Active Intelligence Custom Instructions

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AI is helpful when it's used to assist you with tasks for your business. But AI becomes more powerful when it knows your business, and you can partner with it to assist you with entire projects. A major 'Aha' moment with brands starting to use AI tools is when they begin to customize them to know how to create content and execute tasks in the specific way your brand does. Not only do they write in the brand's voice and use the brand's fonts, colors, and imagery, they understand how you want to use them to help your specific business succeed.

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At the same time, AI can be extremely frustrating when it doesn't remember those preferences, making you have to explain. In fact, Workday released a finding that 37% of the time, employees saved using AI tools was lost to rework, which they defined as correcting, clarifying, or rewriting low quality AI generated content. This turns a helpful tool into a frustrating task.

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Which is why we're so excited to announce that we have released custom instructions for Active Intelligence. Now, you can use ActiveCampaign's custom instructions to create organizational memory, ensuring Active Intelligence not only delivers consistent, contextually aware assistance across your entire team, but gets smarter over time about your specific business.

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So let's jump in and see how this feature actually works and what you need to do to set it up. This works alongside the company description in your brand kit. One note before we get started — only admin users can set up and manage custom account instructions, but once configured, everyone on your team benefits from the shared context.

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From the Active Intelligence homepage, click on the customize button at the top right, then click instructions. Or if you want to access from the sidebar, click on the Active Intelligence icon while in any feature page, then click customize. In the text editor, custom instructions start with a blank slate, giving you the freedom to craft your instructions how you see fit. Your instructions are automatically saved as you type and can be updated at any time to refine how Active Intelligence works for your business.

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So what should you include in your instructions? Here are four key areas to help you get started.

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Working Preferences — This is how you want to collaborate with Active Intelligence. For example, do you prefer explanations of AI reasoning? Do you want confirmation steps before content creation? Here's how a local fitness studio might set their working preferences: "Always confirm details and ask clarifying questions before generating any campaign, email, or automation. Understand the specific goal, audience segment, and context first." Or a B2B software company might say: "Always show me 2 to 3 options for subject lines and call to action so I can choose."

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Target Audience — This is who you serve and what matters to them. Consider who your ideal customers are, their demographics and pain points, and your industry context and marketing positioning. For example, that fitness studio might describe their target audience like this: "Our members are adults 25 to 50 looking for a supportive fitness community, not an intimidating gym culture. They value encouragement and inclusivity." While the B2B company would describe it differently: "We serve project managers at mid-sized companies (50 to 200 employees) who are overwhelmed managing projects across multiple tools. They need to prove ROI to leadership and want reliability over the newest features."

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Content Guidelines — These are rules for structure, tone, and messaging. Think about how you like to communicate, your brand's personality and tone, and any industry-specific terminology or language to use or avoid. The fitness studio sets guidelines like: "Tone should be encouraging and friendly. Use 'our community' and 'we' language. Keep emails under 150 words with short paragraphs. Always include class schedule CTAs. Avoid exclusionary messaging." The B2B company's guidelines focus differently: "Use professional but approachable language. Focus on efficiency and time savings, not technical specifications. Keep content scannable with bullet points. Always include a CTA for customer testimonials. Avoid corporate buzzwords."

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Additional Context — This is what makes your business unique. Include your products, services, and differentiators, your competitive landscape and positioning, and your strategic priorities. The fitness studio adds context like: "We're a boutique fitness studio offering small group classes with personalized attention. We compete against big box gyms by providing community connection. Emphasize our beginner-friendly approach and that every fitness level is welcome." The B2B company might explain it this way: "We're a project management platform built for teams that find enterprise tools too complex. Our differentiation is ease of setup and an intuitive interface. Emphasize quick implementation and getting value within days, not months."

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Now that you've set up your instructions, Active Intelligence automatically applies this knowledge to every interaction, making recommendations more relevant and content more on-brand from the start. Custom instructions let you teach Active Intelligence about your business once, so it works smarter for you every single time — whether you're creating campaigns, building automations, or getting strategic advice.

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If you found this helpful, please like and subscribe to the channel. For more information on custom instructions and other Active Intelligence features, check out the links in the description below.