A WhatsApp chatbot for a small Pacific business: what it can answer, and what it should not 

A WhatsApp chatbot for a small Pacific business is an AI that answers customer messages on your WhatsApp number. It handles the routine questions, such as stock, opening hours, prices you have published and order status, and passes anything tricky to a person. It works at any hour, which matters when customers message after you have locked up.

Why WhatsApp first?

Ask a shop owner in Suva, Apia or Nuku'alofa where enquiries come from, and the answer is usually the phone in their pocket. Customers message to ask if something is in stock, to order for pickup, or to check when the delivery will arrive. The messages pile up during the day and get answered at night, if at all.

Every unanswered message is a customer deciding whether to wait or try the shop down the road. Most will not wait long.

What can an AI chatbot do now that older bots could not?

The bots of a few years ago made customers pick from numbered menus and broke the moment someone typed a normal sentence. Current AI reads a message the way a person would, including spelling mistakes and mixed languages, and answers from the facts you have given it. It keeps track of the conversation, so a customer can ask a follow-up without starting over.

The replies read like a helpful person wrote them, and they come at midnight, on public holidays and on the weekend, with no days off. We have built AI receptionists that answer calls and book appointments for businesses, with no leave or holidays. Answering a customer about stock and delivery times is well within what this kind of AI handles.

What should it answer, and what should it pass on?

The chatbot should say plainly when it is handing over, and the person who picks it up should see the whole chat. Nobody likes explaining their problem twice.

What are WhatsApp's rules?

A chatbot runs on the WhatsApp Business Platform, which has its own rules. Meta's developer documentation sets out two that matter most for a small business.

• When a customer messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens. Inside it, you can reply freely. Each new message from the customer resets it.
• Once the window closes, you can send only pre-approved template messages.
• You can message only customers who have opted in to receiving messages from your business.

In practice, this means the chatbot should answer fast, inside the window, and any later reminder, such as an order being ready, should use an approved template sent to a customer who agreed to it.

How do you start small?

1. Scroll back through a month of WhatsApp chats and list the 15 questions that come up most.
2. Write your answer to each once, in your own words.
3. Keep one stock or price list up to date, even if it is a simple spreadsheet.
4. Run the chatbot in draft mode for a week, with a person approving each reply.
5. Let it reply directly to routine questions once the drafts come back right.

The stock list is the part people skip, and it is the part that matters. A chatbot that says an item is in stock when the shelf is empty does more harm than a slow reply. Somebody has to own that list.

What about a weak connection?

The chatbot runs online, away from your shop, so it keeps answering when your own internet or power is down. Your staff catch up on handed-over chats when the connection returns, and every conversation is kept in one place for them.

How do we help?

We set the chatbot up for you, connect it to your stock list and WhatsApp number, test it with your team and keep it running. We work remotely, so there is nothing to fly in and no technical person to hire.

Tell us what is giving you headaches. If we are not the right people, we will try our best to find who is, and connect you to them.

Frequently asked questions

These are the questions Pacific shop and service owners ask most often about WhatsApp chatbots.