A reply is facts you can prove, plus one ask. Grok drafts. You send. It does not remember a conversation you did not paste.
Why this matters
“Write a nice reply” is how shops invent “as we discussed Thursday,” a discount, and a paragraph of empathy about a staff of twelve they have never met. The customer will quote you. A grant officer will file you. A public comment will stay on the page.
This is not inbox triage (that is Business) and not a classroom note (that is Education). It is the words that leave under your name: customer, donor, grant officer, public comment, the person who wrote the site. One inbound. One outbound.
If the real message is too hot to paste even redacted, pick a different real message. Do not invent a crisis for sport.
Teach
Do this on grok.com in a thread named reply — [who, role]. Paste one inbound. Redact names if they did not agree to land in a model. No passwords, account numbers, medical, student records, or badge codes.
Pass 1 — Extract only
Their ask:
Words of theirs I may quote (only sentences in the paste):
Dates and numbers in the message (quote them):
Tone I must not escalate:
NOT IN MESSAGE (assumptions you are tempted to make — do not use them):
You may quote them if you pasted the sentence. You may not invent what you said last week unless you paste that too. “As I mentioned on the 12th” is a quote of you. If it is not in the thread, it is WRONG.
Pass 2 — Outcome and rails
- Outcome: the one thing “sent” means (a no, a date you will type, a hold, a question).
- Facts you add in your own name (or
none).
- Promises you will not make.
- Length: 8–14 lines, or 120 words if it is public.
- Tone: plain. Ask first. No slogans. No “we value your partnership.” No apology unless you typed that you are apologizing.
Pass 3 — Draft + send checklist
Grok writes the reply. Then five lines you will look at before send:
- Every date and dollar appears in the extract or in my added facts.
- No quote of a third party I did not paste.
- No fake testimonial (“other customers love…”).
- No invented next step or meeting.
- I still hit send.
Public vs private. If this will sit on Facebook, a review site, or a public ticket, write it as if a reporter reads it. Do not argue the person into the ground. Do not invent “we already refunded.”
Grants and donors. Do not invent match funds, board approval, or a statistic. If they asked about a number on your one-pager, point at the line you already published or write NEED — I will check. Do not let Grok “clarify” with a new number.
Grok does not send. You do. Fast is fine for extract-and-draft. Think if the thread is long or legal-adjacent. Legal-adjacent still needs a human; the model is not counsel.
Worked example
A public comment under the shop’s Saturday-hours post: “Your flyer said you’re open Saturday. I drove in.” The owner does not have the flyer in the thread. They know, and type, current hours: weekday only.
Wrong use: “Write a warm reply and quote a happy customer.” Grok invents “as posted on our site,” apologizes for “the mix-up on the flyer,” offers 10% off, and pastes a testimonial from nobody.
Better use. Extract: ask = Saturday hours; their words = the two sentences; NOT IN MESSAGE = that a flyer said Saturday, any refund, any other customer. Owner adds one fact: “Hours are Mon–Fri, 8–4. I will not debate a flyer I cannot see in this thread.”
Draft is eight lines: we are weekday only; we do not have Saturday hours; if they want a quote, email; no percent, no invented flyer admission, no third-party praise. Send checklist kills the 10% that tried to sneak back. Owner sends from the account, not from the chat.
Your turn
Open grok.com. New thread. Use one real inbound from this week (email, form, review, comment, grant question). Redact. If the week is quiet, use a real message you have been avoiding.
Exercise d-comms-l02-e1
| Field | Value |
|---|
| whereToDo | grok.com |
| time | 22 min |
Copy-ready prompts
Message 1:
I am in Grok Mastery (Russell Tech), Pathway D, Writing & comms, lesson 2 — customer reply.
I will paste one real inbound (redacted). Extract only:
- Their ask
- Words of theirs I may quote
- Dates and numbers (quote them)
- NOT IN MESSAGE
Do not draft. Do not invent a prior conversation.
Session stamp: today's date and "This extract was written by Grok in this thread."
Message 2:
Outcome I want: [one or two sentences]
Facts I add in my own name: [or none]
Promises I will not make:
Length: [8–14 lines or 120 words]
This will be: private / public
Write:
1) a Reply I could send (no new facts except the ones I added)
2) a five-line Send checklist
No third-party quote. No testimonial. No invented date, dollar, or "as we discussed."
Session stamp: today's date and "This reply was written by Grok in this thread."
Artifact to paste
- The Extract and first stamp.
- The Reply, Send checklist, and second stamp.
- One sentence from you: send as-is or the line you changed.
Rubric
- Pass: Extract has NOT IN MESSAGE. Reply uses only the inbound plus your added facts. No invented quote, testimonial, or promise. Both stamps present. Inbound was real. You name a send decision.
- Fail: “Write a nice email.” A discount or meeting Grok invented. A fake prior call. You typed it offline. Secrets pasted. No stamp.
Common failure
The common failure is the remembered meeting. Grok writes “as we discussed.” You did not paste that discussion. You leave it because it sounds like a shop that is on top of things. You have now invented a record.
The other failure is borrowed customers. A reply that says other people are happy, or quotes a review you did not paste. That is a testimonial you do not have. Cut it.
What’s next
You can extract and reply without writing a second history. Next: an internal brief that does not invent sources, stakeholders, or a statistic you did not open.
