5 AI Prompts for Excel & Google Sheets Formulas (2024)

Introduction

Ever spent hours staring at a spreadsheet, trying to make sense of messy marketing data? You’re not alone. Most marketers waste way too much time manually cleaning data—fixing typos, merging duplicate entries, or wrestling with formulas that just won’t cooperate. One wrong character in a VLOOKUP, and suddenly your entire report is broken. Sound familiar?

The problem? Complex Excel and Google Sheets formulas—like VLOOKUP, INDEX-MATCH, or REGEXMATCH—are powerful, but they’re also tricky. A single misplaced comma or incorrect range can turn your data into a hot mess. And let’s be honest: no one has time to debug formulas when deadlines are looming. That’s where AI comes in.

Instead of spending hours Googling formula syntax or asking coworkers for help, you can now ask AI to write the formulas for you. Just describe what you need—like “find duplicates in this column” or “extract email domains from a list”—and let AI generate the exact formula. It’s faster, more accurate, and saves you from the frustration of trial and error.

In this post, we’ll share 5 AI prompts that’ll help you:

Clean and organize marketing data in seconds
Write complex formulas without memorizing syntax
Fix common errors (like #N/A or #REF!) before they derail your work
Automate repetitive tasks so you can focus on strategy

Did you know? 68% of marketers spend 10+ hours per week on data cleaning—time that could be better spent on analysis or campaigns. With these prompts, you’ll cut that time in half (or more). Ready to stop struggling with spreadsheets? Let’s get started.

Why AI-Powered Formula Generation Saves Time

Let’s be honest—how many times have you stared at an Excel sheet, trying to remember if VLOOKUP needs the lookup value first or the table array? Or spent 20 minutes Googling why your REGEXMATCH formula keeps returning #ERROR? We’ve all been there. Writing formulas manually is like trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces. You know the answer is somewhere in that spreadsheet, but getting there feels like a battle.

The worst part? Even when you finally get the formula right, something breaks. Maybe your VLOOKUP suddenly shows #N/A for no reason. Or your SUMIFS skips half the data because you mixed up the criteria. Debugging these errors can take hours—time you could spend actually using your data instead of fighting with it. And let’s not forget the frustration of realizing you wasted an entire afternoon on something that should’ve taken five minutes.

The Manual Formula Struggle Is Real

Here’s what usually happens when you try to write formulas the old-fashioned way:

You spend 10 minutes searching for the right function (was it INDEX(MATCH) or XLOOKUP?).
You write the formula, but it doesn’t work—so you tweak it, test it, and repeat until it almost does what you want.
You realize you forgot a comma, a parenthesis, or a $ for absolute references.
Finally, it works… until you add new data, and everything breaks again.

Sound familiar? This isn’t just annoying—it’s a huge time-suck. A study by McKinsey found that knowledge workers spend 19% of their time searching for and gathering information. For marketers, that number is even higher. Every minute spent debugging formulas is a minute not spent analyzing campaign performance or optimizing ad spend.

How AI Understands Your Data Needs

Here’s where AI changes the game. Instead of memorizing syntax or digging through Stack Overflow, you can just tell the AI what you need. For example:

“Find all duplicate emails in Column A.”
“Extract the domain from each email in Column B.”
“Calculate the average order value for customers who made more than 3 purchases.”

AI tools like Excel’s Copilot or Google Sheets’ Formula Bot use natural language processing (NLP) to translate your request into the exact formula you need. No more guessing. No more trial and error. Just type what you want in plain English, and let the AI handle the rest.

And it’s not just about speed—it’s about accuracy. AI doesn’t forget commas or mix up cell references. It doesn’t get tired and make careless mistakes. It just works.

Case Study: How One Marketer Cut Data Cleaning Time by 70%

Meet Sarah, a digital marketer who used to spend 10+ hours a week cleaning and organizing campaign data. Her biggest headaches? Merging duplicate leads, standardizing inconsistent formatting, and pulling reports for stakeholders. She’d often get stuck on complex formulas, like combining VLOOKUP with IFERROR to handle missing data.

