Prompting Techniques
What is Few-Shot Prompting?
Few-shot prompting means providing 1-3 examples in your prompt to show AI exactly what good output looks like. The AI learns the pattern from your examples and generates new content matching that style, format, or structure.
Understanding Few-Shot Prompting
"Few-shot" refers to learning from a small number of examples. Instead of describing what you want (zero-shot), you show what you want by including examples. The AI analyzes these examples and extracts the underlying pattern.
Think of it like training a new team member. You could explain how to write a listing description in detail (zero-shot), or you could show them three of your best descriptions and say "write one like these" (few-shot). The second approach often produces better, more consistent results.
For real estate professionals, few-shot prompting is the key to brand consistency. When AI sees examples of your actual writing, it can match your voice, formatting preferences, and style patterns that would be hard to describe in words.
How Few-Shot Prompting Works
Select Quality Examples
Choose 1-3 examples that represent exactly what you want. Pick diverse examples that show the pattern clearly.
Format as Input/Output Pairs
Show the input (what details you provided) and output (the final content) so AI understands the transformation.
Provide Your New Input
After the examples, give AI the new data it should transform following the same pattern.
AI Generates Matching Output
The AI applies the pattern it learned from your examples to create new content with consistent style and format.
Few-Shot Prompting for Real Estate
Few-shot prompting shines when you need consistent, branded output. Here's how real estate agents use it:
Listing Descriptions
Show 2-3 of your best descriptions, then provide property details for a new listing.
Email Templates
Include examples of your emails for different scenarios to maintain your communication style.
Social Media Posts
Show your top-performing posts so AI matches your caption style and hashtag usage.
Market Updates
Provide examples of your market commentary format for consistent newsletters.
Example Few-Shot Prompt Structure
"Here are examples of my listing descriptions:
Example 1: [Property details] -> [Your description]
Example 2: [Property details] -> [Your description]
Now write a description in the same style for: [New property details]"
AI sees the pattern and generates a description matching your voice and structure.
How Many Examples Do You Need?
Good for simple patterns where one clear example shows the format.
Best for: Basic formatting, simple transformations, consistent structure
Shows AI the pattern and acceptable variations. Best balance of quality and efficiency.
Best for: Voice matching, complex formats, brand consistency
Rarely improves results. Uses context window space better spent on other instructions.
Best for: Only when AI keeps missing edge cases in your pattern
Quality Over Quantity: Two excellent examples beat five mediocre ones. Choose examples that clearly demonstrate the pattern and show variety in how you handle different inputs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I save few-shot prompts for reuse?
Absolutely—this is exactly what you should do. Build a library of few-shot prompts for your common tasks. This is the first step toward creating Context Cards: your examples become part of your persistent AI context, so you don't have to include them every time.
Does few-shot prompting use more tokens?
Yes, each example consumes tokens from your context window. This is why quality matters more than quantity—2-3 well-chosen examples are more efficient than 5+ mediocre ones. For frequently-used prompts, the token cost is worth the consistency improvement.
What if AI doesn't follow my examples exactly?
Check that your examples are consistent with each other—conflicting patterns confuse the AI. Also, add explicit instructions about what aspects to match: "Match the sentence length, opening hook style, and emphasis on lifestyle over features shown in my examples."
How is this different from Context Cards?
Few-shot prompting is a technique; Context Cards are a system. Few-shot prompts include examples inline in each prompt. Context Cards organize your voice, expertise, and examples into a persistent document that you load once, then reference for many tasks. Context Cards are built using few-shot examples as one component.
Sources & Further Reading
Master Prompting Techniques
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