How do I write a great AI call summary prompt?

Cradle's AI call summaries give you a snapshot of every phone call without having to listen to the recording or read the full transcript. You can customise the prompt that generates these summaries so that they capture exactly the information your team needs.

Getting the prompt right can make a big difference to how useful your summaries are. Here are some tips and examples to help you get the most out of this feature.

What is the AI call summary prompt?

The AI call summary prompt is the instruction that tells our AI what to focus on when it reads through your call transcript. Think of it like briefing a new team member — the clearer you are about what you want, the better the result.

You can set a custom prompt in your Cradle admin settings. If you don't set one, we'll use a sensible default that works well for most businesses.

Keep it specific to your business

The most common mistake is being too generic. "Summarise this call" will give you a summary, but it probably won't highlight the things that matter most to your team.

Instead, think about what you'd want to see if you glanced at a call record between meetings. What would save you from having to call a colleague and ask "what happened on that call?"

Too vague:

• Summarise this phone call.

Much better:

• Summarise this phone call. Include the caller's name, the reason for their call, any actions promised by our team, and whether the issue was resolved.

Tell it what to include

A great prompt explicitly lists the pieces of information you care about. This will vary depending on your business, but here are some things teams commonly want to capture:

• The caller's name and company (if mentioned)
• The reason for the call
• Key decisions or outcomes
• Any follow-up actions or commitments made
• Whether the caller seemed satisfied
• Relevant reference numbers, dates, or amounts discussed

You don't have to include all of these — just the ones that matter to your team.

Use a structure if you want consistent output

If you'd like your summaries to follow a consistent format, you can ask for that in the prompt. This is especially useful if your team is scanning through lots of call records and wants to find information quickly.

Example — structured prompt:

• Summarise this call using the following structure:

Tailor it to your team's role

Different teams care about different things. A support team wants to know if the issue was resolved. A sales team wants to know buying signals. An accounts team wants to know about outstanding invoices.

Example — support team:

Summarise this support call. Include the issue reported, the troubleshooting steps discussed, whether the issue was resolved, and any follow-up required from our team.

Example — sales team:

Summarise this sales call. Include the prospect's needs, any products or plans discussed, their level of interest, objections raised, and agreed next steps.

Example — accounts team:

Summarise this call. Focus on any invoices, payments, or amounts discussed. Note any disputes or queries raised by the caller and what was agreed.

Keep it concise

Your prompt doesn't need to be an essay. A few clear sentences work best. The AI is good at following instructions, but overly long or contradictory prompts can lead to inconsistent results.

A good rule of thumb: if you can say it in two to four sentences, that's usually the sweet spot.

Test and refine

After setting your prompt, make a few calls and check the summaries. If something's missing or not quite right, tweak the prompt and try again. Small adjustments can make a big difference — for example, if the AI isn't picking up on action items, simply adding "list any follow-up actions" to your prompt will usually fix it.

A few things to keep in mind

• Summaries are generated from the call transcript, so they're only as good as the audio quality. If a call has poor audio, the transcript (and therefore the summary) may have gaps.
• Very short calls (under about 30 seconds) may not produce useful summaries.
• The AI won't make things up — if something wasn't discussed on the call, it won't appear in the summary.

Example prompts to get you started

Here are a few ready-to-use prompts you can copy and adapt:

General purpose:

• Provide a concise summary of this phone call. Include who called, the purpose of the call, key points discussed, any commitments or actions agreed, and the outcome.

Professional services:

• Summarise this client call. Note the client's name, the matter or project discussed, any instructions received, deadlines mentioned, and follow-up actions for our team.

Customer support:

• Summarise this support call. Include the customer's issue, steps taken to resolve it, whether it was resolved on the call, and any outstanding actions. Note the customer's sentiment if it's clearly positive or negative.

Need a hand crafting the right prompt for your team? Our support team is happy to help — just get in touch