short punchy paragraphs vs. longer narrative blocks. 6. **Personality Markers** — humour, directness, empathy cues, hedging language. Output the profile as a reusable **system prompt** I can paste at the start of any AI chat session. Format it as: "When writing emails on my behalf, follow this style guide: [profile details]." Here are my emails: --- Email 1: [PASTE YOUR EMAIL HERE] --- Email 2: [PASTE YOUR EMAIL HERE] --- Email 3: [PASTE YOUR EMAIL HERE]
- •Pick emails that represent your natural tone — skip ones you agonized over or copied from a template.
- •Include at least one short reply and one longer email for better pattern coverage.
- •Save your Voice Profile somewhere permanent — you'll reuse it in every future email session.
- •Update the profile every few months as your style evolves.
Most inbox time is spent on routine replies: confirmations, status updates, scheduling. These emails don't need creativity — they need speed and accuracy. In this step you'll paste your Voice Profile, then feed the AI an incoming email and ask for a reply. The goal: a send-ready draft in one prompt, with at most one refinement round.
[PASTE YOUR VOICE PROFILE HERE] I received the email below. Draft a reply that: • Confirms I received their message • Answers their question or fulfills their request • Keeps the tone consistent with my voice profile • Is no longer than 4 sentences Incoming email: --- [PASTE THE INCOMING EMAIL HERE] ---
- •Start a new chat with your Voice Profile as the first message — it acts like a system prompt for the whole conversation.
- •For truly routine replies, you can batch: paste 3–4 incoming emails and ask the AI for reply drafts to all of them.
- •Always read before sending — check names, dates, and any specific commitments.
Difficult emails — delivering bad news, pushing back on a request, handling a complaint — take the most emotional energy and carry the highest risk. AI can help you draft these quickly while maintaining diplomacy. In this step you'll practice a challenging scenario, use your Voice Profile for consistency, and add a self-critique layer to catch tone missteps before you hit Send.
[PASTE YOUR VOICE PROFILE HERE] I need to write a difficult email. Here is the situation: • **Recipient:** [NAME & ROLE — e.g. "my manager", "an unhappy client"] • **Situation:** [DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED] • **My goal:** [WHAT I WANT TO ACHIEVE — e.g. "decline politely", "de-escalate", "set a boundary"] • **Constraints:** [ANYTHING TO AVOID — e.g. "don't blame anyone", "keep it under 150 words"] Draft the email in my voice. After the draft, provide: 1. A tone check — flag any sentence that might sound harsh, passive-aggressive, or unclear. 2. An alternative phrasing for each flagged sentence. 3. A one-sentence summary of the overall impression the recipient will get.
- •The tone-check step is the most valuable part — it catches problems you might miss when you're emotionally invested.
- •For very high-stakes emails, ask the AI to role-play as the recipient and predict their reaction.
- •Sleep on it if the stakes are high enough — paste the draft, close the laptop, review in the morning.
Cold emails have notoriously low response rates — but the difference between 2% and 15% is almost entirely in the writing. In this step you'll use AI to research your recipient, identify a relevant hook, and draft a concise outreach email that leads with value instead of a generic introduction. Your Voice Profile keeps it personal rather than salesy.
[PASTE YOUR VOICE PROFILE HERE] I want to write a cold outreach email. • **Recipient:** [NAME, TITLE, COMPANY] • **What they care about:** [THEIR KNOWN PRIORITIES, ROLE, OR RECENT WORK] • **What I'm offering / asking:** [YOUR VALUE PROP OR REQUEST] • **Why now:** [TIMELY REASON TO REACH OUT — e.g. "they just raised a funding round", "their team is hiring"] Draft a cold email that: 1. Opens with a specific, genuine observation about their work (not flattery). 2. Connects that observation to the value I can offer. 3. Ends with a single, low-friction call to action. 4. Is under 120 words — short enough to read on a phone. After the draft, suggest three alternative subject lines ranked by likely open rate.
- •The best cold emails feel like they could only have been written to that one person — specificity is everything.
- •Never open with 'I hope this email finds you well' — it signals a mass blast.
- •Test different subject lines: questions, numbers, and curiosity gaps outperform generic intros.
