25 ChatGPT Prompt Examples for Small Businesses (Copy & Paste)

The difference between AI that disappoints and AI that saves hours is almost always the prompt. Here are 25 copy-and-paste prompt examples for the jobs small businesses actually do — plus the simple structure that makes any prompt work.

The structure behind every good prompt

Before the examples: every good prompt does four things — gives context (who you are), a task (what you want), a format (how you want it), and a tone. Add those four and almost any prompt works. Miss them and you get generic waffle. Full guide: how to write AI prompts for business.

Email & customer service prompts

• "I run a [type] business. Draft a friendly, professional reply to this customer email, apologising for the delay and offering [solution]: [paste email]"
• "Write a polite payment reminder for an invoice 2 weeks overdue. Firm but warm. Keep it under 100 words."
• "Draft 3 template replies for our most common enquiry: [describe]. Friendly, on-brand, each under 80 words."
• "Rewrite this email to be clearer and half the length, keeping the key points: [paste]"
• "Draft a response to this negative review that's gracious, takes responsibility where fair, and invites the customer to talk: [paste review]"

More on this: using AI for routine customer emails.

Marketing prompts

• "I run a [type] business in [town]. Write 5 social media post ideas for this month, each with a first line that stops the scroll."
• "Write a 150-word email to past customers announcing [offer]. Warm, not salesy, one clear call to action."
• "Give me 10 subject lines for an email about [topic]. Mix curiosity, benefit and urgency styles."
• "Turn these bullet points into a customer-friendly product description: [paste points]"
• "Write a Google Business Profile post announcing [news] in under 100 words."

See also planning a month of social media with AI.

Admin & operations prompts

• "Summarise this document into 5 bullet points a busy owner can read in 30 seconds: [paste]"
• "Turn these rough meeting notes into clear minutes with action points and owners: [paste]"
• "Create a step-by-step checklist for [process] that a new starter could follow without help."
• "Draft a simple job description for a [role] at a small [type] business. Include must-haves and nice-to-haves."
• "Write a friendly holiday-closure notice for our customers, covering [dates] and what to do while we're closed."

Planning & thinking prompts

• "Act as a small business advisor. My business is [describe]. What are the 3 biggest opportunities I might be missing?"
• "List the 10 questions a customer is most likely to ask about [product/service], with short clear answers."
• "Help me decide between [option A] and [option B]. List pros, cons and the questions I should ask myself."
• "I have £[X] to spend on [goal]. Suggest 3 ways to use it, from safest to most ambitious."
• "What are the most common mistakes small [type] businesses make in their first 3 years? How do I avoid each?"

Proposal & sales prompts

• "Turn this brief into a structured proposal with intro, approach, timeline and next steps: [paste brief]"
• "Write a follow-up message to a lead who went quiet after asking for a quote. Friendly, no pressure, one question."
• "Draft a one-paragraph 'about us' for our website that sounds human, not corporate. We are: [describe]"
• "Write 3 versions of a short pitch for [service] — one for a busy owner, one for a technical buyer, one for a friend."
• "Turn this testimonial into a short case-study paragraph: [paste]"

More: ChatGPT for proposals and emails.

Making these work for YOUR business

These prompts are starting points — the real magic happens when they're tuned to your business, your tone and your customers. That's exactly what a prompt library is, and it's the kind of thing that gets better with someone helping you refine it as you go.