Skip to main content

AI Chat Receptionist Overview

The AI Chat Receptionist helps you capture leads and respond to website visitors 24/7. In this guide, you’ll learn how to set up, train, and monitor your AI assistant to work for your business.

By default, the AI Chat Receptionist:

  • Answers questions about your business using information from your business profile and knowledge base
  • Collects visitor contact information (name, phone number, or email) so you can follow up with leads
  • Detects and responds in over 40 languages, including English, French, and Spanish
  • Lets visitors know when it doesn’t have enough information, so a team member can follow up

Why is the AI Chat Receptionist important?​

The AI Chat Receptionist ensures that your business never misses an opportunity by engaging website visitors instantly, around the clock. By capturing leads and answering common questions 24/7, it turns casual browsers into qualified prospects, even when your team is offline.

Beyond capturing leads and answering questions around the clock, the Chat Receptionist reduces friction and drop-off by initiating conversations with context-driven prompts instead of overwhelming forms, handles ambiguity and complex inquiries by understanding free-form requests and adapting in real time without forcing users into rigid menu paths, and fosters trust through natural, empathetic interactions and personalized greetings. It also scales effortlessly with your business as it adapts to new offerings and workflows without rebuilding extensive decision trees, while delivering timely, personalized responses that guide visitors down the sales funnel and drive higher customer satisfaction and conversion rates.

Set Up the AI Chat Receptionist​

Follow these simple steps to configure your AI Chat Receptionist so it effectively engages visitors and captures valuable leads.

Step 1: Configure Basic Settings and Purpose for the AI Chat Receptionist​

Go to AI > AI workforce and then click Configure on the Chat receptionist.

  • Name and Image
    Give your AI a friendly, professional name and photo. The AI Receptionist knows their name and the photo will help you distinguish between other AI Employees in your app.

  • Purpose
    The Purpose prompt sets the tone and behavior of your AI Chat Receptionist. Include instructions about your business's voice, how the AI should greet visitors, and any important policies or information it should share. This is where you define what makes your AI Chat Receptionist uniquely suited to your business.

  • Communication Channels
    Your AI Chat Receptionist is assigned to the Web Chat channel by default. This channel is always active and cannot be disabled. You can also assign your AI Receptionist to the SMS channel to reach customers via text messaging.

note

The Web Chat widget isn't automatically added to your website! You'll need to install the widget code or enable it within your site builder before your AI can start engaging visitors. When you are ready to install the widget, refer to How to install the Conversations Web Chat Widget

Example Purpose Prompts by Business Type​

Use the examples below as starting points for your Purpose prompt. Pick the tab that best matches your business type (or choose Generic), copy the prompt into your Purpose field, and tailor the voice, services, and policies to your brand. Keep it specific and concise—the AI will follow these directions in every conversation.

You are a representative of a **Home Services business** (for example: plumbing, HVAC, roofing, landscaping, electrical, cleaning).

Your role has **two main objectives**:
1. **Answer questions about your services** using clear, helpful, and trustworthy information.
2. **Capture and qualify leads**, then book them for an appointment or follow-up with the correct team.

---

## Conversation Style & Flow
- **Introduce yourself and the business in your first message** in a friendly, simple, informal, and helpful way.
- **Be succinct and professional** while keeping the tone approachable.
- **Keep the conversation moving forward** by always asking a relevant question.
- Ask questions that help you quickly understand:
 - **What type of home service they are looking for** (for example: plumbing, HVAC, cleaning).
 - **Their property type** (home, condo, rental).
 - **How urgent the service request is**.
- **Use the predominant language of the conversation** or the primary language of the country where the business is located.

Step 2: Configure Your AI Chat Receptionist Capabilities​

Capabilities are like instructions that guide how your AI Chat Receptionist behaves and what actions it can take. Review these and adjust as needed to make sure your AI performs the way you want.

  • Capture Lead Information
    The AI automatically asks visitors for contact details such as name, phone number, or email and saves captured leads directly to your CRM. This capability is turned on by default.

  • Book Appointments
    Connect your calendar to let the AI help customers schedule meetings. It will offer available time slots and collect all necessary booking details automatically.

  • Custom Capabilities
    Expand your AI Chat Receptionist's skills by adding custom capabilities tailored to your unique business needs. You can learn more about Custom Capabilities in depth.

Example Additional Instructions Capabilities by Business Type​

The examples below show how you can use simple text instructions in Capabilities to help your AI Chat Receptionist understand how to handle different customer types. These complement your Purpose prompt by focusing on operational requirements, qualification data, routing rules, and response formats.

# Additional Instructions
 
## 1) Absolute Rules  
- Provide information about the business's services clearly and professionally.  
- Collect contact and service details before booking.  
- Only present booking links or confirm appointments if they are provided in the **Knowledge Base**.  
 
## 2) Required Qualification Data  
- Caller's name.  
- Contact info (email or phone).  
- Service type needed.  
- Property type (optional, but useful).  
- Urgency or timeline.  
 
## 3) Routing Priorities  
- If caller is an urgent/emergency case, flag it for **immediate follow-up**.  
- If caller is part of a larger brand or franchise account, route to **Enterprise/Multi-Location** booking link.  
- Otherwise, default to the **local business booking link**.  
 
## 4) Small-Count Detection  
If the caller says "just me," "single home," or "one property," treat it as **single service job**.  
 
