How to add an AI chatbot to your website, without coding

Step 1: decide what it should answer, and what it shouldn't

Write down the questions people actually ask you. Look at your email, your phone notes and the messages on Instagram or Google. For a café that is usually opening hours, the menu, allergies, dogs, booking and groups.

Then write down what it must never answer. Complaints, refunds, a specific booking and anything about money are better handled by you. A good chatbot sends those to you instead of guessing.

Step 2: give it your own material

The chatbot is only as good as what it reads. Give it your website, your menu or price list, and any document you already send to customers. If something is only in your head, write three lines about it: "Dogs are welcome on the terrace, not inside."

Check the result before it goes live. Ask it the questions from step 1 and read the answers as if you were a customer. Anything wrong is usually missing or unclear in your material, and fixing the material fixes the answer.

Step 3: make sure it can say "I don't know"

The biggest risk with an AI chatbot is that it invents an answer that sounds right. Ask it something you never told it, like "Do you have a kids' menu?" If it answers anyway, it will do the same to your customers.

Pick a tool that answers only from your material, shows where each answer came from, and says plainly when it doesn't know. Those unanswered questions are useful: they tell you what to add next.

Step 4: put it where people ask

There are three common places:

• A chat widget on your website: one line of code you paste into your site builder (most site builders allow this, though some need a paid plan or a theme edit).
• A link: in your Instagram bio, Google Business Profile, email signature or booking confirmation.
• A QR code: on the menu, the door or the counter, for people who are already there.

You don't need all three. Start with the place most questions come from.

Step 5: read what people ask in the first week

The first week tells you more than any setup. Read the conversations, add answers to the questions it couldn't handle, and remove anything it got wrong. After that, a few minutes a week is enough.