How to Set Up Q&A

Jessica Paxton Updated by Jessica Paxton

This article only pertains to customers on Smith.ai’s newest Web Chat (signed up in 2024.)

Chatbots have become increasingly popular in recent years to help businesses automate their customer service. They are powered by conversational AI, which allows them to simulate human-like conversations and provide quick and efficient solutions to customer queries.

While Q&A is one of our chatbot’s optional features, it remains to be a powerful one. 

Our AI-powered chatbot can answer questions that customers may ask using information from the data it ingests during setup — typically your business website. But you may want to create and save answers to your most important — or most commonly asked questions. Our AI prioritizes hardcoded Q&A over your data sources and uses your voice to maintain consistency. This is why, despite our powerful chatbot, Q&A is still a great feature.

Why use the Q&A feature

The Q&A within our chatbot solution can be used to:

  • Overcome gaps from other sources
  • Have control over how the bot answers
  • Share links with customers
Overcome information gaps from other sources

One of the most significant advantages of Smith.ai’s Web Chat Knowledge Base is its ability to ingest data from various sources, including your company's websites, documents, and marketing material. By analyzing this data, our chatbot can quickly learn about your business and provide tailored answers to customers.

However, your website may not have all the information you want to be available to customers or leads chatting on your website. Our chat solution can also use Q&A to supplement the data already ingested. By inputting relevant questions and answers, our chatbot can continuously expand its knowledge base and provide better solutions to customers.

Have more control over how the bot answers

Using the Q&A, you can control how the bot answers questions. Smith.ai utilizes Q&A in its chatbot to provide accurate and consistent responses to customer queries.

If your business website has lots of SEO-driven blogs or pages that are very similar and easily confused by the bot, you may want to use the Q&A to ensure consistent answers to your customer’s frequently asked questions.

This is also extremely helpful if you simply don’t like the way the chatbot answers a certain question. You can use the Q&A to ensure the chatbot answers your frequently asked questions using your same voice, every time. 

Our chat solution is programmed to not share links on its own. If you’d like the bot to share a link at any point in the conversations, program it in the Q&A. 

How to add Q&A to your Smith.ai chatbot

  1. Login to your chat dashboard and navigate to your Knowledge Base.
  2. Click on “Q&A” to add frequently asked questions and answers to your Knowledge Base.
  3. Click “+New Q&A.” This menu also allows you to see the questions you have previously added for your chatbot.
  4. Add the questions that your customers most frequently ask that require a specific response.

    IMPORTANT: If you are on the newest version of our Web Chat, you do not need to add variants of the same question. The chatbot is designed to understand the intent of the user's questions and provide accurate answers based on related or similar questions.

    For example, if you add the question, “What are your prices?” and the user asks, “How much does it cost?” the chatbot understands that those are the same question and will use the correct answer.
  5. Save your question and answer by clicking “Set live.” This will activate your Q&A.
  6. Test your bot.  
    Click on the "Test your bot here" icon in the lower right-hand corner to test your bot and newly created Q&A.

 

How to write good Q&A

Writing a good Q&A for a chatbot can be a challenging task, but it doesn't have to be. Here are some tips to help you write effective Q&As that will engage your users and provide them with the information they need.

  • Keep it concise: Make sure your questions and responses are brief and to-the-point. Avoid using technical jargon or complex sentences. The more complex the question, the more difficult it is for the chatbot to understand and provide an answer. Remember, the chatbot can string together multiple Q&A and other sources (such as your website), to form its own complex answers.
  • Stay on topic: Make sure your responses are relevant to the question. For example, if the question is about a specific product feature, don't provide a general overview of your company.
  • Use clear language: Avoid using ambiguous or unclear language. Make sure your responses are easy to understand and don't leave room for interpretation.
  • Provide options: When appropriate, provide users with multiple options to choose from by connecting your Q&A to a playbook. This can help streamline the conversation and guide users through the appropriate funnel. For example, if a website visit asks, “Are you hiring?” you can trigger the related “Now Hiring” playbook that drives them through the application process. 
  • Test and iterate: Once you've written your Q&A, test it with real users and iterate based on their feedback. This will help you identify areas where your Q&A could be improved and make it more effective over time.

Questions? Contact us!

If you're already a Smith.ai client and need help, please email us at support@smith.ai or call us at (650) 727-6484 for assistance.

If you're not yet a Smith.ai client, please schedule a free consultation to get started with our live chat or email us at sales@smith.ai. We'll help you select the best plan to match your business’s growth goals and budget.

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