How to write instructions for your AI support bot

Most AI support bots let you add instructions: a box of plain-English rules the bot follows on every reply. Used well, that box is how a small business keeps a bot polite, on topic and out of trouble. Used badly, it becomes a long list of rules fighting a website that says something different. This guide covers what belongs in instructions, what belongs in your content instead, and how to word the rules so they work.

Fix the content before you write a rule

The single most common mistake is using an instruction to patch a fact. "Our Saturday hours are 9 to 12" is not a rule; it is information, and it belongs on your contact page. If the website still says 9 to 1, you now have two sources that disagree, and the bot has to pick one.

A useful test: if the sentence would be true for a customer reading your website, it is content. Put it on the site, or add it as a note in the bot's knowledge. If the sentence tells the bot how to behave, whatever the content says, it is an instruction.

Five things worth an instruction

1. What it must not do

Write the boundaries first. For most businesses that is professional advice about the customer's own situation, promises about outcomes or dates, and discussing any individual customer's account. Be specific about the category, because "do not give advice" is vague and "do not tell anyone whether an expense is deductible for them" is not.

2. Where to send people instead

A refusal with no way forward loses the customer. Every "do not" should come with a "do this instead": the phone number, the booking link, the email, or a request for their contact details. "For questions about a specific matter, ask them to call the office on the number on our contact page" gives the bot something to say.

3. What it must never ask for

Tell it not to request card numbers, passwords, or identity document numbers, and not to accept them if offered. Customers sometimes paste these into a chat without thinking.

4. Tone and length

One or two lines are enough: short answers, plain words, no exclamation marks, first person plural as the business. Long style guides tend to be ignored in the parts that matter.

5. Honesty about what it is

If someone asks whether they are talking to a person, it should say it is an automated assistant. If your business is a demo, a franchise or an agent for someone else, say how it should explain that.

How to word a rule so it works

• Say what to do, not only what to avoid. "If asked for a quote, explain that quotes need a site visit and give the booking link" beats "don't quote prices".
• Name the trigger. Start with "If someone asks about…" so the bot knows when the rule applies.
• One rule, one idea. Five short rules are followed more reliably than one long paragraph with five clauses.
• Avoid absolutes you do not mean. "Never mention prices" will stop it answering the price question your fees page exists to answer.
• Do not repeat the website. Every fact copied into instructions is a fact you now have to update in two places.

A worked example

Here is a set a small accounting practice might start with. Every line is an instruction, not a fact.

If someone asks whether an expense is deductible for them, or how much refund they will get, say that depends on their situation and offer an appointment. Do not guess.
If someone asks about their own return, lodgement or ATO debt, ask them to call the office. You cannot see client files.
Never ask for or accept a tax file number, a bank account number or a myGov password in this chat.
If someone asks about a due date, give the general date from our key dates page and tell them to confirm their own date with us.
Keep answers short and end any fee answer with how to book.

You can see a practice using rules like these on our accountants page, which has a live demo you can try to trip up.

Test every rule, then leave it alone

After adding a rule, ask two questions in the preview: one it should affect and one it should not. The second catches rules that are broader than you meant. In Botsmith, rules you write apply to every reply immediately, with no re-crawl and no rebuild, so this takes a minute.

Then check the bot's unanswered questions weekly. When the same gap appears three times, the fix is almost always new content, not a new rule. For the list of questions to test with, see what a website support bot should answer. For the privacy side of the same job, see AI chatbot privacy for small businesses.