Catch enquiries while you’re on a job

Overview

A trade’s website gets its enquiries when the owner cannot pick up: during a job, in the evening, at the weekend. The visitor leaves a form, or leaves the site.

This agent answers the questions your site already answers. When it cannot, it asks for an email and sends you the question, so the enquiry is waiting for you instead of lost. It is text on your website, and nothing here is a phone service.

Why take the email first and the quote later

Most visitors who ask “do you cover Ashford?” want a yes or a no. They are not ready for a form. Answering from your own pages gets them that yes or no straight away, with the page behind it.

The enquiries that matter are the ones your pages do not answer: a specific job, a quote. For those the agent asks for an email and passes the whole question to you, so you reply knowing what was asked.

The after-hours rule closes the gap on timing. A handover is always in your Inbox the moment it happens, and a rule can email you when it arrives outside your hours.

Step by step

1. 01

   Create the Support Agent

   Open the agent switcher and choose New Support Agent. Give it your business name and a handle.

   Setup reads your website from the address you give it. Check it found your services and areas pages.

   hiy.ai/app

   • All agents
   • Your agents
   • Alex KimExpert Twin
   • New Support Agent
   • New Team Agent

2. 02

   Give it what a caller would ask

   List the questions you answer most: where you work, what a call-out costs, what jobs you take on and what you do not. If your site does not say, write a short page into Knowledge that does.

   Be exact about areas and fees. The agent will quote them back as written.

   Knowledge · Add

   • Write a pageAnything you’ve written — notes, an FAQ, a bio.
   • Upload a filePDF, Word, Markdown or plain text.
   • Add a pageAny post or page address. We read the article text.

3. 03

   Test it the way a customer would

   In the Test chat, ask whether you cover a town on the edge of your area and what a call-out costs. Check the citation each time.

   Then ask for something you do not do. It should say so and not invent a service.

   TestExample

   How do I export a notebook?

   From the docs:

   1. Open the notebook.
   2. Choose Share, then Export.
   3. Pick PDF or Markdown and press Export.

   Exporting notebooksdocs.yourapp.com

   1. A questionThe agent checks your material.
   2. Material foundAnswer with a citation that opens the passage.
   3. Material missingAdmit the gap and add it to your queue.

4. 04

   Take their email when it can’t answer

   Under Behaviour, Rules, When it can’t answer, choose Hand over. The visitor leaves an email and their question goes to you, with the conversation attached.

   Reply from the Inbox. Where you are the only person, the handover email already reaches you, and an invited teammate reads and replies in the same Inbox.

   TestExample

   Is there a student discount?

   I don’t have the details on a student discount here, so I won’t guess.

   Searched 3 ways

   Want a person to pick this up?

   Leave your email and your question goes straight to the team.

   jo@example.comSend to the team

5. 05

   Get told about handovers after hours

   Set your weekly hours under Behaviour, Handover, Team hours. Then, in Automations, start from the Handovers after hours template. It emails you when a chat is handed over outside team hours.

   A handover always reaches your Inbox, whatever the time. Team hours only change what the visitor reads: they are told the team is away and, when hiy can say so, when you are back.

   AutomationsExample

   • Handovers after hoursWhen a chat is handed over outside team hours, email us and open a ticket.

6. 06

   Put it on your website

   Open Channels, choose Chat widget, and press Install. Where to paste shows the steps for your site’s builder. List your site under Allowed websites, choose Anyone on your sites, then paste the line it shows.

   Check Unanswered each week. Questions it could not answer are the lines your site is missing.

What this will not do

Every playbook carries this section, because a recipe that only lists what works is marketing.

• It is a chat on your website. It does not answer the phone, and nothing in this playbook sets up a call line.
• It does not give a quote, book a job or take a deposit. It hands the question to you.
• The ticket step of the after-hours template needs a Zendesk or Intercom connection. Without one, the email is the part that works.
• Anyone on your sites can open it, so treat what it knows as public.