If you build chatbots for small businesses (a cafe, a cleaning service, a clinic front desk, a repair shop), the hard part is usually not the bot logic. It's getting the owner's answers in one place before you start. Without them you end up rebuilding the flow three times because "oh, we don't actually show prices online" shows up in week two.
Here is an intake list to send before kickoff. Copy it, change it, use it on client work.
A. The business
- Business name, and how customers usually refer to you.
- What do you sell? List your main services or products.
- Where do you operate (address, or the areas you cover)?
- Opening hours, including holidays and days off.
- Who are your typical customers?
B. What customers ask
- The 10 questions customers ask most often (real messages if possible).
- Questions the bot must never answer by itself (medical, legal, refunds, complaints).
- Do you show prices publicly? If not, how should the bot reply to "how much?"
- Are any prices "from" prices that depend on a site visit or a quote?
- Current promotions, and when they end.
C. Tone and language
- Which languages should the bot reply in?
- Formal or friendly? Paste 2–3 replies you have written that sound like you.
- Words, emoji or claims the bot must avoid.
D. Handing off to a human
- Who takes over when the bot can't help? Name and working hours.
- How should the bot hand off (tag staff, send an alert, ask for a phone number)?
- What should the bot say outside working hours?
- What must the bot collect before handing off (name, phone, address, date, photos)?
E. Channels and accounts
- Which channels: LINE, WhatsApp, Messenger, website chat, Instagram?
- Who owns the admin login for each channel? (The client keeps ownership; you get a staff role.)
- Any booking, order or spreadsheet system the bot should read from or write to?
F. Success and limits
- What would make this bot a success after 30 days?
- Roughly how many customer messages per day?
- Any data the bot must not store (ID numbers, card numbers, health details)?
- Who on the client's side approves the final answers before launch?
- Target launch date.
Three rules that save the most rework
1. The bot never invents a price. If question 8 says prices aren't public, the bot collects the job details and hands off. A wrong quote in writing is worse than a slow reply.
2. Every "never answer" topic from question 7 has a hand-off line written in advance. Write the exact sentence the bot says, for example: "That one needs a person. I've passed it to our team and they'll reply during opening hours."
3. The owner signs off on the answers, not on the tech. Question 24 matters more than it looks. Get one named person to approve the final FAQ, and launch only after they have.
Before go-live
A short checklist to run before switching a bot on:
- Ask it the 10 real questions from item 6 and compare with the owner's answers.
- Ask it something from the "never answer" list and confirm it hands off.
- Message it outside opening hours.
- Ask "how much?" with missing details and confirm it asks follow-up questions instead of guessing.
- Confirm the hand-off alert actually reaches the right person's phone.
Free download
The questionnaire above, a knowledge-base intake CSV (with a "needs a human" column) and a 15-point go-live checklist are packaged as a free zip, pay-what-you-want with $0 allowed:
Free AI Chatbot Client Intake Pack on itch.io
Disclosure: this post and the templates were written with AI assistance and reviewed before publishing. The same shop also sells paid template packs; the download above is free.
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