Using Claude 3.5 Haiku for Rapid Email Triage and Response Drafting

What You'll Learn

• The batch email triage prompt that classifies 50 emails in one pass
• How to structure the response drafting prompt for consistent, editable output
• When Haiku outperforms Sonnet for email work and when to use Sonnet

Email triage is one of the highest-volume, lowest-value activities on an executive's calendar. The task is repetitive and structured: classify each email by required action, determine priority, and either respond briefly or delegate. It is exactly the type of task that a fast, cost-efficient model handles better than an expensive reasoning model.

Claude 3.5 Haiku's combination of speed and the 200K context window makes it the right tool for this specific workflow. Paste all emails into a single Haiku session. The 200K context window accommodates a full inbox day's worth of emails in a single prompt. Haiku classifies all of them in one pass.

Manual triage of 50 emails: 15-25 minutes. Haiku batch triage of the same 50: 3-4 minutes to compile and review the output. At 5 working days per week, that is 60-105 minutes of executive time recaptured weekly from triage alone.

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The Batch Triage Steps

• Compile your inbox. Export or copy emails from the past 24 hours that have not been processed. Include: sender, subject line, and the first 200 words of the body. The first 200 words contains 90% of the classification signal.
• Paste with the triage prompt below. Submit the full batch in one message.
• Review the classification list. 3-4 minutes to verify the output vs. 15-25 minutes of manual triage.
• Move to response drafting for the "Respond Today" items using the second prompt.

TRIAGE PROMPT: "You are triaging an executive's email inbox. For each email below, provide: - Classification: Respond Today / Respond This Week / Delegate / Archive / No Action - One-sentence summary of what the sender needs - Suggested next action Be decisive. Every email gets exactly one classification. If an email could be Respond Today or Respond This Week, default to Respond This Week unless there is an explicit deadline today. [paste emails here]" RESPONSE DRAFTING PROMPT (for Respond Today items): "Draft a reply to this email. Requirements: - 3-5 sentences maximum - Answer the core question in the first sentence - Do not make commitments I cannot verify - Professional tone, active voice - End with a clear next step or a specific question [paste the email]"

Haiku vs. Sonnet for Email

Use Haiku for: triage classification, first drafts of routine responses (acknowledgments, scheduling, brief updates), batch summarization of email threads.

Use Claude 3.5 Sonnet for: responses requiring nuanced judgment (sensitive negotiations, complex stakeholder communications), emails where getting the tone exactly right is more important than speed.