ChatGPT is a chat assistant from OpenAI that drafts, summarizes and answers questions in plain language. It suits one off tasks you start yourself, such as a draft email or a summary of notes. It does not run your business steps for you, and a person must check what it writes.
What ChatGPT is good at
ChatGPT works with language. It is useful when you have text to write, shorten, sort or explain, and you can read the result before anyone else sees it.
- Drafting emails, replies and short posts from a few notes.
- Summarizing a long thread, a document or meeting notes.
- Turning rough notes into a checklist or a set of steps.
- Listing the questions a new customer may ask, and drafting answers.
- Brainstorming names, subject lines and ways to explain a service.
Five prompts to copy
Paste a prompt into the chat and replace the brackets with your own text. Use placeholders instead of customer names and numbers.
Rewrite the email below so it is shorter, polite and clear. Keep every date and amount exactly as written. [paste email]
Summarize the notes below in five short points. Then list the next steps and who owns each one. [paste notes]
Draft a reply to the message below. Offer two times next week and ask one question about the job. Keep it under one hundred words. [paste message]
List the questions a first time customer is likely to ask about [your service]. Draft a short, plain answer to each. Mark any answer where you are guessing.
Turn the rough notes below into a checklist for a new employee doing [task]. Put the steps in order. [paste notes]
The limits
ChatGPT can state wrong things in a confident voice. It does not know your prices, your calendar or the people you serve unless you give them to it. It starts only when you open it and write to it. Treat every draft as a draft.
- Check every name, date, amount and promise before you send.
- Do not use it to decide anything that affects money, a legal obligation or a person.
- Keep sensitive details out of the chat.
The same limits apply to any AI assistant, including Claude, Gemini and Copilot. A person checks the output.
Should you use ChatGPT yourself?
Use ChatGPT yourself for one off tasks. Use an automation for repeated work that should run without you. The table shows the difference.
| Question | ChatGPT, used by you | A custom automation |
|---|---|---|
| What starts it | You open a chat and write | An event, such as a form arriving |
| What it knows | What you paste or connect | What it reads from your tools |
| Best for | A task you do once | A job that repeats |
| Who does the repeat work | You, every time | The automation, with you approving |
When an automation does the job better
An automation fits when you find yourself pasting the same kind of thing into a chat again and again. If every new inquiry gets the same first reply, a chat window means you do the work each time. An automation can read the inquiry, draft the reply and bring it to you to approve.
See inbox sorting and drafts and answers on your website for two examples of what we can build, or read what we build.
Questions owners ask
What should I keep out of ChatGPT?
Keep sensitive details out: account numbers, passwords, government ID numbers, and private records about the people you serve or employ. Follow the settings on your own account, and check them before you paste anything. When in doubt, replace names and numbers with placeholders.
Can ChatGPT answer my customers for me?
Not on its own. A chat window answers the person who types in it, which is you. To answer customers on your website, you need a chat built on your own documents, with a handoff to a person. See the chatbot page for how that works.
Is ChatGPT enough for a small business?
For one off tasks such as drafting, summarizing and brainstorming, yes. For repeated work that should run without you opening a window, an automation fits better. You can use both: the chat for ideas, the automation for steps that repeat.
Keep reading
Not sure which fits your work? Book a free call. All guides are on the guides page.