How to Use AI to Respond to Customers
By Harry, founder of Gamteh · Published · 3 min read
"How much?" "Do you deliver?" "Are you open on Sunday?" If you sell on social media, you answer the same questions all day, often late at night. A slow reply can mean a lost sale, because the customer simply asks the next shop. AI can take much of this work off your hands, as long as you set it up carefully. Here is how.
1. Start with the questions you already answer
Scroll through your last month of WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram messages and write down the questions that keep coming back. For most small businesses, the same ten to fifteen questions make up most messages:
- Prices and what's included
- Delivery: where, how long, how much
- Opening hours and location
- Availability of a product, size or colour
- How to order or book, and how to pay
Write your best answer to each one, in your own words. This list is the most important thing you will give the AI.
2. Give the AI facts, not guesses
An AI reply is only as good as the information behind it. If it doesn't know your delivery fee, it may invent one, and a wrong price causes more trouble than a slow reply. Choose a tool that answers only from information you gave it and passes the question to you when it doesn't know.
3. Begin with drafts, then automate the easy ones
Don't switch on fully automatic replies on day one. Start with AI drafts: the reply is written for you, you check it and send it with one tap. After a week or two you'll see which kinds of questions the AI always gets right (hours, location, simple prices). Let it answer those on its own, and keep checking the rest.
4. Decide what always comes to you
Some conversations need a person every time. Make a clear list:
- Complaints and unhappy customers
- Refunds, discounts and special deals
- Anything about health, safety or legal matters
- Large or unusual orders
A good setup hands these over to you straight away, with the conversation so far, so the customer doesn't have to repeat themselves.
5. Keep your voice
Customers can tell when replies suddenly sound like a call centre. Tell the AI how you talk: formal or friendly, English or French or both, whether you use the customer's first name, whether you use emojis. Show it two or three of your own real replies as examples. And be honest: if a customer asks whether they're talking to a person, the answer should never be a lie.
6. Answer in one place
Messages spread across WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and your website are easy to miss. Bringing them into one inbox means every customer gets an answer, and you can see each customer's earlier questions before you reply.
7. Turn conversations into sales
Many people ask a price and then go quiet. A short, polite follow-up a day later ("Hello, are you still interested in the blue dress? We have your size") brings a surprising number back. AI can remind you, or send these follow-ups for you if you allow it. Keep them rare and useful; nobody likes being chased.
Doing it with Gamteh
Gamteh's AI customer engagement brings Messenger, Instagram messages and comments, WhatsApp and your website chat into one inbox. Replies are drafted from what you taught Gamteh in your brand kit: your prices, hours, policies and common questions. It doesn't guess: unclear questions, complaints and sensitive topics come to you. You choose, channel by channel, what it may answer on its own.