Then she started using AI-powered formula generation. Instead of spending hours writing and debugging formulas, she’d simply type:

“Flag all rows where the ‘Lead Source’ is blank.”
“Combine first and last names into a full name in Column C.”
“Count how many leads came from each UTM campaign.”

The result? Her data-cleaning time dropped from 10 hours to just 3 hours per week. That’s a 70% reduction—time she now spends on strategy, not spreadsheets.

The Future of Spreadsheets Is Here

AI isn’t just a shortcut—it’s a game-changer. It turns spreadsheets from a source of frustration into a tool that actually helps you get work done. No more Googling. No more guessing. Just fast, accurate formulas that do exactly what you need.

And the best part? You don’t need to be a spreadsheet expert to use it. Whether you’re a marketer, analyst, or small business owner, AI-powered formula generation makes data work for you—not the other way around.

So next time you’re stuck on a formula, don’t waste another minute. Let AI do the heavy lifting. Your future self (and your sanity) will thank you.

Prompt 1: VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP for Dynamic Data Matching

Ever spent hours trying to match data between two spreadsheets? Maybe you have a list of campaign IDs in one sheet and performance metrics in another. You know the data should connect, but manually copying and pasting takes forever—and mistakes happen. That’s where VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP come in. These formulas do the heavy lifting for you, pulling the right information from one table to another in seconds.

But which one should you use? And how can AI help write the perfect formula for your needs? Let’s break it down.

VLOOKUP vs. XLOOKUP: Which One Should You Use?

VLOOKUP has been around for years, and it’s great for simple lookups. But it has limitations. For example, it only searches the first column of a table, and if your data isn’t organized just right, you’ll get errors. XLOOKUP, on the other hand, is the newer, more flexible option. It can search in any direction, handle errors better, and even return multiple results.

Here’s a quick comparison:

Feature	VLOOKUP	XLOOKUP
Search direction	Left to right only	Any direction (left, right, up, down)
Error handling	Requires extra functions (IFERROR)	Built-in error handling
Performance	Slower with large datasets	Faster and more efficient
Flexibility	Limited to exact or approximate matches	Supports partial matches, wildcards, and more

If you’re working with modern Excel or Google Sheets, XLOOKUP is usually the better choice. But if you’re collaborating with someone using an older version of Excel, VLOOKUP might still be necessary.

How to Use AI to Write the Perfect XLOOKUP Formula

AI can write these formulas for you—you just need to tell it what you need. Here’s a simple prompt template to get started:

“Write an XLOOKUP formula to find [value] in [column] and return [result] from [table].”

For example, let’s say you have a sheet with campaign IDs in column A and another sheet with performance metrics. You want to pull the click-through rate (CTR) for each campaign. Your prompt might look like this:

“Write an XLOOKUP formula to find the campaign ID in column A of Sheet1 and return the CTR from column C of Sheet2.”

AI will generate something like this:

=XLOOKUP(A2, Sheet2!A:A, Sheet2!C:C, "Not found")

But what if you need more flexibility? AI can handle that too. Here are some variations you can try:

Partial matches: “Write an XLOOKUP formula that finds campaign IDs containing ‘summer2024’ and returns the spend from column D.”
Case sensitivity: “Write a case-sensitive XLOOKUP formula to match product SKUs.”
Error handling: “Write an XLOOKUP formula that returns ‘No data’ if the campaign ID isn’t found.”

Common Pitfalls (And How to Fix Them)

Even with AI’s help, things can go wrong. Here are some common issues and how to fix them:

1. #N/A Errors

This usually means the formula can’t find the value you’re looking for. AI might suggest:

Using absolute references (e.g., Sheet2!$A$1:$A$100) to lock the range.
Wrapping the formula in IFERROR to return a custom message instead of an error:
```
=IFERROR(XLOOKUP(A2, Sheet2!A:A, Sheet2!C:C), "Not found")
```

2. Performance Lag

If your dataset is large, XLOOKUP can slow down your sheet. AI might recommend:

Using a smaller range (e.g., Sheet2!A1:A1000 instead of Sheet2!A:A).
Switching to FILTER or INDEX/MATCH for better performance.

