A WhatsApp AI chatbot for business can answer routine questions about prices, hours, location and availability, take bookings and enquiries, send payment links, follow up once with people who went quiet, and hand tricky chats to a person with the full history. It should not invent prices, give medical, legal or financial advice, or keep guessing.
If you run a clinic, salon, shop or school, you probably answer the same few questions on WhatsApp every day. What does it cost? Are you open? Is there a slot tomorrow? An assistant takes those off your hands. The useful question is where it should stop.
01. What can an AI WhatsApp assistant handle?
- Common questions. Prices, opening hours, your location and what is available.
- Bookings and enquiries. It collects the details and sends them to your calendar or customer sheet.
- Handover to you. When it is unsure, or a customer asks for a person, it passes the chat across with the full history so nobody repeats themselves.
- One polite follow up. If someone goes quiet, it nudges them once, inside WhatsApp's rules.
- Payment links. Optional, sent in the same chat.
02. What should it never do?
These are the limits we build in, and you should expect them from anyone:
- It does not invent prices, offers or promises.
- It does not give medical, legal or financial advice.
- It does not keep guessing when it is unsure. It says a person will reply.
- It does not send marketing to people who have not opted in.
03. What does a real chat look like?
Here is an example for a made up clinic, Marlowe Physio. A customer writes, asking if there is a slot tomorrow evening. The assistant's first message has already said it is an AI assistant. It asks which service the customer wants, offers the open times from the calendar, and records the booking.
Then the customer asks whether their back pain sounds serious. The assistant does not answer that. It tells them a member of staff will reply, and forwards the chat.
04. Who gets the most out of one?
Businesses that get the same questions again and again: clinics, salons, restaurants, shops, schools, property firms and service businesses. As a rough guide, if you receive more than 10 customer messages a week, it is worth looking at. Below that, you can probably keep answering by hand.
05. What does the setup involve?
Our setup takes about three weeks.
- Week 1, your answers. Two short calls to write the questions and answers, and to set up WhatsApp Business in your name.
- Week 2, build and test. We build the assistant and test it against at least 50 tricky questions. You test it first.
- Week 3, launch. We switch it on, read every conversation for the first 7 days, and fix wrong answers the same day.
Setup starts from $1,500 as a one time fee, and monthly care starts from $300. WhatsApp message fees and AI usage fees are billed to your own accounts at cost, with estimates before you commit.
06. Which seven questions should you ask any provider?
- Who writes the answers, and do I approve them?
- Can I read every conversation?
- Can I take over any chat at any moment?
- Can I switch it off?
- Does it tell customers it is an AI?
- What happens when it does not know the answer?
- Who pays the WhatsApp and AI usage fees, and how much will they be?
Frequently asked questions
Will customers know they are talking to an AI?
Yes. The first message says so, and they can ask for a person at any time.
Do I need a new phone number?
Often yes. We confirm this on the first call, because it depends on how your number is set up today. Our post on the WhatsApp Business API versus the Business app explains why.
What if it cannot answer a question?
It tells the customer that a person will reply, and forwards the chat to you.
Can I take over a chat?
Yes, at any moment, and you can switch the assistant off whenever you like.
