AI AGENTS
Website, Instagram or WhatsApp: which chatbot should a business build first?
The first chatbot should go where the enquiries already arrive. NEVDEV in Phuket explains how to pick between website, Instagram and WhatsApp, and what the first version should and should not do.
Article
Build the first chatbot on the channel where your enquiries already arrive. Not the one that is easiest to build, and not the one that looks best in a demo. For most businesses in Phuket that is WhatsApp or Instagram. For businesses selling abroad it is usually the website. NEVDEV builds all three, and this is how we choose with a client.
Count where the messages come from
Before deciding, look at the last month. How many enquiries came by WhatsApp, how many by Instagram DM, how many through the website form, how many by email. The channel with the most enquiries and the slowest replies is where the first agent goes.
Best when customers already message you there and expect a reply within minutes. A WhatsApp agent answers the common questions straight away, collects the details, and hands the conversation to a person with everything written down. It needs a WhatsApp Business account and approval from Meta for some message types, which takes time, so it should start early.
Best for businesses that get found through photos and video: hotels, restaurants, tours, fitness, anything visual. Instagram enquiries arrive at night and at weekends, and most go unanswered until morning. An agent that replies in a minute with real prices and availability recovers bookings that would otherwise go elsewhere.
Website
Best when customers are comparing options and want answers without messaging anyone. A website agent answers from your own information, prices, policies, availability, and offers to book or hand over. It is also the easiest to control, because it lives on a site you own.
What the first version should do
- Answer the ten questions everyone asks, with the business's own answers
- Collect name, dates and what they want
- Hand over to a person cleanly, with the conversation attached
- Say "I will get someone to answer that" when it does not know
What it should not do yet
Take payment, confirm a booking, quote a custom price, or handle a complaint. Those come later, once the team trusts it and has seen a month of its conversations.
One channel, then the next
The knowledge base, the tone and the rules built for the first channel carry over to the second. Once WhatsApp works, adding Instagram is weeks, not months. Start with one, get it right, then add the others.