3. Incorrect Results

If the formula returns the wrong data, double-check:

That the lookup column and return column are in the right order.
That there are no duplicate values in the lookup column.

Real-World Example: Merging Ad Spend Data

Let’s say you have two sheets:

Sheet1: Campaign IDs and ad spend (columns A and B).
Sheet2: Campaign IDs and performance metrics (columns A and C).

You want to add the performance metrics to Sheet1. Here’s how AI can help:

Prompt: “Write an XLOOKUP formula to find the campaign ID in Sheet1 column A and return the CTR from Sheet2 column C.”

AI Output:

=XLOOKUP(A2, Sheet2!A:A, Sheet2!C:C, "No data")

Drag the formula down to apply it to all rows.

Now, your ad spend data and performance metrics are merged in one place—no manual copying required.

Final Tips for Success

Start simple: Begin with basic prompts and refine as needed.
Test your formula: Always check a few rows to make sure it’s working correctly.
Use AI for troubleshooting: If something goes wrong, ask AI for help fixing it.

XLOOKUP and VLOOKUP are powerful tools, but they’re even better when you let AI handle the heavy lifting. Next time you’re stuck matching data, try one of these prompts and see how much time you save.

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Prompt 3: ARRAYFORMULA for Bulk Calculations

Ever spent hours dragging a formula down hundreds of rows, only to realize you missed a cell? Or worse—your spreadsheet freezes because you applied the same calculation to 10,000 rows? That’s where ARRAYFORMULA comes in. It’s like giving your spreadsheet a superpower: one formula, endless results.

ARRAYFORMULA does the work of thousands of formulas in just one cell. No dragging, no copying, no mistakes. Just fast, clean calculations that update automatically when your data changes. And the best part? You don’t need to be a spreadsheet expert to use it. With the right prompt, AI can write the formula for you in seconds.

Why ARRAYFORMULA Beats Manual Formulas

Imagine you have a list of 1,000 marketing campaigns. You need to calculate the click-through rate (CTR) for each one—clicks divided by impressions. Normally, you’d write a formula in the first cell, then drag it down. But what if you add 200 more rows later? You’d have to drag the formula again. Annoying, right?

With ARRAYFORMULA, you write one formula that works for the entire column. Here’s how it looks:

=ARRAYFORMULA(IF(B2:B="", "", C2:C / B2:B))

This single line calculates CTR for every row where column B (impressions) isn’t empty. No dragging, no errors. Just instant results.

Google Sheets vs. Excel: What’s the Difference?

Google Sheets has ARRAYFORMULA built in. Just type =ARRAYFORMULA( and your formula.
Excel uses dynamic arrays (like FILTER, SORT, or UNIQUE). No special function needed—just write your formula, and Excel fills the results automatically.

Both do the same thing, but Google Sheets makes it a little easier with the dedicated ARRAYFORMULA function.

How to Ask AI for an ARRAYFORMULA

AI can write these formulas for you—if you ask the right way. Here’s a simple template:

“Write an ARRAYFORMULA to [action] for all rows in [column].”

Examples:

“Write an ARRAYFORMULA to sum values in column D if column A contains ‘Facebook’.”
“Write an ARRAYFORMULA to concatenate first names (column B) and last names (column C) with a space in between.”
“Write an ARRAYFORMULA to calculate the percentage difference between column E and column F.”

Let’s try one. Say you want to flag low-performing ads—any campaign with a CTR below 1%. Your prompt could be:

“Write an ARRAYFORMULA to check if CTR (column G) is less than 1%. Return ‘Low CTR’ if true, otherwise leave blank.”

AI would generate something like this:

=ARRAYFORMULA(IF(G2:G<0.01, "Low CTR", ""))

Now, every row updates instantly. No manual work, no mistakes.

