Guides
How to automate your business WhatsApp with AI
Short answer
You connect an AI assistant to your WhatsApp number and give it your real business information: prices, hours, services, policies. It answers routine questions at any hour, in the customer's language, and can book appointments, send quotes and share a payment link. Anything sensitive, like complaints, refunds or exceptions, goes to a person. Start with your most common questions, test with friends, then watch the conversations closely during the first weeks.
Key points
- The AI is only as good as the information you give it: prices, hours, services and policies.
- Let it handle repeated questions, bookings, quotes and payment links.
- Complaints, refunds, exceptions and delicate cases should go to a person.
- Test before going live and review real conversations during the first weeks.
- Your team must be able to step into any chat at any moment.
What an AI assistant can answer on its own
Most WhatsApp messages a business gets are variations of the same handful of questions. How much is it, are you open on Saturday, where are you, do you have it in stock, can I come tomorrow at five. A person answering these all day gets tired and slow. An AI assistant answers them the same way at 3 p.m. or at 3 a.m.
Unlike a fixed menu, an AI assistant understands the question even when it's written in a hurry, with typos or in another language. A bakery in Lisbon, a dental office in Bogotá and a plumber in Texas all get the same benefit: nobody waits for a reply to a simple question.
- Prices, packages and what each service includes
- Opening hours, location and how to get there
- Policies: deposits, cancellations, delivery areas, payment methods
- Open slots and booking an appointment
- Building a quote once it knows what the customer wants
- Sending the payment link when the customer is ready
What it should hand to a person
Automating doesn't mean disappearing. Some conversations need judgment, empathy or authority to make a decision, and those belong to you or your team. Decide this before you switch anything on, and tell the assistant clearly what it must not promise.
A simple rule works well: if the answer isn't in the information you gave it, the AI shouldn't make it up. It should say a person will follow up, and your team takes the chat.
- Complaints, angry customers and problems with an order
- Refunds, discounts and anything outside your normal policy
- Medical, legal or financial advice
- Large or unusual orders that need a custom answer
- Any case where the customer asks to talk to a person
Who answers what: a quick guide
Use this table as a starting point and adjust it to your business. A clinic will move more topics to the person column than a shop that sells products with fixed prices.
| Message | Who answers | Why |
|---|---|---|
| How much does it cost? | AI | The answer is in your price list |
| Are you open tomorrow? | AI | It depends only on your hours |
| I want an appointment | AI | It can offer open slots and book |
| Send me a quote | AI | It builds it with your products and prices |
| My order arrived damaged | Person | It needs judgment and a decision |
| Can you give me a discount? | Person | It's outside your normal policy |
| Is this symptom serious? | Person | Advice must come from a professional |
How to get started, step by step
- Collect your real questionsScroll through your WhatsApp chats and write down the questions you answer every week. That list is the backbone of everything the assistant will say.
- Write down your informationPrices, hours, address, services, what each one includes, deposits, cancellations. Keep it short and current. If something changes often, note who updates it.
- Set the limitsList what the AI must hand over to a person and what it must never promise. Decide who on your team takes those chats and during which hours.
- Connect your numberUse the number your customers already have, so nobody needs to save a new contact. Check that you can see every conversation from one place.
- Test before going liveAsk friends or employees to write like real customers: in a hurry, with typos, in other languages, with tricky questions. Fix any answer that sounds wrong.
- Watch the first weeksRead real conversations every day at first. Each time the AI didn't know something, add it to your information. After that, a weekly review is usually enough.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Giving the AI old prices or vague policies, then blaming it for wrong answers
- Hiding the fact that customers are talking to an assistant
- Leaving no clear way to reach a person
- Switching it on and never reading the conversations again
- Trying to automate everything on day one instead of the common questions first
How Autorys does it
Autorys has a WhatsApp AI assistant that works with your own number: you connect it from your dashboard by scanning a QR code, just like opening WhatsApp on a computer. It answers with the prices, hours and policies you give it, 24/7, in each customer's language, and it receives voice notes, photos and files.
It books appointments on your calendar, builds and sends quotes with your logo, sends the payment link and logs the payment. Your team sees every conversation in the CRM and can step into any of them; when they do, the AI steps aside. You can get it on its own or inside Autorys Connect, which adds Telegram and your website chat. Prices are on the Autorys Connect page.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a new number to automate WhatsApp?
Not with Autorys. The assistant works with the WhatsApp number your customers already know. You connect it from your dashboard by scanning a QR code with your phone, the same way you open WhatsApp on a computer, and it starts answering with your business information.
Will customers know they're talking to an AI?
They should. Being upfront builds trust, and most people care more about getting a fast, correct answer than about who types it. Make sure they can always reach a person when they ask, and that your team actually follows up on those chats.
Can the AI understand voice notes and photos?
Customers send voice notes, photos and files on WhatsApp all the time, so your assistant needs to handle them. The Autorys WhatsApp assistant receives voice notes, photos and files, and everything stays inside the same conversation in your CRM.
What if the AI gives a wrong answer?
Most wrong answers come from missing or outdated information. Read real conversations, find the gap and update your prices, hours or policies. Set clear limits too: when the answer isn't in your information, the AI should hand the chat to a person instead of guessing.
Can it answer in several languages?
Yes. A good AI assistant replies in the language the customer writes in. The Autorys assistant does exactly that, so a customer writing in German gets an answer in German, and one writing in Spanish gets it in Spanish.
