Sales chatbots for shops: which kind, and how to set one up?

Three kinds of sales chatbot

• Scripted chatbot: customers tap buttons and the bot follows a prepared tree. Cheap and predictable, stuck on anything off-script.
• AI chatbot: customers type freely, the bot understands and answers from the documents you give it. More natural, but can be wrong when the documents have gaps.
• AI agent: connected to stock, delivery slots and orders; looks things up and drafts orders. Does the most, takes the most work to set up, and needs a person to approve.

Where to put the chatbot

Where customers message you most: your Facebook Page inbox on Messenger, a Zalo Official Account, or the chat box on your website. Count a week of messages in each place and start with the busiest, rather than switching it on everywhere at once.

What to prepare first

• One tidy document: prices, size chart, delivery fees by area, returns, opening hours. Outdated or contradictory documents make the chatbot wrong.
• The twenty questions customers ask most, taken from past messages, with the right answers.
• A greeting that says plainly this is the shop's AI assistant.
• A way to a person: typing "talk to staff" hands over, and the bot hands over itself when unsure.

Seven questions for the chatbot vendor

• Where are customer messages stored, and are they used to train AI?
• What does the chatbot say when it does not know?
• How does it hand over to a person, and are staff notified?
• How long does it take to fix a wrong answer, and who fixes it?
• What is the price based on: per month, per message or per token?
• Is there a report of questions the chatbot could not answer?
• If we stop, can we export the scripts and message history?

A two-week trial

• Pick the five to ten most repeated questions and let the bot answer only those.
• Switch it on for hours when nobody is on duty first, such as after 9 pm.
• Count every day: correct answers, hand-offs to a person, wrong answers.
• Fix the document wherever it went wrong before adding new questions.

Common questions

• Do chatbots annoy customers?

  They do when they pretend to be human, ramble or block the way to staff. Say it is an AI assistant, answer the question briefly and always offer a person, and most customers like the instant reply.

• Can an AI chatbot invent prices or offers?

  Yes, when its documents are missing or outdated. Make it answer from the shop's documents only, forbid it to promise discounts, and send anything involving money to a person.

• Does a café or bakery need a chatbot?

  It helps with repeated questions such as opening hours, menu, prices, table bookings and cake pre-orders. Bookings should have a confirmation step to avoid double booking.