## 5) Success Response (Booking)  
> "Thanks for sharing your details! Based on what you've told me, I'll connect you with the right team. You can book your appointment here: **[URL]**"  
 
---  
 
# Behavioral Examples  
 
**Example A — Plumbing emergency:**  
User: "I need a plumber right away, my basement is flooding."  
Bot: Collect name + contact → Flag as urgent → Provide booking link.  
 
**Example B — Lawn care inquiry:**  
User: "Do you offer weekly lawn maintenance?"  
Bot: Explain yes → Collect name + property type → Provide booking link.
AI Receptionst Taking Actions

These instructions will change how your AI Receptionist communicates with customers but it will not change the actions it can take with Business App or other systems.

Getting your AI Receptionist to take actions requires adding the appropriate Tool to your Custom Capabilities. For more information on Tools, see Creating Custom Capabilities.

Step 3: Add Knowledge to the AI Chat Receptionist​

To respond accurately to general inquiries, your AI Chat Receptionist needs context about your business. You can do this by adding Knowledge to the AI Chat Receptionist.

Knowledge includes detailed business information, such as FAQs, service descriptions, and policies, that the AI uses to answer specific questions. Your Business Profile and information for your homepage is included by default.

For a complete guide on providing your AI Employees with Knowledge, see the Knowledge Sources section in the AI Workforce Overview.

Preview your AI Chat Receptionist in Action​

Once your AI Chat Receptionist is set up, it's important to test how it handles real conversations and monitor its interactions over time. This helps you ensure the AI is answering questions accurately, capturing leads, and creating a positive experience for your website visitors. For Partners: This testing environment is also perfect for demonstrating the AI Chat Receptionist's capabilities to prospective clients during sales presentations.

To test your AI Chat Receptionist before going live (or to demo it to clients):

  1. Navigate to the AI Workforce section: Go to AI > AI Workforce in your dashboard
  2. Find your Chat Receptionist: Locate the AI Chat Receptionist card in your workforce list
  3. Launch the test environment: Click the Try it button to open your My Listing page in a new tab
warning

To access the My Listing page, you must have Local SEO Standard active on your account.

What to Test and Look For​

Pro Testing Tip

For the most accurate testing experience, open the My Listing page in an incognito or private browser window. This ensures you start with a clean session without any cached data or previous conversations that might influence the AI's responses.

When testing your AI Chat Receptionist, simulate real customer interactions by asking the types of questions your actual visitors might ask. Here are key scenarios to test:

Basic Business Information

  • Ask about your business hours, location, and contact information
  • Test questions about your services or products
  • Verify the AI provides accurate, up-to-date information from your business profile

Lead Capture Functionality

  • Start a conversation without providing contact details
  • See if the AI naturally asks for your name, phone number, or email
  • Test whether the AI handles partial information (e.g., giving only a name but not phone/email)
  • Check if the AI gracefully handles when visitors decline to share contact information

Appointment Booking (if enabled)

  • Ask about scheduling a consultation or appointment
  • Test different time preferences (morning, afternoon, specific days)
  • See how the AI handles scheduling conflicts or unavailable times

Knowledge Base Accuracy

  • Ask specific questions about your services, policies, or procedures
  • Test edge cases or less common questions
  • Verify the AI admits when it doesn't know something rather than guessing

Conversational Flow

  • Pay attention to how natural the conversation feels
  • Notice if the AI gives too much information at once or too little
  • Check if the AI maintains context throughout the conversation
  • Test how it handles follow-up questions or topic changes

Multilingual Support (if applicable)

  • Test conversations in different languages your customers might use
  • Verify the AI responds appropriately in the same language

Monitor and Improve the AI Chat Receptionist​

Regularly review the Conversations and Anonymous Visitors tabs in Conversations to make sure your Chat Receptionist is having interacting with visitors like you expected.

note

Conversations are placed in the Anonymous Visitors tab when the AI Chat Receptionist was unable to identify their contact information during the conversation.

Responses from the AI Chat Receptionist include a clickable Explanation that expands to show:

  • the AI "reasoning" behind their response
  • the source they used for any knowledge
  • any Tools that were used by the AI, as well as the detailed API call and response.

Frequently Asked Questions about the AI Chat Receptionist​

What should I include in the Purpose prompt?

Your Purpose prompt sets the tone and behavior of your AI Chat Receptionist. Include instructions about your business’s voice, how the AI should greet visitors, and any important policies or information it should share.

How often should I update my AI Chat Receptionist’s knowledge?

Regularly review and update your AI’s Purpose prompt and knowledge sources to ensure the responses stay accurate and aligned with your latest business offerings and policies. Once a month is a good starting point for many businesses, but your business might need to do it more or less often.

Why does my AI sometimes give different answers to the same question?

The AI Chat Receptionist is non-deterministic, which means it may provide different responses depending on the context and wording of each question. This flexibility allows it to better adapt to varied customer interactions! If you want to have your AI respond the exact same way each time, you need to be very specific when giving directions.

How can I help my AI Chat Receptionist give correct answers?

You know your business best! To improve your AI’s accuracy, take a moment to write down:

  • The services you offer—and those you don’t
  • The most common questions your customers ask
  • The key information the AI should always collect from visitors

Use this info to write clear Purpose prompts and add any relevant content to your AI’s knowledge base that might be missing.