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Module 2: Client communication

A clear reply to a muddled email

25 minutes. Last checked 8 November 2026.

Lesson 1 of 6 in this module

Everything in this lesson is fictional: the practice (Harlow & Penn Accountants), its clients and their emails. Do not paste real client data to follow along.

What you will do

Turn a client's long email, with questions scattered through it, into a clear reply that answers each one in the client's order and lists what you still need from them.

When to use it

A client sends four paragraphs. The questions are buried in the middle of sentences, one is really two, and the email ends on something unrelated. You know every answer, but putting them in order takes longer than the answers themselves. This replaces writing that reply from scratch, or sending a short one that misses a question and starts a second round of email.

The split of work matters. You decide every answer, in a few rough words. The AI finds each question, puts your answers in the client's order, writes them in full sentences and collects what you still need into one list. It does not answer anything itself.

On your next working day, try it on one real email:

  1. Pick one client email with three or more questions in it.
  2. Anonymise the email so the client cannot be identified, or use a tool not made for public use. Lesson 0.2 shows both routes; replacing the name alone is never enough.
  3. Under the email, write your answer notes: one rough line per question, in any order. Write "no answer yet" where you do not have one.
  4. Paste the prompt below with the email and your notes, and check the reply (see "What to check").
  5. Put the client's details back yourself, outside the AI tool, and send it.

The prompt

Weak version: the prompt most people write

Weak version

Reply to this client email and answer their questions.

It asks the model to answer, so it will. Where you gave it no answer, it writes one from what it thinks it knows: a tax point, a deadline, a promise about fees. It also tends to answer in its own order, so the client cannot match the reply to what they asked.

Good version

Prompt parts:

  • Role
  • Context
  • Task
  • Inputs
  • Constraints
  • Format
  • Questions first

  1. Part 1. Role: You are helping a small UK accountancy practice reply to its clients. Write in plain British English, friendly and direct, as the client's accountant.

  2. Part 2. Context: The client is a sole trader whose 2025-26 Self Assessment return we are preparing. They have sent a long email with several questions mixed in with news. Below are their email, anonymised, and my answer notes, one rough line per question.

  3. Part 3. Task: Write a reply that answers every question in the email, in the order the client asked them, using my answer notes.

  4. Part 4. Inputs: The anonymised client email, then my answer notes, both pasted below.

  5. Part 5. Constraints: Use only the answers in my notes, and do not add tax advice, dates or figures of your own. If a question has no answer in my notes, write [ANSWER NEEDED: the question] in its place. Keep every placeholder in square brackets exactly as written. Under 250 words. Do not use exclamation marks.

  6. Part 6. Format: A subject line, then a one-line opening. Then each question as a short bold heading in the client's own words, with the answer under it. End with a bulleted list headed "What we still need from you".

  7. Part 7. Questions first: If you cannot tell which question one of my notes answers, ask me before writing.

[paste the anonymised email, then your answer notes]

Why this prompt works

PartWhat it does
Role ("reply to its clients... as the client's accountant")Sets the voice: the accountant answering, not an assistant giving general information
Context (sole trader, the 2025-26 return, a long email plus rough notes)Tells it what the two pasted blocks are, so it reads the notes as your answers, not as more client text
Task ("in the order the client asked them")The client's order is the order they will check the reply in. One job: the reply
Inputs (the email, then your notes)The email supplies the questions. Your notes supply every answer
Constraints (only your answers, [ANSWER NEEDED], placeholders kept)This is the part that stops it answering for you. A gap comes back marked, not filled with a guess
Format (bold question headings, then "What we still need from you")The client sees their own words and your answer under each. Everything they owe you sits in one list
Questions first (which note answers which question)Rough notes are often ambiguous. It asks instead of attaching an answer to the wrong question

The Constraints part is what makes this a reply job and not a research job. A chat tool answers whatever it is asked, from memory, and sounds just as sure when it is wrong. Telling it to use only your notes keeps every fact in the reply one you chose.

Sample input

Paste this under the prompt, in place of "[paste the anonymised email, then your answer notes]".

Sample input

FICTIONAL SAMPLE FOR COURSE PRACTICE. Not a real client.
Harlow & Penn Accountants, client email, anonymised before pasting

Hi,

Sorry this is a long one. Things have been mad since we moved, the new address is [ADDRESS] by the way. I think I sent you the bank statements last month but I'm not sure I sent all of them? Can you check. Also I bought a car in March, mostly for work but I do use it at weekends. Can I claim it? And when do I actually have to pay the tax, and do you know how much it will be yet, I need to plan.

My sister says I should go limited next year because it saves tax. Is she right? Oh and can you do my partner's return as well, she's just started doing some freelance work.

