7 min read
25th May 2023
Whether you’ve just signed up or still researching AI assistants, here’s our no nonsense guide to getting yours live. Creating an AI assistant using AI Studio takes less than 15 minutes.
Dive into our tutorial below or create your AI assistant now.
To get started, sign up for an account in AI Studio. We use two-factor authentication to make sure your account is secure right from the start.
Once you’re in, you can create your first question-and-answer sequence ― we call that a flow:
Top tip: If you don’t like the examples generated by AI, hit the button again to get some you do.
Now you know how easy it is to get started, let’s talk about why it’s important to launch your AI assistant as soon as possible, so you get the most out of your 30 free days. Then we’ll get back to your first flow and show you how easy it is to add a response to the question and publish it.
As soon as your account is active, launch your AI assistant straight away to get 30 full days of conversation with real customers and prove its value. Everyone gets 30 days free, regardless of whether your AI assistant speaks to 1 or 1,000 customers a day.
You only need 5-10 questions to launch an AI assistant because it’s more sophisticated than a traditional chatbot. It learns on the job, so doesn’t need hours and hours of training. As soon as it’s live, your AI assistant will start to inform the flows you should add in line with real questions your customers have asked, not what you think they’ll ask ― the first month can be quite surprising!
Top tip: Launch your AI assistant straight away and you’ll have 30 full days of data to learn from!
Next, we’ll show you how easy it is to create your responses using text, images, links and more.
Now you’ve logged in and created your first flow, you’ll need to add a response for the question. Responses should be as short and succinct as you can make them, so your AI assistant gets straight to the point. Think about the way you present information too:
You’ve plenty of design options to make your responses as helpful as they can be:
Mostly, you’ll use text bubbles.
You can add links (with or without images).
Use buttons for your CTAs.
Offer multiple choice where it’s needed
If the answer is ‘it depends’, use multiple choice to get your customer to the right answer.
1. Add your clarifying question
2. Add the appropriate answer for each option or group of options
To check you’re happy with how your flow looks and sounds, check the device preview on the right-hand side, which updates every time you make a change.
When you’re ready, hit Publish on your new flow and your AI assistant can start using it in conversation with your customers as soon as it’s live.
Hint! Draft flows show with a grey tab in your list of flows and go green once published.
Top tip: Remember, you only need to publish 5-10 flows and you’re ready to launch your AI assistant ― resist the urge to load it up with more and more flows.
Next, you can really start to make your AI assistant your own.
This is the fun part where you style your AI assistant and give it an identity.
Hint! If you haven’t done this kind of thing before and want help to get it right for your business, read our guide on how to name your AI assistant for inspiration.
First, choose a profile photo (if you don’t have one, use your logo or design an icon).
Give your AI assistant a name.
Let us know where your AI assistant will live by adding the url. Usually, this is your main website and perhaps a second url for testing. It then can’t be added to other sites, so keeps it safe.
Change the colours of the chat window and bubbles.
On the right-hand side, you’ll see the device preview update every time you make a change, so you can be sure you’re happy with it.
Top tip: Avoid using “bot” in your AI assistant name, since it can have negative connotations.
Once this step is complete, you can start to look at what your AI assistant says.
You’ll find a couple of default messages under the Universal content tab that every AI assistant needs to have:
1. A welcome message for every new interaction with your AI assistant
2. A fallback message for when your AI assistant doesn’t yet know how to answer a question.
You can update the text any time if you want to change your default messages.
Top tip: Add a waving hand emoji to your welcome message to add a little zing! 👋
The final step pre-launch is to test how it’s all working…
To see what your customers will experience when they use your AI assistant, you can test it out for yourself.
Go to the Content tab and choose any flow. Click on Get a QR code and it’ll pop up on your screen:
Scan the QR code and it’ll take you to your AI assistant (whether it’s live or not). You’ll be able to ask it any of the questions you used in your list of flows to see the response come up. Anything else will show your fallback message, since it hasn’t been trained to give an answer.
Top tip: As you prepare for launch, think about everything you want to achieve with your AI assistant to turn a great launch into an amazing one.
You’re now ready to go live!
Go to the Launch tab and look in the bottom right corner. Click Publish to live and get your code.
You’ll then get a snippet of code to add to your website.
Whether you’re adding your AI assistant to Webflow, WordPress, Shopify, Wix, or via any other web design tool, you can ask our resident AI assistant, Clawson, for help if you need it.
Top tip: If you need help just ask Clawson “How do I go live?” and you’ll be guided through it.
Once you’re live, you’ll be able to add live chat for free.
We believe live chat is an essential part of customer service automation that you can’t do without, so it’s included with your AI assistant at no extra cost. Our system is easy to use and a vital link between your team and your technology.
To set it up, go to the Live chat tab.
Voilà!
You can add as many agents as you like as seats are unlimited ― that means live chat is free to use alongside your AI assistant and there aren’t any complicated pricing systems to contend with.
Top tip: Get your team working in harmony with your AI assistant and you’ll be able to use live chat to efficiently cover every type of query between them. From those needing an instant answer to their question, to those who need a sympathetic ear.
Now live chat is set up, all you’ll need to pay for (after your 30 free days) is what you use. We explain that next.
Regardless of your business size or request volumes, we give everyone 30 days free to set up, launch, and use their AI assistant to start handling live customers.
There are no hidden costs and no locked features ― you get to use all our premium features for free from the moment you sign up.
Five days before your free trial ends, we use the number of requests you had during this time to calculate what you’ll pay in the next month for your AI assistant. After that, we calculate your pricing plan every three months, so you only ever pay for what you’re using, whether your price band goes up or down.
If you never go above 100 requests per month, AI Studio stays free forever.
One request is essentially one complete request for help on one topic of conversation.
That means all of the conversation above is one request ― we don’t charge you per utterance (each chat bubble) as some companies do!
Once you go above 100 requests, pricing is as low as £99 per month. You only start paying more when the number of requests you get each month goes up.
This way, you simply pay as you grow.
Top tip: Read more about all of this on our pricing page.
AI Studio is free for the first 30 days, so you can focus on exploring our platform and see for yourself everything an AI assistant can do to help grow your business.
Five days before the end of your free trial, we’ll send you an email to confirm your price plan for the following month and, if you choose to continue, all you need to do is add payment details.
That’s it! You’re all set up and raring to go.
Top tip: Add us to your safe sender list so your email doesn’t go to spam.
Go to the Dashboard tab to see your customer data converted into tables and charts.
Top tip: Keep an eye out for updates and information about your data or account from Clawson too.
Data from your AI assistant can inform everything you do next to grow your business. In the next section, find out how easy it is to scale.
You’ll be pleased to know AI Studio has everything you could ever need to grow your AI assistant in line with the ever-evolving needs of your business:
You don’t pay extra for any of these services, so there’s no cost and no limit to how much you can scale from here.
Top tip: The launch is easy and it’s what happens next that’s most exciting, so don’t stop pushing for excellence. Your powerful next-generation AI assistant can swiftly become an efficient, reliable member of your team.
The only thing left to tell you is where to get help if you need it. Naturally, we provide that 24 hours a day. Take a look below.
If you ever get stuck, chat with Clawson, our resident AI assistant. Clawson is your co-pilot, there for you 24 hours a day.
Clawson answers at least 90% of all support questions, but if you have a more intricate or unusual request for help, Clawson raises a support ticket for our team to step in.
Top tip: If you don’t want to create your own AI assistant, we can always do it for you. Use our managed service and our pro team will create and/or manage your AI assistant, so you don’t have to.
