Customer support bot

Build a customer support bot that resolves 80%+ of common inquiries without human involvement.

~30 minutes Free

What you're building

A customer support bot that:

  • Answers questions about your products, policies, and services 24/7
  • Escalates complex or sensitive issues to a human agent
  • Learns from handoffs to get better over time
  • Captures the visitor's email when they request a follow-up

Estimated time to 80% resolution rate: 2–4 weeks with weekly content improvements.

Step 1 — Training data

The quality of your support bot is determined almost entirely by the quality of your training data. Invest time here before worrying about configuration.

Priority sources to add (in order):

1. FAQ file — Your most common support questions, written as visitors ask them. Target: 50+ entries. See the Upload FAQ guide.

2. Website content — Your product pages, pricing page, and help centre pages (if you have one).

3. Policy documents — Return policy, shipping policy, warranty terms. Upload as PDF or add as FAQ entries.

4. Product documentation — User guides, spec sheets, setup instructions for each product.

Your support email history is gold
Export your last 6 months of support tickets (from Zendesk, Gmail, or wherever you manage email). Use the most common questions as your FAQ entries. This is the highest-quality training data you have.
Open Sources in admin

Step 2 — Configuration

System prompt template for customer support:

text
You are [Bot Name], the customer support assistant for [Company Name].

Your job is to answer questions about [Company Name]'s products, services, pricing, shipping, and return policy using the provided knowledge base.

When a visitor asks about their specific order, ask for their order number or the email address they used at checkout.

If you cannot find an accurate answer in the provided context, say: "I don't have that information right now. Let me connect you with our support team." Do not make up or estimate answers.

Keep responses concise — 2–3 sentences unless the visitor asks for detail. For processes, use numbered steps.

Suggested replies to add:

  • "Track my order"
  • "Return or exchange"
  • "Product question"
  • "Talk to a person"
Open Bot settings in admin

Step 3 — Handoff setup

Configure handoff so frustrated or stuck visitors can always reach a human.

1
Set availability hours

In Settings → Handoff, set the hours your team can respond. Outside those hours, set an offline message with your team's email address.

2
Configure the offline message

> "Our support team is offline right now. Email us at support@yourcompany.com and we'll reply within one business day."

3
Enable browser notifications

Turn on browser notifications in the admin panel so your team gets alerted immediately when a handoff is requested.

Open Handoff settings in admin

Step 4 — Launch & monitor

1
Test before going live

Open the Preview and run through your 20 most common support scenarios. Verify each gets a satisfactory answer. Fix any that don't before embedding on your site.

Open Preview in admin
2
Embed on your website

Add the widget snippet to your website. See the Embed widget guide.

3
Monitor for the first two weeks

Check Conversations daily for the first two weeks. Add FAQ entries for any recurring questions the bot fails to answer.

4
Set up weekly self-learn reviews

Enable Self-learn and review suggestions every week. This is the fastest path to higher resolution rates.

Expected results

Based on typical deployments:

WeekResolution rateWhat to focus on
150–65%Fix obvious gaps from daily conversation review
2–365–75%Add content for top unanswered topics
4–675–85%Fine-tune system prompt, approve self-learn suggestions
6+80–90%Maintain and monitor; major changes when products change
Previous Self-learn review
Report an issue