Welcome to your AI-powered future! Setting up an AI receptionist can feel like a big leap, but with the right setup and a few best practices, your business can start seeing value from day one. This guide will walk you through the essentials of getting your web chat receptionist up and running effectively.
Treat Your AI Like a New Employee
Your AI Receptionist isn’t magic, it's smart, but it still needs guidance. Think of it like hiring a new team member. Would you just hand them a phone and your website URL and expect perfect answers? Probably not!
Like a real employee, your AI receptionist needs:
- Training (through instructions and knowledge)
- Feedback (by reviewing chats)
- Ongoing coaching (updating and iterating based on performance)
Step 1: Configure the Basics
In your business app’s AI Workforce section, click Configure:
- Name your AI receptionist and add a friendly photo to make it approachable. We recommend disclosing that the receptionist is an AI through the name and photo you choose. This ensures your customers are set with the right expectation while chatting with it.
- Choose the communication channels—Web Chat is on by default, but you can also enable SMS.
- Set your goals:
- Capture Lead Information:This instructs the AI to ask for information like name, phone number, or email address and populates your CRM with the new contact. Important: If you disable this goal, then contacts who disclose their contact information during a chat not be added to the CRM
- Book Appointments via the calendaring app built into Business App. Choose a calendar that the AI will try to book onto and it will capture information needed for that booking, offer available times, and get your new customers booked in for appointments.
Step 2: Understand Instructions vs Knowledge
A key part of setup is giving your AI receptionist the right context.
| Feature | What It Does | When to Use It |
| Instructions | Info the AI uses every time it responds | Things it should always remember (e.g., “We call French fries ‘Spud Buds’” or “Ask for a home address when capturing a customer’s information.”) |
| Knowledge | Info the AI uses only when asked | FAQs, services, pricing details, etc. |
When adding knowledge from your website, under the Train tab, you can select which pages you want your AI to be trained on. Removing pages can be helpful to get rid of old knowledge or conflicting information that can confuse the AI.
Keep in mind that website knowledge doesn’t refresh. If you update your website, you will need to come back and refresh your website knowledge. Just click the knowledge source and then click Refresh near the top of the popup modal.
Try to keep your instructions and added knowledge concise. AI does best with short prompts and targeted information. Use clear language and give it examples of what it should say or how it should say it.
Pro Tip: Use markdown formatting to structure your additional instructions clearly:
# Services
## We are not licensed plumbers
### If asked, take contact info and suggest a referral
Step 3: Test and Iterate
Use the "Try It" button to simulate customer chats. Open it in an incognito window for a fresh start each time.
Ask the kinds of questions your real customers might ask, and pay attention to:
- How the AI responds
- Whether it gives too much or too little info
- If it's assuming something you didn’t intend
Then go back and adjust instructions or knowledge as needed.
Step 4: Monitor and Improve
Regularly check the Inbox and Anonymous Visitors tabs:
- Review successful chats where leads were captured.
- Check anonymous conversations to see questions asked and how the AI responded.
- Look for moments where the AI was overly helpful or misunderstood a request—these are opportunities to fine-tune.
Pro Tip: When reviewing a conversation, expand Source material which appears underneath many of the AI’s conversation bubbles. This will tell you where the AI was getting some of its information. If it gave a wrong answer, you can then decide if you need to change your instructions, add new knowledge, or remove certain pages from knowledge.
Tips from the Pros
Set Realistic Expectations
AI is non-deterministic. That means it may not always respond exactly the same way twice—and that’s okay! Think of it more like a helpful assistant than a calculator.
Capture What You Know
You’re the expert. Create a simple document answering:
- What services do you offer (and not offer)?
- What questions do people ask most?
- What info should always be collected?
Use that document to build out your instructions and knowledge base.
Why It’s Worth It
Even with imperfect answers, your AI receptionist can:
- Capture leads you might have missed
- Offer 24/7 support
- Save you and your team time
Over time, with proper tuning, it becomes a reliable digital employee that knows your business and speaks your language.
Next Steps
- Configure your AI with the basics
- Add clear instructions and useful knowledge
- Test it by chatting like a customer would
- Review conversations weekly
- Update and improve as needed
Need more help? Our team is here to support you. Reach out anytime!