Questions to Ask Before You Buy a Chatbot

A demo that answers what are your hours is not a buying decision. Use this list with any vendor, including us. If the answer is vague, you are about to own another inbox.

The ten questions

• Which questions will it answer, and from which of my pages or notes?
• What does it say when the notes do not cover the question?
• Can it promise a price, a time, or a refund, and how do I turn that off?
• How does a person get the conversation, and how fast?
• Can I read every transcript?
• Will a visitor know they are talking to an assistant?
• Where is the chat data stored, and who else can see it?
• What happens after hours: an answer, a captured lead, or silence?
• How do I change an answer without opening a support ticket?
• What does the first month look like if we only automate one workflow?

Answers that should worry you

• It learns your business from the internet.
• It can handle exceptions if you prompt it well.
• We will email you a summary sometime.
• You will not need to review anything.

A reasonable first month

Pick the questions your team answers every day that do not require a decision: hours, location, service area, how to book. Let the assistant answer those. Send everything else to a person with the transcript attached.

Judge it after a month on two things only: did it stop repeat calls, and did it avoid making a promise you would not make? If a vendor cannot show you the source for an answer, the off switch, and the inbox a person will actually read, keep your money.