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Draft hard client emails yourself, then have ChatGPT make the wording kinder, like a payment-plan reply

who Libby Walklett FMAAT, AATQB, founder and director of The Ethical Bookkeeper (UK), in AAT Comment

What it does

She always drafts the content herself first, then uses ChatGPT to polish it. When a client couldn't pay her invoices and asked for a payment plan, which she doesn't normally offer, she drafted the email in ChatGPT with identifying and confidential information removed, asked it to rewrite it as sensitively as possible, then re-tweaked it into her own voice. She also uses AI to help run bank rules in Xero, where smart matching pairs invoices with payments and needs less double-checking once it learns.

Tool cost

ChatGPT Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo · Xero $27/mo (intro discounts may apply)

Setup

Easy · or we do it from $149/mo

Tools

ChatGPT, Xero

Customer questionsPaperwork & adminProfessional Services

The problem

She used to spend ages trying to word social posts and client emails, sleeping on them and looking again the next day. Difficult client situations were the hardest to write.

What happened

The client was really happy, and they agreed a payment plan for this year only, as an exception; she says it saved her a lot of time and stress. Xero's matching did 35 matches in her first month, which she calls not a huge amount but helpful and a work in progress. Press report.

Quoted in the source: Libby Walklett, founder and director, The Ethical Bookkeeper. Source: AAT Comment: How are accountants and bookkeepers using AI in their day-to-day practice? (2026-08-19) · Added 2026-10-19.

How to set it up yourself

  1. What The Ethical Bookkeeper does: she drafts every client email herself, removes names and confidential details, then has ChatGPT polish it; for hard conversations she asks it to make the wording as sensitive as possible.
  2. Write your own rough draft first, including the decision you've already made (yes, no, or a one-off exception), so the AI only changes the wording.
  3. Remove names, account details and anything confidential, then paste the draft into ChatGPT with the prompt below.
  4. Read it back and put it in your own voice before sending; she warns that content AI writes on its own sounds artificial.

Copy-paste prompt

Here is my draft email to a bookkeeping client, with names and confidential details removed: {DRAFT}. The situation: {SITUATION, e.g. they can't pay and asked for a payment plan}. My decision: {DECISION, e.g. a payment plan for this year only, as an exception}. Rewrite it to be as kind and clear as possible without changing the decision, dates or amounts. Keep it under 150 words, in plain English. Don't add promises I didn't make.
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Tools used

ChatGPT

General AI assistant for writing, research, brainstorming and analysis.

From Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo (checked 2026-10-17)

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Xero

Cloud accounting software for small businesses.

From $27/mo (intro discounts may apply) (checked 2026-10-17)

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Some tool links may be affiliate links. Disclosure

Checked prices: ChatGPT: from Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo (verified 2026-10-17) · Xero: from $27/mo (intro discounts may apply) (verified 2026-10-17)

Rather not do it yourself?

We'll set this up in your tools, in your voice, tested. $149/mo with setup included (6-month minimum), or $497 pay-once. Satisfaction guarantee: we'll fix it until it works. Pay-once setups: or we refund your setup fee. $149/mo plan: cancel in the first 30 days and we refund your first month. Terms. We reply within 1 business day.

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