How to automate customer service

Automate the predictable parts: instant acknowledgements, routing messages to the right person, answers to common questions and status updates. Let AI draft replies to everything else for a person to approve, and keep complaints, refunds and unusual requests human. Start with one channel and your top ten questions.

Three lanes, not one switch

Automating customer service is not a choice between a bot and a person. It works best when every message falls into one of three lanes, and you decide which lane each kind of message belongs in.

What to automate first

• An instant reply that confirms the message arrived and says when a person will answer.
• Routing, so bookings, billing and complaints reach the right person.
• Answers to the questions you get every week, written once from your real information.
• Updates customers would otherwise chase, such as booking confirmed or order shipped.
• After-hours replies that answer simple questions and collect details for the morning.

Where Kahu fitsWhatsApp InboxKahu reads every WhatsApp message, drafts the answer from your prices and hours, and you tap send. Or let it send the routine ones itself.Your existing WhatsApp Business numberReplies drafted from your prices and hoursA person presses sendSee WhatsApp Inbox →Nikau Reeves+64 21 ··· ··· · via WhatsApp BusinessHey, anything free Thursday after 5? And roughly how much for a cut and beard trim?17:04Draft · from your price list and hoursKia ora Nikau, yes – 5:30 Thursday is free. Cut and beard trim is $55, about 45 min. Want me to hold it for you?EditSend

How to set it up

1. 1Bring channels togetherRoute email, WhatsApp, social messages and your website form into one inbox before automating anything.
2. 2List your top questionsLook back over a month of messages and write down the ten that come up most, with your best answer to each.
3. 3Write your facts downServices, prices you publish, hours, location, policies. Every automated or drafted answer should come from this.
4. 4Set the handover rulesDecide the words and situations that always go to a person, such as refund, complaint or a request to talk to someone.
5. 5Run in draft mode firstFor a week or two, review every automated answer before it goes out. Then let the reliable ones run.

Signs it is working, or not

Good automation shows up as faster first replies and fewer repeated questions to staff. Bad automation shows up as customers asking the same thing twice, or asking for a person. Read a sample of automated conversations every week. If a customer had to fight to reach someone, fix the handover rule.

Frequently asked questions