How to write the answers your AI chat assistant gives

An AI assistant is only as good as the information you give it. What to write, how to structure it, and how to test it so customers get answers you would stand behind.

When an AI chat assistant gives a customer a vague or wrong answer, the instinct is to blame the AI. Most of the time the real cause is simpler: it was never told the answer. It was given a home page, an about page and a few lines of description, then asked about parking, deposits and whether you can do Saturdays.

The assistant cannot know what you have not written down. The good news is that writing it down well is not a technical job. It is the same knowledge you would give a new employee on their first day, organised so it can be found.

Start with the questions you are actually asked

Before writing anything, collect real questions. Go through your inbox, your messages and your phone notes from the last few months, and ask anyone who answers customers what comes up every week. You will usually find the same twenty or thirty questions account for most of what people ask. Those are what your assistant must answer perfectly.

What to write down

Organise your information under clear headings. For most small businesses, these cover nearly everything:

• The basics: what you do, who you serve, where you are, opening hours including holidays, and how to reach a person.
• Services or products: what each one is, who it suits, what is included, and what it is not.
• Prices: the prices you are happy to state publicly, starting prices where a quote is needed, and what changes the price.
• Booking and process: how to book, how far ahead, what happens next, deposits, cancellations.
• Policies: refunds, returns, guarantees, payment methods, areas you cover.
• The awkward ones: what you do not do, and where you would send someone instead.

How to write it so the assistant answers well

Be specific

'We offer flexible scheduling' gives the assistant nothing to say. 'We take bookings Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6pm, and Sunday by arrangement for jobs over $500' gives it a precise answer it can repeat with confidence.

One fact, one place

If your opening hours appear in three documents and one is out of date, the assistant may quote the wrong one. Keep each fact in a single place, and when it changes, change it there.

Write the question as well as the answer

A simple question-and-answer format works well. 'Do you deliver outside the city? Yes, within 30 miles for a $15 fee; further than that, call us for a quote.' Write the question the way customers phrase it, not the way your brochure does.

Say what it should not answer

Tell the assistant where its job ends: medical, legal or financial advice, complaints, refunds above a certain amount, anything that needs a judgement call. A good assistant hands those to a person with the context written up, rather than guessing.

Test it like a difficult customer

1. 1Ask your top twenty questions in your own words, then again in the clumsiest phrasing you can imagine.
2. 2Ask things you do not do, and check it says so plainly instead of improvising.
3. 3Ask for a person, and check the handover actually reaches you.
4. 4Read the real conversations every week for the first month. They will show you the questions you forgot to write down.

Putting it to work

ConvoAI is built around exactly this process. You describe your business when you create the agent, and on the Pro plan you can upload your own documents (price lists, policies, FAQs) for it to answer from. When it does not know something, it brings in your team instead of guessing, and every conversation lands in one inbox where you can see what customers really ask. You can start on the free plan with no credit card.

If you would rather have it set up for you, including a phone agent as well as chat, our AI agents service can set it up for you, on chat and on the phone. And for a broader view of where AI fits a small business, see what an AI agent can genuinely do.