When ARRAYFORMULA Slows Down Your Sheet (And How to Fix It)

ARRAYFORMULA is powerful, but it’s not perfect. Some functions—like NOW(), RAND(), or INDIRECT()—are volatile, meaning they recalculate every time the sheet changes. If you use them inside ARRAYFORMULA, your spreadsheet might slow to a crawl.

Performance Tips:

Avoid volatile functions in ARRAYFORMULA. Use TODAY() instead of NOW() if you only need the date.
Limit the range. Instead of A:A, use A2:A1000 to avoid calculating empty cells.
Break complex formulas into smaller parts. If your ARRAYFORMULA has 10 nested functions, split it into helper columns.
Use QUERY or FILTER for large datasets. Sometimes, these are faster than ARRAYFORMULA.

If your sheet is slow, ask AI for help:

“My ARRAYFORMULA is slow. Suggest ways to optimize this formula: [paste your formula].”

AI might recommend:

Using FILTER instead of nested IF statements.
Pre-calculating parts of the formula in separate columns.
Switching to a script for very large datasets.

Case Study: Automating Monthly KPI Reports

Let’s say you run a marketing team. Every month, you pull data from Google Ads, Facebook, and LinkedIn into a spreadsheet. Then, you spend hours calculating metrics like:

Cost per lead (CPL)
Return on ad spend (ROAS)
Conversion rate by campaign

With ARRAYFORMULA, you can automate 90% of this work. Here’s how:

Import raw data into a sheet (e.g., “Raw Data”).
Create a “Calculations” sheet with ARRAYFORMULA for each metric.
- Example for ROAS:
```
=ARRAYFORMULA(IF(RawData!B2:B="", "", RawData!D2:D / RawData!C2:C))
```

Use QUERY to pull only the data you need into a “Dashboard” sheet.

=QUERY(RawData!A:D, "SELECT A, SUM(C), SUM(D) GROUP BY A LABEL SUM(C) 'Spend', SUM(D) 'Revenue'", 1)

Add ARRAYFORMULA to the dashboard to calculate metrics like ROAS automatically.

Now, when you update the raw data, everything recalculates instantly. No manual work, no errors. Just a clean, up-to-date report in seconds.

Final Tip: Start Small, Then Scale

ARRAYFORMULA can feel overwhelming at first. So start with simple tasks:

Summing a column.
Concatenating first and last names.
Flagging duplicates.

Once you’re comfortable, try more complex formulas. The key is to practice with real data. Before you know it, you’ll be writing ARRAYFORMULAs like a pro—and saving hours every week.

Ready to try it? Pick a small task in your spreadsheet and ask AI for an ARRAYFORMULA. You might be surprised how easy it is.

Prompt 4: QUERY for SQL-Like Data Filtering

Ever felt stuck when trying to filter data in Excel or Google Sheets? You have a big table of marketing numbers, and you need to find only the campaigns that worked well last quarter. Maybe you want to see all ads with more than 5% click-through rate (CTR) in January. PivotTables can help, but they’re not always the best tool for the job. That’s where QUERY comes in.

QUERY is like having a tiny SQL database inside your spreadsheet. It lets you ask questions about your data in plain English (well, almost). Instead of clicking through menus or writing complicated formulas, you can just tell QUERY what you want. For example: “Show me all campaigns with CTR over 5% in Q1 2024.” And it will do it. No coding degree required.

QUERY vs. PivotTables: Which One to Use?

PivotTables are great for summarizing data. They can quickly show you totals, averages, or counts. But if you need to filter data in a specific way—like finding only the rows that match certain conditions—QUERY is often faster and more flexible.

Here’s when to use QUERY instead of PivotTables:

You need to filter data by date ranges (e.g., “only show January 2024”).
You want to group data and apply conditions (e.g., “show campaigns with >5% CTR”).
You need to sort results in a specific order (e.g., “highest CTR first”).
You want to combine data from multiple sheets (more on this later).

PivotTables are still useful, but QUERY gives you more control. Think of it like this: PivotTables are like a pre-made sandwich—quick and easy. QUERY is like having all the ingredients in front of you so you can build exactly what you want.

