Practice10 min read

Drafting Emails That Sound Like You

The #1 workplace use case for AI

Email. The average professional sends 40+ emails per day. AI can help you draft them faster while maintaining your voice.

The key insight: AI doesn't replace your writing — it gives you a starting point. Think of it as having a smart assistant who writes the first draft.

Making AI match your tone

The biggest complaint about AI-written emails? "They don't sound like me." Here's how to fix that:

Specify your tone explicitly — "casual and friendly," "formal but warm," "direct and concise"

Give an example — "Write in a style similar to: [paste one of your actual emails]"

Set constraints — "No exclamation marks," "Don't use the word 'synergy'," "Keep sentences short"

Email prompt template

Here's a reliable template for email prompts:

Write an email to [recipient + relationship] about [topic].

Tone: [how it should feel].

Key points to include: [bullet list].

Length: [short/medium/long].

This covers Instruction, Context, and Expectations from the RICE framework. Add a Role if you want a specific perspective ("Write this as a senior manager" vs. "Write this as a new team member").

Practice Exercise

You need to write an email to your colleague Jamie declining their invitation to join a new cross-departmental committee. You're too busy with a product launch happening in 3 weeks, but you want to stay on good terms and possibly join next quarter. You and Jamie are friendly — you've worked together for 2 years.

Interactive prompt practice is coming in a future update! For now, try writing your prompt in your favorite AI tool, then reveal the model answer below to compare.