10 questions to ask before adding a chatbot to your website.

What do your visitors ask most often?

Open your inbox, your call notes and your contact-form messages from the last few months. Write down the 15 to 20 questions that come back again and again: hours, service area, delays, documents to bring, how to get a quote.

Why it matters: these questions are what the chatbot will handle every day. If you can't list them, start there.

Is the answer already on your website?

A well-configured chatbot answers from content you approve, usually your own pages. If your hours, service area or process aren't written anywhere, the chatbot can't invent them, and it shouldn't.

Tip: add a short FAQ page to your site. It helps visitors, search engines and the chatbot at the same time.

Which questions should it never answer?

Decide upfront what stays with a person: exact prices on custom work, legal, tax or medical advice, guarantees of availability, complaints. The chatbot should recognize these and pass them to your team.

What happens when it doesn't know?

Every chatbot meets questions it can't answer reliably. The good ones say so and offer a next step: leave contact details, call during business hours, or book a time. Ask any provider to show you this behaviour before you sign.

Who receives the inquiries, and how fast will you reply?

Choose the email address that receives each inquiry, and who is responsible for following up. The chatbot can answer at night; your team can't. Make sure it tells visitors when to expect a human reply.

Which languages do you need?

In Québec, customers expect to be served in French, and many businesses also get questions in English. Check that the chatbot answers in the visitor's language from the same approved content, and that French is the default where your obligations require it.

What personal information will it collect, and where is it processed?

A chatbot that takes names, emails and requests handles personal information. Under Québec's Law 25, you should know which providers process it, where, and for how long it's kept, and reflect this in your privacy policy. Many chatbots rely on AI models hosted outside Canada: ask your provider to put the details in writing.

How will you know it's working?

Pick two or three simple measures before launch: number of inquiries received through the chatbot, how many arrive outside business hours, and the questions it couldn't answer. Review them after the first month.

Who keeps the content up to date?

Holiday hours, new services, a price change: when your information changes, the chatbot's answers must change too. Decide who updates the content, or make sure ongoing management is part of your provider's service.

What will it really cost each month?

Look beyond the setup price. Ask about monthly management, software subscriptions and AI usage, how much usage is included, and what happens if traffic grows. Get these figures in writing, along with the contract length and how to cancel.