Speed Up Client and Prospect Email with Gmail's Smart Compose
For Executive Coachs ·
What This Does
Gmail predicts what you are about to type and offers to finish the sentence for you. It also drafts full replies from a one-line description and suggests short responses you can send with a single click. Together, these features cut the time spent on routine correspondence, the follow-ups, confirmations, and status updates that fill most inboxes. You still control every word that goes out.
As a solo coach, you write the same handful of emails on repeat: confirming a rescheduled session, answering a prospect's question about pricing or cadence, sending a quick thank-you after a chemistry call. None of that correspondence touches session content, so it's the easiest place to let Gmail's Smart Compose and Help Me Write carry the first draft while you keep full control of what actually gets sent.
Before You Start
- You use Gmail for work email, either a personal account or through Google Workspace
- You can log in at mail.google.com or through the Gmail app
- Smart Compose is turned on in Settings (it is usually on by default, and Step 1 shows you where to check)
- If your organization runs Google Workspace instead of free Gmail, the Business Standard plan starts at $14/user/month and includes the same AI features
Steps
1. Turn on Smart Compose and Smart Reply
Click the gear icon in the top right of Gmail, then "See all settings." On the General tab, scroll to Smart Compose and select "Writing suggestions on." While you are there, turn on Smart Reply too, then scroll down and click Save Changes. Both stay on until you turn them off, so this is a one-time step.
2. Accept suggestions as you type
Start composing or replying to a message. As you write, Gmail predicts the rest of your sentence and shows it in light gray text just ahead of your cursor. Press Tab to accept the full suggestion, or the right arrow key to take it one word at a time. Keep typing if a suggestion is wrong. It disappears without interrupting you, and the more you write in Gmail, the more it adapts to your specific phrases and the people you write to most.
3. Use Smart Reply for one-line responses
Open a message that only needs a quick acknowledgment. Near the bottom of the email you will see two or three suggested replies, things like "Thanks, got it" or "I will look into this." Click one to load it into the compose window, add any specific detail, and send. Save this option for simple acknowledgments. Skip it for anything that needs nuance or a real decision.
4. Draft full emails with Help Me Write
For longer or more complex replies, open a new compose window or click Reply, then look for the pencil or star icon near the bottom of the compose box. Click it and describe what the email should say: who it is for, what happened, and the tone you want. Click Create. Gmail generates a full draft directly in the compose window.
If the icon does not appear, your Gmail version or Workspace plan may not include Help Me Write yet. Draft the email in a chatbot instead and paste the result into Gmail.
5. Refine the draft, then send
Read the draft against what you actually know about the situation before it goes anywhere. If the tone or length is off, use the Refine option and add an instruction such as "make it shorter" or "sound more formal." Once it reads right, fill in any names, dates, or numbers the AI could not have known, then send.
6. Save your best replies as templates
For messages you send over and over, turn a strong draft into a reusable template. Go to Settings → Advanced, enable Templates, and save. Then, in any compose window, click the three-dot menu, choose Templates, and save the draft under a name you will recognize later. Pull it up the next time a similar message lands and edit only what changed.
Example
Scenario: A prospect who had a chemistry call last week emails asking whether you offer monthly instead of biweekly sessions.
What you type into Help Me Write: "Reply to a prospect asking about monthly vs biweekly session cadence. I offer both, biweekly is more common for the first three months, monthly works well once someone is established. Friendly, brief."
What you get: A short, warm reply covering both options and a light recommendation, ready to send after you confirm the pricing detail is current.
Time saved: A few minutes on this one email, more once you count every scheduling and pricing question across a full week.
A good first test: pick the next three routine replies you send, accept the Smart Compose suggestion whenever it matches your intent, and count how many sentences you never had to type.
Caveats
Reserve Smart Compose and Help Me Write for scheduling, pricing questions, and prospect correspondence, the parts of your inbox that never reference what a client actually said in a session. If a reply to a client would need to mention anything from your notes or a recent conversation, draft it yourself or start from your own session recap rather than letting Gmail predict text around confidential detail. Also double check any pricing or availability Gmail suggests. It writes confident-sounding sentences from thread context, not from your actual calendar or current rates.
Whatever your field, treat the suggestions as speed rather than judgment. Gmail echoes common phrasing instead of checking facts, so read every draft once before sending anything that contains names, numbers, dates, or commitments.