A chatbot FAQ template for small businesses

A website assistant needs source material that answers the questions visitors actually ask. Many small business sites have a polished homepage but leave practical details spread across menus, policy pages, and social posts. Use the questions below to find gaps. You do not need to publish every answer at once; begin with the ones your team already knows are common.

Start with the essentials

The first group covers whether a visitor can reach you and what happens next. These answers should be correct for each location, including exceptions. If your regular hours and holiday hours conflict, label the date on the exception. Put contact options in plain language and explain when a human needs to confirm a request.

Draft an answer in one or two sentences for each question. Include a link or named page only when it helps someone complete the task. Avoid 'contact us' as the whole answer when you can share the published address, available services, or next step first.

• 1. Where are you located?
• 2. What are your regular hours?
• 3. Are holiday hours different?
• 4. How can I contact your team?
• 5. Is parking available?
• 6. Is the entrance accessible?

Explain what you offer

A service or product list is rarely enough for a new visitor. Explain the difference between common options, who should discuss a special request with staff, and where prices are fixed or only starting points. Keep the answer tied to the current public page rather than an internal price sheet that may change without notice.

A salon might explain service duration and staff specialties; see the salon example. A restaurant can explain menu categories without claiming that a dish is safe for someone with an allergy; see the restaurant example. Different industries need different limits, even when they use the same FAQ format.

• 7. What services or products do you offer?
• 8. What is included in the most common option?
• 9. What does it cost or what does 'starting at' mean?
• 10. How long does a service usually take?
• 11. Are there location or staff differences?
• 12. Where can I find current menus or product details?

Describe requests and follow-up

Visitors need to know whether a chat message submits a request or confirms an arrangement. State the difference explicitly. Tellvira can collect a name, contact details, and the visitor's request, then email that information to the business. The business must respond to confirm an appointment, viewing, or event. It cannot inspect a calendar or reservation system.

Make the reply path concrete: which team receives the email, what details they need, and how the visitor should handle urgent matters. Do not publish a response-time promise you cannot meet. An after-hours request may be valuable even when the office cannot answer until the next working period.

• 13. How do I request an appointment or visit?
• 14. Does submitting a request confirm a time?
• 15. What details should I include?
• 16. How will the team reply?
• 17. What should I do if the matter is urgent?

Put policies in simple language

Policy questions often reveal the most expensive gaps. A customer may want the cancellation deadline, exchange conditions, delivery range, or gift card terms before deciding to proceed. Publish the exact rule and the channel for a specific exception. Keep business policies separate from a third-party provider's rules.

An online store needs public shipping and return content, but order-specific problems must go to staff. Restaurants need dated holiday hours and allergy handoffs. Every business should make privacy information easy to find without putting private account records into the assistant's knowledge source.

• 18. What is the cancellation policy?
• 19. Can I change a request?
• 20. What are the return or exchange rules?
• 21. What payment methods are listed?
• 22. Are gift cards or vouchers available?
• 23. What shipping or delivery areas apply?

Add the two questions that expose limits

Every FAQ set should include a clear route for questions the assistant cannot answer. One question can ask how to reach a person; another can explain what information should not be shared in chat. For a clinic, that includes symptoms and medical records. For a store, it includes card numbers and passwords. For a restaurant, allergy safety belongs with staff.

Do not train the assistant with hypothetical answers to specific customers. A public FAQ is a reference for general policy, not a way to infer a person's order, coverage, or eligibility. When information is missing, it is better to collect a request or direct the visitor to the right person than to guess.

• 24. How can I speak to a person about my situation?
• 25. What should I avoid sharing in chat?

Write and review each answer

Use one clear heading per question and one self-contained answer. If a rule depends on a product, location, or date, say so. Avoid 'always,' 'guaranteed,' and unexplained internal terms. Read each response aloud: could a first-time visitor follow it without knowing your business? If the answer is too long, split it into two questions.

For a worked example of after-hours boundaries, read the dental front desk guide. For the choice between automation and human operators, compare chatbots and live chat. Both start from the same requirement: visitors should know when a human will take over.

Turn the list into a maintenance habit

Assign an owner to each group of answers. Hours may belong to operations, prices to a manager, and policy language to support. Review the list after a seasonal change, a new service, or a repeated unanswered question. Remove old copies so a visitor does not receive conflicting instructions from two pages.

Once your answers are ready, review pricing or ask Tellvira a setup question. Start with a small set of dependable answers, verify them on mobile, and expand only where real visitor questions show a need.

Use examples instead of internal shorthand

Suppose a shop says “standard dispatch applies.” A first-time buyer cannot tell what standard means. A clearer answer names the published dispatch range, explains when that clock starts, and sends unusual cases to support. The same method works for a salon’s late policy or an agency’s viewing process: state the rule as a visitor would need it.

Check every answer for hidden assumptions. Does “we” refer to one location or all locations? Is a price current for every service? Does an estimated duration include consultation time? Add those details when you know them. When you do not, direct the visitor to someone who can verify instead of inventing an exception.

Test with words customers actually use

Staff may call a service by its official name while visitors ask for a plain-language version. Ask several people outside the business to search for the answer using their own terms. If they cannot find it, add a useful synonym to the source page or write a separate FAQ. Do not fill the site with repeated keyword variants.

Read the assistant’s replies after each content change. Check whether it uses the current policy, whether its links point to a live page, and whether an unanswered question leads to a person. A small, reviewed set of FAQs can serve as a dependable base for future updates.