How to Write a QUERY Formula (With AI Help)

Writing a QUERY formula can feel tricky at first. The syntax looks a bit like SQL, but don’t worry—you don’t need to be a programmer. AI can write the formula for you if you give it clear instructions.

Here’s a simple template to use with AI: “Write a QUERY formula to [action] from [range] where [condition].”

For example: “Write a QUERY formula to show all campaigns with CTR > 5% from A1:E100 where the date is in Q1 2024.”

The AI will generate something like this:

=QUERY(A1:E100, "SELECT A, B, C, D WHERE C > 0.05 AND D >= DATE '2024-01-01' AND D <= DATE '2024-03-31'", 1)

Let’s break this down:

A1:E100 is the range of your data.
SELECT A, B, C, D tells QUERY which columns to show.
WHERE C > 0.05 filters for CTR over 5%.
AND D >= DATE '2024-01-01' ensures the date is in Q1.

Pro Tip: If your data has headers, add 1 at the end of the formula (like in the example above). This tells QUERY to treat the first row as column names.

Advanced QUERY Tricks: GROUP BY, ORDER BY, and More

QUERY isn’t just for filtering. You can also group data, sort it, and even limit the number of results. Here are some powerful clauses to try:

GROUP BY: Summarize data by category. Example: “Group campaigns by channel and show average CTR.”
```
=QUERY(A1:E100, "SELECT B, AVG(C) GROUP BY B", 1)
```
ORDER BY: Sort results. Example: “Show campaigns ordered by highest CTR first.”
```
=QUERY(A1:E100, "SELECT A, B, C ORDER BY C DESC", 1)
```
LIMIT: Show only the top results. Example: “Show the top 5 campaigns by CTR.”
```
=QUERY(A1:E100, "SELECT A, B, C ORDER BY C DESC LIMIT 5", 1)
```

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

QUERY is powerful, but it can be picky. Here are some common mistakes and how to avoid them:

Missing quotes around text: If your condition includes text (like a campaign name), you need quotes.
- ❌ WHERE B = Summer2024
- ✅ WHERE B = 'Summer2024'
Incorrect column references: QUERY uses Col1, Col2, etc., instead of A, B, C.
- ❌ SELECT A, B, C
- ✅ SELECT Col1, Col2, Col3
Date format issues: Dates must be in DATE 'YYYY-MM-DD' format.
- ❌ WHERE D = 01/01/2024
- ✅ WHERE D = DATE '2024-01-01'

If your formula isn’t working, ask AI for help. Try this prompt: “My QUERY formula isn’t working. Here’s what I wrote: [paste formula]. What’s wrong?”

Real-World Example: Combining QUERY with IMPORTRANGE

Here’s where QUERY gets really powerful. Let’s say you have data in multiple sheets—maybe one for each month. You can use IMPORTRANGE to pull data from another sheet, then use QUERY to filter it.

Example: “Show all campaigns from January and February 2024 with CTR > 5%.”

First, import the data:

=IMPORTRANGE("https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/abc123", "January!A1:E100")

Then, combine it with QUERY:

=QUERY(
  {
    IMPORTRANGE("https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/abc123", "January!A1:E100");
    IMPORTRANGE("https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/abc123", "February!A1:E100")
  },
  "SELECT Col1, Col2, Col3 WHERE Col3 > 0.05 AND Col4 >= DATE '2024-01-01' AND Col4 <= DATE '2024-02-29'",
  1
)

This pulls data from both sheets, stacks them together, and filters for the campaigns you want. No manual copying and pasting required.

Why You Should Try QUERY Today

QUERY might seem complicated at first, but it’s worth learning. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll save hours of manual work. No more filtering rows one by one or struggling with PivotTables. Just tell QUERY what you want, and it does the rest.

Next time you’re working with marketing data, try one of these prompts:

“Write a QUERY formula to show all campaigns with spend over $1,000 in March 2024.”
“Write a QUERY formula to group data by channel and show total clicks.”
“Write a QUERY formula to find the top 3 campaigns by conversion rate.”

