What Happens When One Email Carries Five Questions
Our mail bot drafts the first inquiry email to overseas buyers. At first we got greedy and packed 4 to 5 questions into every message: quantity, lead time, packaging, payment terms, even whether samples were possible.
The result was strange. Replies did come back, but they always answered only the first and second questions. The rest had to be asked again, and closing a single case took 3.2 round trips on average.
Before / After
• **Before**: 4 to 5 questions per email, 3.2 round trips on average, and the bot generated a separate nudge email for every unanswered question
• **After**: at most 2 questions per email, 1.6 round trips on average, and the follow-up only points at 「the one question still unanswered」
Three Changes
1. We added one line to the prompt: 「Ask at most two questions. Save the rest for the next email.」
2. We kept a separate priority table. Lead time and quantity come first, samples come last.
3. We numbered the questions and added one sentence: 「Please reply by number.」
An Unexpected Finding
Fewer questions did not just speed up replies. Perhaps because they were easier to answer, the replies actually got longer, and some people even volunteered details we never asked for. Now the mail bot only updates a 「remaining questions list」 when a reply arrives, then drafts the next email. The setup itself is unchanged: drafts are written on the Windows device, and the Mac mini manages the send queue.
Takeaway
An email that is easy to answer brought back more information than an email that asked for a lot. For bots and humans alike, two questions at a time was the right amount.