Prompt design skill

Prompt Design

Prompts are the most overlooked element in behavior design. Without a prompt, behavior doesn't happen — no matter how motivated or able the user is.

Three Prompt Types

1. Person Prompts (Internal)

What they are: Thoughts or reminders that come from within the user. "I should check my metrics." "Time to update the project."

How they form: Through repeated association between a context and a behavior. After enough repetitions, the user thinks of the behavior automatically in that context.

Product implications:

• You cannot directly create Person Prompts
• You create them indirectly by pairing external prompts with consistent contexts
• Person Prompts are the goal — they mean the habit is formed
• When users act without any external prompt, Person Prompts are driving behavior

Measurement: Track organic sessions (sessions without a preceding notification or email). Rising organic sessions = Person Prompts forming.

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2. Context Prompts (Environmental)

What they are: Cues in the user's environment that trigger behavior. A badge on an app icon. A browser tab that's always open. A physical location associated with a task.

How they work: The environment reminds the user to act. The cue doesn't come from the product's notification system — it comes from the user's existing context.

Product implications:

• Design for environmental persistence (widgets, browser tabs, badges, status bar items)
• Integrate into existing workflows (Slack integrations, email digests, calendar events)
• Physical environment matters: desktop apps have different context cues than mobile

Design strategies:

• App badges and notification counts (persistent visual cue)
• Browser start page or new tab integration
• Widget on phone home screen
• Calendar integrations (event = context cue)
• Slack/Teams bot messages in existing channels

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3. Action Prompts (Designed)

What they are: Prompts deliberately designed and sent by the product. Push notifications, emails, in-app tooltips, CTAs, banners, and modals.

How they work: The product actively tells the user to do something at a specific moment.

Product implications:

• You have full control over timing, content, and frequency
• But Action Prompts are expensive — each one uses up attention capital
• Prompt fatigue is real: too many Action Prompts degrades all future prompts
• Action Prompts should feel like helpful reminders, not interruptions

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Prompt Timing

The most important principle: Prompts only work above the Action Line. Sending a prompt to someone who lacks motivation or ability is not engagement — it's spam.

When to Prompt

Timing Strategy	How It Works	Example
Event-based	Prompt triggered by a real event	"Your report is ready" (report was generated)
Anchor-based	Prompt tied to user's existing routine	"After your morning standup, check your dashboard"
State-based	Prompt triggered by user's product state	"You have 3 unread comments" (content waiting)
Completion-based	Prompt after user finishes a related action	"You just finished a meeting — want to log action items?"
Threshold-based	Prompt when a metric crosses a threshold	"Your project hit 80% completion"

When NOT to Prompt

Anti-Pattern	Why It Fails	Better Approach
Time-based schedule	"Every Monday at 9am" regardless of context	Event-based: prompt when there's something to act on
Re-engagement spam	"We miss you!" every 3 days	Wait for a meaningful event, then send one message
Feature promotion	"Have you tried our new analytics?"	Prompt when user encounters the problem analytics solves
Vanity metrics	"You've been viewed 12 times this week!"	Only prompt for actionable information
Guilt-based	"Your team is waiting" when they're not	Only use social prompts when genuinely true

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Notification Design

The PASS Framework for Notifications

Every notification should pass four tests:

P — Personal: Is this relevant to this specific user?

• Bad: "Check out our new features"
• Good: "Your project 'Q2 Launch' has 3 new comments"

A — Actionable: Can the user act on this right now?

• Bad: "Your subscription renews in 30 days"
• Good: "Sarah shared a file with you — tap to view"

S — Specific: Does it tell the user exactly what happened?

• Bad: "You have new activity"
• Good: "2 tasks were completed in your Sprint 4 board"

S — Short: Can the user get the point in under 3 seconds?

• Bad: "We wanted to let you know that there have been some updates to the project that you've been following, and several team members have added their contributions"
• Good: "3 updates in Project Alpha"

Notification Frequency Guidelines

User Segment	Frequency	Rationale
New users (Week 1)	1-2 per day max	Build value without overwhelming
Active users	Based on events, not schedule	They're engaged; prompt around real activity
Fading users	1-2 per week max	High value, low volume to re-engage
Churned users	1 per month max	Only prompt for highly relevant events

Notification Hierarchy

Not all prompts are equal. Design a hierarchy:

1. Critical: Requires immediate action (security alerts, time-sensitive deadlines)
2. Important: Meaningful event that benefits from quick response (teammate mention, task completion)
3. Informational: Nice to know but not urgent (weekly digest, milestone reached)
4. Ambient: Background awareness (badge count update, status change)

Match the notification channel to the hierarchy level:

Level	Channel	Interruption Level
Critical	Push notification + banner	Full interruption
Important	Push notification	Standard interruption
Informational	In-app + email digest	Low interruption
Ambient	Badge count, in-app indicator	No interruption

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Anchor Moments

Anchor moments are the key to forming habits. They are existing routines that serve as reliable triggers for new behaviors.

What Makes a Good Anchor

A good anchor moment is:

• Reliable: It happens consistently (daily, weekly)
• Recognizable: The user clearly knows when it happens
• Relevant: It's contextually related to the new behavior
• Already habitual: It doesn't require motivation — it's automatic

Common Anchor Moments for Products

Anchor Moment	New Behavior	Recipe
Opening laptop in the morning	Check dashboard	"After I open my laptop, I will glance at my dashboard"
Finishing a meeting	Log action items	"After I leave a meeting, I will add one task"
Morning coffee	Review daily plan	"After I pour my coffee, I will check my priorities"
End of workday	Update project status	"After I close my IDE, I will update one status"
Weekly team standup	Review team metrics	"After our standup, I will check the team scoreboard"

Designing for Anchor Moments

1. Identify the anchor through user research (what do users already do reliably?)
2. Pair the new behavior with the anchor (proximity in time and context)
3. Prompt at the anchor moment (notification, email, or in-app cue)
4. Shrink the new behavior to its Starter Step
5. Celebrate after completion (feedback, progress, positive emotion)

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Prompt Design Patterns

Progressive Prompt Reduction

As habits form, reduce external prompts:

Week	Prompt Strategy	Goal
1-2	Daily action prompts	Establish the behavior
3-4	Reduce to every other day	Test if habit is forming
5-8	Weekly summary only	Shift to context/person prompts
9+	No external prompts	Habit formed (monitor organic sessions)

The Prompt-Value Ratio

Every prompt should deliver more value than it costs in attention:

Prompt Value = (Relevance × Urgency × Actionability) / Frequency

If frequency goes up, each prompt must be more relevant, more urgent, or more actionable to maintain the same value ratio.

Prompt A/B Testing

Test prompts on these dimensions:

Dimension	A	B
Timing	Morning send	Anchor-moment send
Content	Generic ("Check your dashboard")	Specific ("2 tasks due today")
Channel	Push notification	In-app banner
Frequency	Daily	Event-based
Tone	Informational ("Your report is ready")	Social ("Sarah commented on your project")

Measure: Open rate, action completion rate, and long-term retention (not just clicks).