The five things Claude needs from you — and why each one matters:

1. Who (the audience). "Write a message" and "Write a message to a VP at a Fortune 500 company you've never met" produce completely different outputs. The audience drives tone, vocabulary, assumptions, and length.

2. What (the deliverable). Email, memo, analysis, list, script, pitch deck outline — each has conventions. Naming the deliverable type lets Claude follow the right ones.

3. How (tone, length, format). "Professional but warm," "no longer than 150 words," "use bullet points" — these constraints are what separates a usable output from something you'll spend 20 minutes editing.

4. Why (what decision this serves). Claude writes better when it understands the purpose. "I need this proposal to convince a skeptical CFO" produces different content than "I need this proposal for a meeting where everyone already agrees."

5. What not (things to avoid). Explicit exclusions are powerful. "Don't mention the price increase yet," "avoid corporate buzzwords," "don't start with a question" — Claude follows these precisely when you state them.

You don't need all five for every prompt. A simple task needs one or two. A complex deliverable benefits from all five. The more of these you provide upfront, the less editing you do after.

The iteration loop is where Claude shines. You're not done after the first response. Tell it what to adjust: "Make the opening more personal." "Too formal — strip the corporate language." "Add a line about our free consultation offer." Each round gets closer. Claude remembers everything in the conversation and incorporates all feedback. The best Claude users think of the first response as version 0.5, not the final draft.

Your First Conversation