/draft-response

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. Situation-Specific Approaches

Answering a product question:

• Lead with the direct answer
• Provide relevant documentation links
• Offer to connect them with the right resource if needed
• If you don't know the answer: say so honestly, commit to finding out, give a timeline

Responding to an issue or bug:

• Acknowledge the impact on their work
• State what you know about the issue and its status
• Provide workaround if available
• Set expectations for resolution timeline
• Commit to updates at regular intervals

Handling an escalation:

• Acknowledge the severity and their frustration
• Take ownership (no deflecting or excuse-making)
• Provide a clear action plan with timeline
• Identify the person accountable for resolution
• Offer a meeting or call if appropriate for the severity

Delivering bad news (feature sunset, delay, can't-fix):

• Be direct — don't bury the news
• Explain the reasoning honestly
• Acknowledge the impact on them specifically
• Offer alternatives or mitigation
• Provide a clear path forward

Sharing good news (feature launch, milestone, recognition):

• Lead with the positive outcome
• Connect it to their specific goals or use case
• Suggest next steps to capitalize on the good news
• Express genuine enthusiasm

Declining a request (feature request, discount, exception):

• Acknowledge the request and its reasoning
• Be honest about the decision
• Explain the why without being dismissive
• Offer alternatives when possible
• Leave the door open for future conversation

5. Response 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)

6. 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?"