Draft Response

What This Skill Does

• This skill drafts professional, customer-facing responses tailored to the specific situation, customer relationship, and communication context.
• It considers factors like urgency, channel, and stakeholder level to generate appropriate and effective communications.
• It is designed for customer support and sales teams.

When to Use

• Draft a response to a customer question.
• Respond to a customer escalation.
• Communicate bad news to a customer.
• Follow up with a customer after a resolution.
• Respond to a feature request.

Key Features

• Understands the context of the customer interaction.
• Gathers relevant background from available sources.
• Tailors the response to the specific situation.
• Considers the customer relationship and communication channel.
• Drafts a professional and effective response.

Manual Installation

Manual installation View Full Skill Content The complete markdown content that gets installed/draft-response

If you see unfamiliar placeholders or need to check which tools are connected, see CONNECTORS.md.

Draft a professional, customer-facing response tailored to the situation, customer relationship, and communication context.

Usage

/draft-response <context about the customer question, issue, or request>

Examples: /draft-response Acme Corp is asking when the new dashboard feature will ship /draft-response Customer escalation — their integration has been down for 2 days /draft-response Responding to a feature request we won't be building /draft-response Customer hit a billing error and wants a resolution ASAP

Workflow

1. Understand the Context

Parse the user's input to determine:

Customer: Who is the communication for? Look up account context if available. Situation type: Question, issue, escalation, announcement, negotiation, bad news, good news, follow-up Urgency: Is this time-sensitive? How long has the customer been waiting? Channel: Email, support ticket, chat, or other (adjust formality accordingly) Relationship stage: New customer, established, frustrated/escalated Stakeholder level: End user, manager, executive, technical, business

2. Research Context

Gather relevant background from available sources:

~~email: Previous correspondence with this customer on this topic Any commitments or timelines previously shared Tone and style of the existing thread

~~chat: Internal discussions about this customer or topic Any guidance from product, engineering, or leadership Similar situations and how they were handled

~~CRM (if connected): Account details and plan level Contact information and key stakeholders Previous escalations or sensitive issues

~~support platform (if connected): Related tickets and their resolution Known issues or workarounds SLA status and response time commitments

~~knowledge base: Official documentation or help articles to reference Product roadmap information (if shareable) Policy or process documentation

3. Generate the Draft

Produce a response tailored to the situation:

Draft Response

To: [Customer contact name] Re: [Subject/topic] Channel: [Email / Ticket / Chat] Tone: [Empathetic / Professional / Technical / Celebratory / Candid]

[Draft response text]

Notes for You (internal — do not send)

Why this approach: [Rationale for tone and content choices] Things to verify: [Any facts or commitments to confirm before sending] Risk factors: [Anything sensitive about this response] Follow-up needed: [Actions to take after sending] Escalation note: [If this should be reviewed by someone else first]

4. Run Quality Checks

Before presenting the draft, verify:

[ ] Tone matches the situation and relationship [ ] No commitments beyond what's authorized [ ] No product roadmap details that shouldn't be shared externally [ ] Accurate references to previous conversations [ ] Clear next steps and ownership [ ] Appropriate for the stakeholder level (not too technical for executives, not too vague for engineers) [ ] Length is appropriate for the channel (shorter for chat, fuller for email)

5. Offer Iterations

After presenting the draft: "Want me to adjust the tone? (more formal, more casual, more empathetic, more direct)" "Should I add or remove any specific points?" "Want me to make this shorter/longer?" "Should I draft a version for a different stakeholder?" "Want me to draft the internal escalation note as well?" "Should I prepare a follow-up message to send after [X days] if no response?"

Customer Communication Best Practices

Core Principles

Lead with empathy: Acknowledge the customer's situation before jumping to solutions Be direct: Get to the point — customers are busy. Bottom-line-up-front. Be honest: Never overpromise, never mislead, never hide bad news in jargon Be specific: Use concrete details, timelines, and names — avoid vague language Own it: Take responsibility when appropriate. "We" not "the system" or "the process" Close the loop: Every response should have a clear next step or call to action Match their energy: If they're frustrated, be empathetic first. If they're excited, be enthusiastic.

Response Structure

For most customer communications, follow this structure:

1. Acknowledgment / Context (1-2 sentences)
   • Acknowledge what they said, asked, or are experiencing
   • Show you understand their situation

Core Message (1-3 paragraphs)

• Deliver the main information, answer, or update
• Be specific and concrete
• Include relevant details they need

Next Steps (1-3 bullets)

• What YOU will do and by when
• What THEY need to do (if anything)
• When they'll hear from you next

Closing (1 sentence)

• Warm but professional sign-off
• Reinforce you're available if needed

Length Guidelines

Chat/IM: 1-4 sentences. Get to the point immediately. Support ticket response: 1-3 short paragraphs. Structured and scannable. Email: 3-5 paragraphs max. Respect their inbox. Escalation response: As long as needed to be thorough, but well-structured with headers. Executive communication: Shorter is better. 2-3 paragraphs max. Data-driven.

Tone and Style Guidelines

Tone Spectrum

Tone Adjustments by Relationship Stage

New Customer (0-3 months): More formal and professional Extra context and explanation (don't assume knowledge) Proactively offer help and resources Build trust through reliability and responsiveness

Established Customer (3+ months): Warm and collaborative Can reference shared history and previous conversations More direct and efficient communication Show awareness of their goals and priorities

Frustrated or Escalated Customer: Extra empathy and acknowledgment Urgency in response times Concrete action plans with specific commitments Shorter feedback loops

Writing Style Rules

DO: Use active voice ("We'll investigate" not "This will be investigated") Use "I" for personal commitments and "we" for team commitments Name specific people when assigning actions ("Sarah from our engineering team will...") Use the customer's terminology, not your internal jargon Include specific dates and times, not relative terms ("by Friday January 24" not "in a few days") Break up long responses with headers or bullet points

DON'T: Use corporate jargon or buzzwords ("synergy", "leverage", "paradigm shift") Deflect b