You’ll be amazed at how much faster your analysis becomes. Give it a try—your spreadsheets will thank you.

Prompt 5: IFS/SWITCH for Conditional Logic

Ever felt like your Excel formulas look like a tangled mess of nested IF statements? You’re not alone. When you need to check multiple conditions, writing =IF(condition1, result1, IF(condition2, result2, IF(condition3, result3, ...))) quickly becomes a headache. The formula gets long, hard to read, and even harder to fix when something goes wrong. That’s where IFS and SWITCH come in—they’re like the cleaner, smarter cousins of the basic IF statement.

Why Nested IFs Are a Problem

Let’s say you’re scoring leads based on how engaged they are. A nested IF might look like this:

=IF(B2>100, "Hot", IF(B2>50, "Warm", IF(B2>10, "Cold", "No Activity")))

This works, but what if you add more conditions? The formula grows, and soon you’re scrolling sideways just to see the end. Worse, if you make a mistake, finding the error feels like searching for a needle in a haystack. IFS and SWITCH solve this by letting you write conditions in a straight line—no more nesting.

How IFS and SWITCH Work

IFS checks conditions one by one and returns the first result where the condition is true. Here’s how you’d rewrite the lead scoring example:

=IFS(B2>100, "Hot", B2>50, "Warm", B2>10, "Cold", TRUE, "No Activity")

See the difference? It’s shorter, easier to read, and you can add more conditions without breaking a sweat. The TRUE at the end acts as a catch-all—like saying, “If none of the above, do this.”

SWITCH is even simpler when you’re checking the same value against different options. For example, if you’re categorizing leads by source (email, social, paid ad), you could write:

=SWITCH(C2, "Email", "High Priority", "Social", "Medium Priority", "Paid", "Low Priority", "Unknown")

No conditions, just a straightforward match. If the value in C2 doesn’t match any of the options, it returns “Unknown.”

When to Use Each

Use IFS when you have multiple conditions that aren’t related to the same value. For example, checking if a lead has opened an email and clicked a link and visited your website.
Use SWITCH when you’re checking one value against a list of options. For example, assigning a priority level based on a single column (like lead source or campaign type).

Handling Errors and Edge Cases

What if your data has blanks or unexpected values? IFS and SWITCH can handle this with a default result, but you can also wrap them in IFERROR for extra safety. For example:

=IFERROR(IFS(B2>100, "Hot", B2>50, "Warm", B2>10, "Cold"), "Error")

This way, if something goes wrong (like a non-numeric value in B2), the formula returns “Error” instead of breaking.

Real-World Example: Segmenting Email Subscribers

Let’s say you’re analyzing email campaign performance. You want to label subscribers based on their behavior:

High Engagement: Opened email and clicked a link
Medium Engagement: Opened email but didn’t click
Low Engagement: Didn’t open email

With IFS, you could write:

=IFS(AND(D2="Yes", E2="Yes"), "High", D2="Yes", "Medium", TRUE, "Low")

No nesting, no confusion—just a clean formula that does the job.

Asking AI for Help

If you’re not sure how to write the formula, try this prompt: “Write an IFS formula to return ‘High’ if a lead has opened an email and clicked a link, ‘Medium’ if they opened but didn’t click, and ‘Low’ if they didn’t open. Include a default value for errors.”

AI can generate the formula for you, and you can tweak it as needed. It’s like having a formula assistant in your pocket.

Final Tip: Keep It Simple

The best formulas are the ones you can understand at a glance. If you find yourself writing a formula that looks like a novel, step back and ask: Can I use IFS or SWITCH instead? Chances are, the answer is yes. Your future self (and anyone else who uses your spreadsheet) will thank you.

Bonus: Combining Prompts for Advanced Workflows

You know those moments when you stare at a spreadsheet and think, “There has to be a better way”? Maybe you need to clean messy UTM data, or you want to build a dashboard that updates itself. The good news? You don’t need to be an Excel expert to make this happen. With a few smart AI prompts, you can chain formulas together and create workflows that save hours of manual work.

