What prompting technique is used when a developer includes 'Explain this to a non-technical executive with no programming background' in a prompt?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation and Infographic
Audience specification tells Claude who's reading the answer — it calibrates jargon level, analogy choice, assumed knowledge, and detail depth to that specific audience.
Full explanation below image
Full Explanation
Audience specification is a prompting technique that directs Claude to calibrate its response for a specific reader profile. Specifying 'non-technical executive' vs 'senior software engineer' vs 'curious 10-year-old' produces dramatically different responses in vocabulary, assumed knowledge, depth, and analogy choice. This is one of the most impactful simple prompting techniques because it ensures the output is actually useful for the intended consumer. Option A (few-shot) involves providing examples. Option C (chain-of-thought) involves step-by-step reasoning. Option D ('constitutional prompting') is not a standard term.