Your AI assistant answers from the business information you give it, so the knowledge base decides whether callers hear a precise answer or “let me have someone call you.” Start with the questions customers ask most, write the answers plainly, check that processing succeeds, and test real customer questions before connecting a channel.

This guide gives you a checklist of what to add first, the source formats InsertChat reads, how to write answers an assistant can use, and the tests to run before launch.

What should you add to the knowledge base first?

Add the answers your team gives every day: hours, location, service area, services, published prices, booking and cancellation rules, and how to reach a person. Then add the details that protect customers and your team: emergency safety steps, what the assistant must not promise, and when your team follows up.

Use this checklist:

  • Opening hours, including holidays and any after-hours service.
  • Location and parking or access notes, if customers visit you.
  • Service area, listed by town, ZIP code, or radius.
  • Services you offer, and the ones you don’t, so the assistant can say no clearly.
  • Prices you publish, with what they include. Leave custom quotes to your team.
  • Booking rules: typical appointment lengths, what customers should bring or prepare, and deposits.
  • Cancellation and rescheduling policy.
  • Emergency safety steps, such as “leave the building and call 911,” plus your emergency number if you have one.
  • Follow-up promise: when your team returns calls, such as “by 10 a.m. the next business day.”
  • Topics for a person: complaints, billing disputes, custom quotes, and anything that needs professional advice.

For each item, record the answer and the source your team uses to confirm it. If the answer depends on a person’s judgment, describe what details the assistant should collect and when it should hand the conversation to your team.

Which source formats should you use?

Match the source to the job. Website pages suit published facts, documents suit longer instructions, and question-and-answer pairs suit the questions your website never answers clearly. The InsertChat knowledge base reads all of them and keeps every channel on the same answers.

  • Website pages: service descriptions, opening hours, and published policies. Add pages by crawl or sitemap.
  • Documents: PDFs, Word files, spreadsheets, and presentations for longer instructions, price lists, and preparation guides. Scanned images and PDFs are read with text recognition.
  • Questions and answers: specific questions that your website does not answer clearly, written the way customers ask them.
  • Product information: dimensions, materials, compatibility, and other details shoppers need.
  • Audio and video files: recordings such as walkthroughs or explainer videos, transcribed so the assistant can answer from what was said.
  • Plain text: short notes, such as this week’s holiday hours.

Check the processing status after adding a source. Wait for successful completion before testing answers that depend on it, and correct failed sources before relying on them. Each plan sets a maximum file size and a number of knowledge sources; the pricing page lists them.

How do you write answers an AI assistant can use?

Write each answer the way you’d want it read aloud on a call: specific, short, and complete on its own. “Contact us for service availability” gives the assistant little to work with. “We serve Austin, Round Rock, and Cedar Park, Monday to Saturday” gives it an answer.

A useful question-and-answer pair looks like this:

Question: Do you come out on weekends?

Answer: Yes, on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Austin, Round Rock, and Cedar Park. Sunday visits are for emergencies only; call and the assistant will alert the on-call technician.

That example is illustrative; write your own policies. A few more habits help:

  • Say what you don’t do. “We don’t service commercial buildings” stops the assistant from booking the wrong job.
  • Give ranges with conditions. “Drain cleaning starts at $129 for one fixture” is better than a bare number.
  • Explain durations and preparation. For appointments, write the usual length and what the customer should have ready.
  • Keep one answer per fact. Resolve contradictory or outdated answers across sources, so two documents don’t give two prices.
  • Leave out private information. Remove passwords, account credentials, and anything customers should not receive. Health businesses should keep patient details out unless covered by a Business Associate Agreement.

Test like a customer

Use the app’s test conversation, or place a test call, and check these cases:

  1. A common question with a clear answer in your sources.
  2. A question phrased differently from the source text.
  3. A service or product your business does not offer.
  4. A request whose answer is missing or uncertain. The assistant should say so instead of guessing.
  5. A question that should reach a person.
  6. The same question in another language, if your customers use one. The assistant answers in the customer’s language.

Compare each response with the source. Fill information gaps or adjust the response configuration, such as tone or answer length, then repeat the affected test.

Keep answers current

When services, opening hours, products, or policies change, update the source and refresh it in InsertChat. Confirm that processing finishes and test the changed answer again.

Read a sample of conversations each week at first. Questions the assistant couldn’t answer, and conversations handed off as uncertain, show exactly what to add next. Once the knowledge is ready, connect your first customer channel and recheck the same questions through that channel before going live. To see a finished knowledge base, explore the demo with a fictional business and sample data.