Thanks,
[CLIENT]

My answer notes:
- statements: have April to December 2025. Still need January to 5 April 2026.
- car: depends on business use. Send the purchase invoice and a rough split of business and personal miles. We will tell them what can be claimed once we have both.
- when to pay: online return and payment both due by 31 January 2027 for 2025-26. Amount not worked out yet; we will send it once the return is drafted.
- new address: updated on our records.
- going limited: not something to answer by email. Offer a 30-minute call.

Example output

Example output. Yours will differ in wording.

(Fictional, written for this course.)

Subject: Your questions, answered, and what we still need

Hello [CLIENT],

Thanks for your email. Here are your questions in the order you asked them.

Have I sent all the bank statements?
Not quite. We have April to December 2025. We still need January 2026 to 5 April 2026.

Can I claim the car?
It depends on how much you use it for work. Please send the purchase invoice and a rough split of your business and personal miles. Once we have both, we will tell you what can be claimed.

When do I have to pay, and how much will it be?
For the 2025-26 tax year, the online return and the payment are both due by 31 January 2027. We have not worked out the amount yet. We will send it to you once the return is drafted.

Should I go limited next year?
That is a bigger question than an email can answer well. Can we book a 30-minute call to go through it?

Can you do my partner's return as well?
[ANSWER NEEDED: can you do my partner's return as well, as she has started freelance work?]

We have also updated your new address on our records.

What we still need from you

  • Bank statements for January 2026 to 5 April 2026
  • The car purchase invoice
  • A rough split of business and personal miles for the car

Kind regards,
[Your name]
Harlow & Penn Accountants

What to check

  • Every question found. Read the client's email again and count the questions yourself, including the ones hidden in a sentence ("Can you check."). Here there are five, plus the new address. A question the reply skips is the one the client will write back about.
  • Every [ANSWER NEEDED] filled in by you. Here the partner's return had no note. Decide the answer and write it in, or delete the line and answer it separately. Never send a reply with the marker still in it.
  • No answer it made up. Compare each answer with your notes, line by line. It must not have added a tax point (for example, what can be claimed for a car), a figure or a promise you did not write.
  • The date against gov.uk. Confirm the 31 January 2027 date for 2025-26 on gov.uk's Self Assessment deadlines page (https://www.gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-returns/deadlines), and that the reply has not changed the tax year.
  • "What we still need" matches your notes. Every item you asked for is on the list, and nothing is on it that you did not ask for.
  • The client's details, put back by you. Replace [CLIENT] and any other placeholder outside the AI tool, after the check and before you send.

Variations

  1. The reply as a phone call script. Change the Format to "a numbered list of points to cover on a call, in the client's order, then the list of what we still need". Useful when the answers are better said than written.
  2. A reply to two people. For a couple who both emailed, add to the Context "Two clients wrote; the email shows who asked what", and to the Format "put each person's name placeholder after their question".
  3. Notes added to the file. Add a second Format line: "Then, after a line, a three-line summary of what was asked and answered, for our client file."

Try it

About 10 minutes. A different sole trader client of Harlow & Penn reads email only on their phone, and their email ends "just the short version please". Write the Format part so the reply works on a small screen: short, numbered, still in the client's order, and still ending with what you need from them. The rest of the prompt stays as it is.

Fictional email and answer notes to use:

Sample input

FICTIONAL SAMPLE FOR COURSE PRACTICE. Not a real client.
Harlow & Penn Accountants, client email, anonymised before pasting

Hi, busy week here, the new van finally arrived and I've been out every day. Quick ones. Did you get my receipts? Do I need to keep the paper copies now I've sent photos? And I've had a letter from HMRC, should I worry? I'll forward it. Just the short version please.
[CLIENT]

My answer notes:
- receipts: got the photos, all readable.
- paper copies: keep them for now; we will confirm how long when we file.
- HMRC letter: no answer until we have seen it. Ask them to forward it today.

Prompt parts:

  • Role
  • Context
  • Task
  • Inputs
  • Constraints
  • Format
  • Questions first

  1. Part 1. Role: You are helping a small UK accountancy practice reply to its clients. Write in plain British English, friendly and direct, as the client's accountant.

  2. Part 2. Context: The client is a sole trader whose 2025-26 Self Assessment return we are preparing. They have sent a long email with several questions mixed in with news. Below are their email, anonymised, and my answer notes, one rough line per question.

  3. Part 3. Task: Write a reply that answers every question in the email, in the order the client asked them, using my answer notes.

  4. Part 4. Inputs: The anonymised client email, then my answer notes, both pasted below.

  5. Part 5. Constraints: Use only the answers in my notes, and do not add tax advice, dates or figures of your own. If a question has no answer in my notes, write [ANSWER NEEDED: the question] in its place. Keep every placeholder in square brackets exactly as written. Under 250 words. Do not use exclamation marks.

  6. Part 6. Format: [write the Format part]

  7. Part 7. Questions first: If you cannot tell which question one of my notes answers, ask me before writing.

[paste the anonymised email, then your answer notes]

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