Let’s say you have a list of URLs with UTM parameters, and you want to filter out only the ones from a specific campaign. You could manually check each one—or you could ask AI to write a formula that combines REGEXMATCH and QUERY. Here’s how it might look:

=QUERY(A2:B100, "SELECT A, B WHERE REGEXMATCH(A, 'utm_campaign=summer_sale')", 1)

This one line does the work of filtering, sorting, and even formatting the data. No more copy-pasting or endless scrolling. And if you’re not sure how to write it? Just ask AI: “Write a Google Sheets formula that filters rows where column A contains ‘utm_campaign=summer_sale’ and returns columns A and B.”

Debugging Nested Formulas Without the Headache

Nested formulas can get messy fast. One wrong parenthesis, and suddenly your spreadsheet is throwing errors instead of answers. This is where AI becomes your best friend. Instead of spending 20 minutes hunting for the mistake, you can paste your formula into a prompt like:

“This formula isn’t working. Can you debug it and explain what’s wrong?”

=IF(AND(B2>100, C2="Paid"), "High Value", IF(AND(B2>50, C2="Organic"), "Medium", "Low"))

AI will not only fix the error but also break down why it happened. Maybe you forgot a closing bracket, or the logic was backwards. Either way, you’ll get a working formula and learn something new.

Automating Reports So You Can Focus on Strategy

Why spend time every week copying data into a dashboard when you could automate it? With ARRAYFORMULA and QUERY, you can create dynamic reports that update automatically. For example, let’s say you want to track monthly ad spend by channel. Instead of manually summing each column, you could use:

=ARRAYFORMULA(QUERY({A2:B100, MONTH(A2:A100)}, "SELECT Col3, SUM(Col2) GROUP BY Col3 LABEL Col3 'Month', SUM(Col2) 'Total Spend'", 1))

This formula groups your data by month and calculates the total spend—all without you lifting a finger. Pair it with Apps Script, and you can even set up scheduled emails to send these reports to your team.

Real-World Example: A Self-Updating Dashboard

Here’s how you might combine these techniques for a marketing dashboard:

Data Cleaning: Use REGEXMATCH to filter out invalid UTM tags.
Dynamic Calculations: Apply ARRAYFORMULA to calculate metrics like CTR or conversion rates.
Automated Reporting: Use QUERY to summarize data by campaign, channel, or date.
Scheduled Updates: Set up an Apps Script trigger to refresh the dashboard daily.

The result? A dashboard that stays up-to-date without any manual work. You’ll spend less time wrangling data and more time making decisions.

Want to Try It Yourself?

If you’re ready to put these ideas into action, we’ve created a free template with pre-built formulas for common marketing tasks. It includes:

A UTM parameter cleaner
A dynamic CTR calculator
A self-updating campaign performance dashboard

Download it [here] and start automating your workflows today. No coding required—just copy, paste, and let AI do the heavy lifting.

Conclusion

You just saw five powerful ways to make AI write Excel and Google Sheets formulas for you. No more guessing syntax or spending hours debugging errors. These prompts turn messy data into clean, useful reports in minutes.

Why These Prompts Save You Time

VLOOKUP/INDEX-MATCH: Find data fast without manual searches
REGEXMATCH: Clean text data (like emails or URLs) in seconds
ARRAYFORMULA: Apply calculations to entire columns at once
QUERY: Filter and sort data like a database
IFS/SWITCH: Handle complex conditions without nested IFs

The best part? You don’t need to be an expert. Start with simple prompts, then add details as you get comfortable. AI handles the hard work—you just tell it what you need.

Your Next Step

Pick one prompt from this list and try it with your own data. For example:

Open a spreadsheet with messy marketing data
Ask AI: “Write a REGEXMATCH formula to find all invalid email addresses in column A”
Paste the result and see how it works

Need a free tool to test these? Try Google’s AI formula generator or Excel’s built-in Ideas feature.

Which prompt will you try first? The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll save hours on spreadsheets.

**Introduction **