Prompt · Role Prompting · Intermediate

Role: Get a Structured Answer from a Specific Expert

Name the expert. Set the focus. Get a usable answer.

A role prompt tells an AI who to be before it answers. This version adds a focus and a set order, so the reply is easier to act on.

About This Prompt

Author: Adam Bloom
AI Technique: Role Prompting
Level: Intermediate
Best For: Business owners · Decisions with trade-offs
Last Updated: 2026-11-10
Last Reviewed: 2026-11-10

Role Prompt Template

You are an expert in [FIELD] as a [ROLE] with [YEARS] years advising [TYPE OF BUSINESS]. You focus on [WHAT YOU CARE ABOUT]. Answer my question in this order: 1. Your view, in two sentences, in plain words. 2. The three things you would check first. 3. The risks I may be missing. 4. What you would do next. Flag anything you can’t support with evidence. My question: [MY QUESTION].

Free to use. Copy it, change it, share it. No credit needed.

What to Fill In

[FIELD]: the area of expertise, such as pricing for a service business.
[ROLE]: the job the AI plays, such as a finance lead.
[YEARS]: how seasoned the expert should be, such as 20.
[TYPE OF BUSINESS]: who the expert has advised, such as owner-run service firms.
[WHAT YOU CARE ABOUT]: the one thing to protect, such as margin without losing clients.
[MY QUESTION]: the decision you want a view on.

Example: A Structured Role Prompt on Pricing

Illustrative example, not a client result

Input: Field: pricing for a service business. Role: finance lead. Years: 20. Business type: owner-run service firms. Focus: protecting margin without losing clients. Question: Should I raise prices 15% next quarter?

Prompt as sent:

You are an expert in pricing for a service business as a finance lead with 20 years advising owner-run service firms. You focus on protecting margin without losing clients. Answer my question in this order: 1. Your view, in two sentences, in plain words. 2. The three things you would check first. 3. The risks I may be missing. 4. What you would do next. Flag anything you can’t support with evidence. My question: Should I raise prices 15% next quarter?

Output:

View: Raise prices, but not a flat 15%. Tie the number to your costs, so you can defend it.
Check first: How much your costs actually rose. How many clients you can lose before it’s a net loss. Which clients already pay below your average rate.
Risks: A flat raise can feel like a surprise bill. A big jump can also send clients shopping.
Next: Set the number from your costs. Give 60 days’ notice. Try it on new clients first.

Flag: I can’t see your costs or churn. Check those numbers before you decide.

Why the Role Prompt Works

A role gives the AI a viewpoint to answer from. The focus tells it what to protect. The set order makes the reply easy to scan and act on.

When the Role Prompt Doesn’t Work

A role changes the viewpoint and tone, not the facts the AI knows. One study of 162 personas found that adding one did not improve accuracy on factual questions. Check any number before you act on it.
A made-up résumé doesn’t make the AI more expert. Twenty years is a costume, not a credential.
One role is one voice. It can miss objections a different role would raise.

Research Behind This Prompt

Kong et al. (2023), Better Zero-Shot Reasoning with Role-Play Prompting. Supports. Role-play prompts beat a plain zero-shot prompt on 10 of 12 reasoning benchmarks. With ChatGPT, accuracy on AQuA rose from 53.5% to 63.8%.
Zheng et al. (2023), When “A Helpful Assistant” Is Not Really Helpful: Personas in System Prompts Do Not Improve Performances of Large Language Models. Challenges. Across 162 personas, 2,410 factual questions and four model families, adding a persona did not improve accuracy overall.
Luz de Araujo et al. (2025), Principled Personas: Defining and Measuring the Intended Effects of Persona Prompting on Task Performance. Mixed. Across nine models and 27 tasks, expert personas usually helped or made no clear difference. Irrelevant persona details cut performance by almost 30 percentage points in some cases.

What the Evidence Says

Mixed. Role play helped reasoning tests in one study and did not improve factual accuracy in another. Extra persona details can backfire, so keep them relevant. Use the role for viewpoint and structure, then check the facts yourself.

Sources last checked 2026-11-10.

Role Prompt FAQ

What does the focus line do?

It tells the expert what to protect, such as margin or client trust. The answer will lean toward protecting that priority.

Why does the prompt set an order for the answer?

A set order keeps the reply short and easy to scan. It also makes two roles easy to compare.

Does a role make the AI more accurate?

Not on its own. A role changes the viewpoint, not the facts, so check any claim before acting.

Can I change the steps?

Yes. Keep them short and numbered. Swap in what you need, such as costs or timeline.

Why give the expert years of experience?

It sets the depth and tone of the reply. It is a costume, not a credential, so it adds no facts.

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