Does your website need an AI assistant?

An AI assistant on your website should make a specific task easier. Being able to hold a conversation is no reason to pay for one.

Start with the enquiries that take up employees’ time. Are customers struggling to find information, or making choices that require several follow-up questions? The answer helps you choose a solution.

Find where the customer gets stuck

If most people ask about delivery times, perhaps the answer needs to be clearer on the product page. If customers must choose between many products based on different needs, a guide or an AI assistant could be worth testing.

Illustrative example: A company sells storage cabinets. Customers are often unsure which model fits their space and the things they want to store.

An assistant could ask about dimensions and intended use, then show suitable models with an explanation. A conventional product guide with fixed questions may solve the same task.

Compare the two options by how easily customers find a suitable product, how often employees need to help, and what each option costs to keep up to date.

Answers need reliable information

Before a trial, establish which information the assistant may use. Conflicting product dimensions do not become more useful when written as a friendly sentence.

Assign someone to maintain the content and agree which information is authoritative. Prices and stock availability should only be included if the solution can access information that is current enough for the task.

When information is missing, the assistant should say so and direct the customer to the relevant page or an employee. A guess can create more work than the conversation saves.

Define what the assistant may do

The assistant’s role should be clear: Should it answer questions about products, or should it also be able to order them?

For an order or booking, the customer should be able to review and confirm the details before it is created. If an action fails, that should be clear. Customers should be able to see whether the order or booking has gone through.

Access should be limited to what the task requires. An assistant for product selection only needs product data.

Let the trial determine the next step

A limited trial could cover one product group and questions employees already answer every week. Include unclear questions and cases where the available information is insufficient.

Assess whether customers can move forward with correct answers and how much time employees spend helping and correcting mistakes. Include the work needed to maintain the content and the solution itself.

For companies with many recurring questions about product selection, a trial provides a basis for choosing help that saves employee time and makes buying easier. If a clearer page or a simple guide handles the task well enough, that is a good result. The website does not need to have a conversation about everything.