Acquisition · Application area 04 of 26
AI Receptionist and Inbound Chat for Local Businesses
An AI receptionist answers every enquiry that arrives by chat, form, WhatsApp or social message, in under a minute, at any hour. It asks your qualifying questions, books the site visit, and escalates anything unusual to a human. CyberGipsy installs one on your own numbers and accounts in about two weeks.
Definition. An AI receptionist is an always-available first responder that greets inbound enquiries, answers common questions, qualifies the request and either books an appointment or routes the conversation to the right person.
The problem this removes
- Enquiries arrive at 21:40 on a Saturday and get answered on Monday, by which time the customer booked someone else.
- Your office manager spends most of the day answering the same eight questions.
- Messages are scattered across Instagram, WhatsApp, the website widget and a shared inbox.
What we actually build
Unified inbox
Website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, forms and email in one thread per customer.
Knowledge base
Your services, coverage area, pricing bands, availability, guarantees and policies, in the agent's memory.
Qualification script
The questions your estimator asks, in your tone, adapted to each service.
Booking
Live calendar access with travel-time rules, so it never books two jobs across the city back to back.
Escalation rules
Complaints, unusual requests, VIP accounts and anything the agent is unsure about go to a human immediately.
Disclosure and handover
Clear statement that it is an assistant, and instant handover on request.
Multilingual
Answers in the customer's language where your city requires it.
How the install works
Five steps. Nothing here is a workshop.
Collect the truth
We interview your team and read 200 past conversations to learn how you really answer.
Build the brain
Knowledge base, tone, boundaries and escalation rules.
Shadow mode
The agent drafts, your team approves, for one week. Accuracy is measured before it goes live.
Go live per channel
Website first, then messengers, then social.
Review weekly
We read the failures, not the successes, and close the gaps.
What changes, in numbers
Honest ranges from installs of this type. Your baseline is measured during the diagnostic so the comparison is yours, not an industry average.
| Measure | Typical before | After install |
|---|---|---|
| Average first reply | 4-24 hours | Under 60 seconds |
| Enquiries answered outside business hours | 0% | 100% |
| Repetitive questions handled by staff | All | 10-20% |
| Bookings made without human involvement | 0 | 40-70% of simple jobs |
| Conversations with a full written record | Partial | All |
What AI will not do here
An AI receptionist should not handle complaints, pricing negotiations, emergencies or anything emotionally loaded. We configure it to hand those over immediately, and we say so on the page because businesses that pretend otherwise get burned. It also cannot invent availability or quote a complex job — it collects what is needed and books the human.
AI Receptionist & Inbound Chat: questions we get asked
Will it sound like a robot?
It is trained on your own past conversations, so it uses your phrasing, your service names and your local terms. The giveaway is usually not the language but bad handover, which is why escalation rules matter more than tone.
Does it work on WhatsApp?
Yes, through the official WhatsApp Business API on your own number. Instagram and Facebook messaging are supported the same way. Unofficial workarounds risk your account and we do not use them.
What if it gives a wrong answer?
Everything it can say is bounded by the knowledge base you approve. When it does not know, it says so and escalates rather than guessing. We review low-confidence conversations weekly.
Can it book directly into my calendar?
Yes, with rules for job duration, travel time, working hours and buffer. It will not book a job it does not have room for.
Do customers have to be told it is AI?
In several markets, yes. Our policy is to disclose in every market, because being caught hiding it costs more than disclosing ever does.
How much does it save?
The honest comparison is against a part-time receptionist plus the jobs lost to slow replies. For most local businesses the second number is larger than the first.
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Read →Is ai receptionist & inbound chat your highest-return system?
The audit ranks every automation by return for your specific business. Most companies discover the answer is not the one they expected.