The job of the AI assistant on your website is to answer the visitor's question in their own language, based only on the information you have provided, to hand over to one of your staff where it is not sure, and to record the conversation as a sales opportunity when the visitor gives their contact details of their own accord. Most of the success is decided before setup: a clean product catalog, up-to-date frequently asked questions, clear business hours and written handover rules. Because you collect visitor data, you also need to plan from the start how you will meet your duty to inform under KVKK (the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law), if your business falls under Turkish law.
What should the assistant do?
A good assistant takes over the first five minutes of an experienced sales rep. It greets the visitor, understands what they are looking for and points them in the right direction. The tasks below are the core of this first contact.
- Reply in the visitor's language. Answering a visitor who writes in German in Turkish means the conversation ends there. The assistant should continue in whatever language the visitor writes in.
- Recommend from the real catalog. Asked "What would you recommend for a 20-person office?", it should answer by choosing only from the products and services you actually sell.
- Hand over to a person. Negotiation, complaints, special pricing, technical faults and any topic the assistant does not know should be passed to one of your staff.
- Create the lead record at the right moment. The assistant should create a record and notify you when the visitor types their name, phone number or email of their own accord.
- Book appointments. If the visitor wants a meeting, it should suggest available times and add the chosen one to your calendar.
What should the assistant not do?
AI models write fluently, and fluency makes wrong information look convincing too. That is why the list of prohibitions is at least as important as the list of tasks.
- It should not make up prices, stock or delivery times. If this information is not in the catalog, the assistant should say "Our team will give you the exact details on this" and hand over.
- It should not recommend products that are not in your catalog. To "Do you have something similar?", it should answer only from your list, not from general internet knowledge.
- It should not make promises. If commitments such as discounts, returns or warranty coverage are not in your written policy, the assistant should not promise them.
- It should not push for contact details. Adding "Could you leave your phone number?" to the end of every reply drives visitors away. Offering it once, at the right moment, is enough.
- It should not present itself as a human. Visitors should know they are talking to an assistant. This is a matter of both honesty and managing expectations.
How should you prepare before setup?
The assistant cannot answer better than the information you give it. Setting aside a day or two of desk work for preparation saves weeks you would otherwise spend fixing things afterward.
1. Clean up your product catalog
Each product should have a clear name, a short and concrete description, who it is suitable for and, if applicable, its price. Internal jargon like "Premium package" does not match visitors' questions; wording like "up to 10 users, setup included" does. Remove discontinued products from the catalog, or the assistant will keep recommending them.
2. Write down your frequently asked questions
List with your team the questions you hear most often by phone and email: shipping time, payment options, setup, returns, invoicing. Write a two- or three-sentence answer to each, in your own voice. This text becomes the assistant's main reference source.
3. Clarify business hours and handover rules
A handover rule should not be as vague as "pass to a person if needed." Which topics are handed over, who they go to during business hours and what the visitor is told outside business hours should all be written down. A sample set of rules:
- Price negotiation, bulk orders and special quotes: to the sales team.
- Complaints about an existing order: to the support lead.
- Outside business hours: a message saying "Our team will get back to you tomorrow from 09:00" and an offer to leave contact details.
- If the visitor explicitly says "I want to talk to a person": hand over in every case.
4. Describe the tone
Describe in a few sentences how your brand talks to customers: formal address, short sentences, no emojis or only sparing ones, technical terms explained when needed. If you add two or three sample replies, the assistant adapts to this style much more easily.
5. Test it yourself before going live
Have a few people on your team ask tough questions like real customers: a product not in the catalog, a question in a foreign language, price haggling, an angry complaint. Every answer the assistant makes up or fails to hand over reveals a gap to add to the catalog or the rules.
What should you watch for under KVKK?
During a chat, the assistant receives personal data such as names, phone numbers and email addresses. At this point, your business must fulfill its obligations as a data controller under Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data. The main points are:
- Privacy notice. Under Article 10 of the Law, when obtaining personal data, the data controller must inform the data subject of its identity, the purpose of processing, to whom and for what purpose the data may be transferred, the method of collection and legal basis, and the data subject's rights. In practice, a short information sentence in the chat window with a link to your privacy notice is a good start. For an example of what such a text might look like, see Collobr's privacy notice.
- Legal basis. Article 5 of the Law lists the conditions under which personal data may be processed. Determine the basis on which you process contact details received via chat and state it in your privacy notice.
- Proportionality. Article 4 of the Law requires data to be processed for specific, explicit and legitimate purposes, and in a way that is relevant, limited and proportionate to those purposes. Do not ask for a Turkish national ID number for a price question, and do not let the assistant ask for one either.
- Data subject rights. Article 11 of the Law gives individuals rights such as learning whether their data is being processed and requesting its correction and deletion. Know in advance where chat records are stored and how they will be found and deleted when a request comes in.
- Transfers abroad. Ask your provider where the service you use hosts and processes data. Transfers abroad are subject to the separate conditions in Article 9 of the Law.
Chat content can sometimes include special categories of data too; for example, a visitor may mention their health condition. If such data comes up often in your sector, it is wise to review your privacy notice and processes with a lawyer.
How do you measure success?
Online you will find general figures like "AI increases sales by this much," but the only meaningful comparison for your site, your product and your visitors is your own data. Note the current state for a few weeks before switching the assistant on, then track the same metrics regularly.
| Metric | How it is calculated | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Number of leads | Number of records from chat that include contact details (weekly) | The assistant's contribution to the sales pipeline |
| Lead quality | Share of these records that move on to the quote stage | Whether incoming records are real buyers |
| First response time | Time between the visitor's first message and the first reply | Whether visitors are kept waiting |
| Handover rate | Chats passed to a person / total chats | How sufficient the catalog and FAQ are |
| Wait after handover | Time from handover to a staff member's reply | Whether your team is ready for handovers |
| Number of appointments | Meetings booked into the calendar from chat | The outcome closest to a sale |
A high handover rate is not bad in itself. What you really need to look at is the topics of the chats that were handed over. If the same question is handed over again and again, it is time to add its answer to the FAQ.
Alongside the numbers, read about ten randomly selected chats from start to finish once a week. A made-up piece of information, unnecessary pushiness or a missed sales opportunity does not show up in the tables; it shows up immediately in the chat transcript.
How does it work in Collobr?
Collobr's AI-powered live chat is added to your website with a single line of code. The assistant answers visitors in their own language, recommends products from your catalog, creates a lead and notifies you as soon as contact details are given, suggests available times, adds the appointment to your calendar and sends an invitation. WhatsApp messages land in the same inbox too; you can take over the conversation whenever you want.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice.
If you would like to try the assistant with your own catalog, no credit card is required for the 14-day free trial. Get started now.