AI WhatsApp for your business: what it does, how to start

For many businesses WhatsApp is already the main channel: appointments, quotes, questions, reminders. The problem is that someone has to answer, including outside opening hours and in the middle of other tasks. An AI WhatsApp assistant does not replace that team; it takes care of the repetitive part so your people spend their time on what needs a person.

What it can do well

• Answer the frequent questions: opening hours, how to get there, what a service includes, what documents to bring.
• Collect details: name, reason for the enquiry, preferred day and time.
• Help book an appointment or leave it ready for your team to confirm.
• Reply outside opening hours and leave the conversation tidy for the next day.
• Hand the conversation to a person when needed, with a summary of what was said.

What it should not do

• Make up answers. A good assistant only answers with the information you give it, and when it does not know something it passes it to a person.
• Give diagnoses, legal advice or prices that are not defined. In those cases it collects the details and hands over.
• Pretend to be a person. It is good practice to tell the client they are talking to an assistant and offer to put them through to someone on the team.
• Write to people who have not asked to be contacted. The assistant handles incoming messages; sending promotions has its own rules.

What to know before you start

• It uses the official WhatsApp platform for businesses. It requires registering your company with Meta (the owner of WhatsApp). It is a simple process, but it takes some time.
• There is a 24-hour window. After 24 hours from the client's last message, WhatsApp only allows message templates previously approved by Meta.
• Meta charges for some types of message. It is a cost separate from our work and from your business; we go through it with you before starting so you know what to expect.
• Your clients' data is yours and is protected by the GDPR. Explain it in your privacy policy and do not keep more than necessary.

How to start without overcomplicating it

1. Write down the 10 questions you get most on WhatsApp and how you answer them today. That list is the basis of the assistant.
2. Decide when it must hand over: a complaint, an emergency, a special price, a client who asks.
3. Start with a single use: for example appointments, or first quote enquiries.
4. Review the conversations in the first week and fix whatever does not sound like you.
5. Expand gradually once you see the basics work.

How to know if it suits you

Probably yes if:

• You receive more messages than you can answer on time.
• The same questions come up every day.
• Client details stay on somebody's phone.

Probably not yet if you receive few messages or every enquiry is unique and delicate; in that case, sometimes simply organising normal WhatsApp better is enough.

Where what we do fits in

We build AI WhatsApp assistants for businesses: they answer the frequent questions, collect the client's details and hand the conversation to you when a person is needed. You can take it on its own or together with a website and a CRM that keeps every conversation in its place. To see whether it makes sense in your case, tell us about it.