- •Follow up once (3–5 business days later) with a shorter email — most replies come from follow-ups.
You've now practiced four email scenarios. In this final step, you'll generalize the best prompts into reusable templates — with placeholder tokens for the parts that change each time. Save these alongside your Voice Profile so any future email is at most two copy-pastes away from a polished draft. Browse the Everyday AI prompt library for more inspiration.
Based on the email scenarios we practiced today, help me create 5 reusable email prompt templates I can save in my prompt library. For each template: 1. Give it a short name (e.g. "Quick Reply", "Difficult Conversation"). 2. Write the full prompt with [PLACEHOLDER] tokens for variable parts. 3. List the placeholders and what to fill in for each. 4. Add a one-line usage tip. Make sure every template starts with [VOICE PROFILE] so I remember to paste my style guide.
- •Store templates where you can access them in under 5 seconds — Notion, Text Expander, a pinned note.
- •Revisit and update templates monthly: your best email tricks evolve over time.
- •Share your templates with teammates — consistent team voice improves brand trust.
Take-Home Assets
Your personal Voice Profile system prompt. Paste this at the start of any AI chat session before asking for email drafts. Replace the bracketed sections with your own analysis.
- 1.When writing emails on my behalf, follow this style guide:
- 2.Tone & Formality: [e.g. professional but approachable, leans casual with peers, more formal with executives]
- 3.Sentence Structure: [e.g. mostly short sentences (8–12 words), active voice, avoids semicolons]
- 4.Greeting: [e.g. 'Hi [Name],' for peers; 'Dear [Name],' for external contacts]
- 5.Sign-off: [e.g. 'Best,' or 'Thanks,' — never 'Warm regards']
- 6.Vocabulary: [e.g. uses 'flag' instead of 'highlight', avoids corporate jargon like 'synergy' or 'circle back']
- 7.Paragraph Style: [e.g. 1–3 sentence paragraphs, uses bullet points for lists of 3+ items]
- 8.Personality: [e.g. direct, light humour in informal contexts, acknowledges others' effort before giving feedback]
Five copy-paste prompt templates for the most common professional email scenarios. Paste your Voice Profile first, then use any template below.
- 1.Quick Reply — "[VOICE PROFILE] I received this email: [INCOMING EMAIL]. Draft a reply that confirms receipt, answers their question, and is no longer than 4 sentences."
- 2.Meeting Follow-Up — "[VOICE PROFILE] I just had a meeting about [TOPIC] with [ATTENDEES]. Key decisions: [DECISIONS]. Action items: [ACTIONS]. Draft a follow-up email summarizing the meeting in under 150 words."
- 3.Difficult Conversation — "[VOICE PROFILE] Recipient: [NAME & ROLE]. Situation: [WHAT HAPPENED]. My goal: [DESIRED OUTCOME]. Constraints: [TONE LIMITS]. Draft the email, then flag any sentence that could sound harsh and suggest an alternative."
- 4.Cold Outreach — "[VOICE PROFILE] Recipient: [NAME, TITLE, COMPANY]. They care about: [PRIORITIES]. I'm offering: [VALUE]. Why now: [TIMELY HOOK]. Draft a cold email under 120 words that opens with a specific observation, connects to my value, and ends with a low-friction CTA. Suggest 3 subject lines."
- 5.Feedback / Review Request — "[VOICE PROFILE] I need to ask [NAME] for [feedback on / a review of] [ITEM]. Context: [WHY IT MATTERS]. Deadline: [DATE]. Draft a concise, respectful email that makes it easy for them to say yes. Include a specific ask and a time estimate for the task."
Run through this checklist before sending any AI-drafted email. Catches the most common mistakes.
- 1.Does it sound like me? Compare against your Voice Profile.
- 2.Is the recipient's name and title correct?
- 3.Are all dates, times, and commitments accurate?
- 4.Is there exactly one clear ask or next step?
- 5.Is the tone right for this recipient and situation?
- 6.Could any sentence be misread as passive-aggressive or cold?
- 7.Is it short enough? Cut anything the recipient doesn't need.
- 8.Did I remove any AI-generated placeholder text?