TipHow a good prompt saves time, money and tokens
A clear prompt gets the right answer straight away. You avoid follow-up questions – and save both time and tokens.
When you write to an AI service, what you write is called a prompt. The clearer the prompt, the better the chance that the answer is right the first time.
Tokens explained simply: AI does not read and write whole words but small pieces of text called tokens. A short word can be one token, a long word several. Both your question and the AI's answer count – and in a long conversation the AI often rereads earlier messages, so they count again.
Why it matters: free plans have limits on how much you can use per day or hour, and API services charge per token. Even with a fixed monthly price, every round of "no, shorter", "in English" and "more formal" takes time.
Before: "Write an email to a customer." The AI then guesses tone, length and content, and you often have to ask for changes several times.
After: "Write a short, friendly email to a customer who has waited two weeks for their order. Apologise, say the parcel ships on Friday and offer free shipping next time. Max 80 words, sign off with my name Anna." Now the AI knows who, what, tone and length – and the answer can usually be used straight away.
A good prompt usually contains four things: what you want, the context, the tone or style, and how long or in what format the answer should be. Both OpenAI and Anthropic describe clear instructions and examples as the most important advice in their guides.
How to get started
- Write what, for whom and why in the first sentence.
- State length and format, e.g. "max 80 words" or "as a bullet list".
- Paste in the facts the AI needs instead of letting it guess.
- Use the Prompt Workshop on tipai.se for ready-made prompts tailored to your AI.
- Start a new chat when you change topic – then the AI does not have to reread a long history.
More on TipAI
Sources
- OpenAI: What are tokens and how to count them (retrieved 2026-10-16)
- OpenAI: Prompt engineering guide (retrieved 2026-10-16)
- Anthropic: Prompt engineering overview (retrieved 2026-10-16)
TipAI explains AI in plain language for beginners, families and small businesses. Every article has sources and a "How to get started" section.