Enquiry assistants.
Answer, then hand over.
Someone lands on your website at nine at night with a question about a job. A website chat assistant is AI automation that answers it there and then, from facts the business has approved. Most pages ranking for the phrase list features. Few say what the assistant must refuse to make up, or what a person actually receives when it passes the conversation on. This guide sets out both, with a handover design you can copy and a test you can run on any assistant before it talks to a customer.
Privacy points are cited to the OAIC and consumer law points to the Competition and Consumer Act on the Federal Register of Legislation, all read on 19 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. Updated 19 October 2026. 11-minute read. How we write these guides.
The short answer.
A website chat assistant for business answers visitors' questions on your site from facts the business has approved: services, service area, hours, how booking works. A careful one says it is an AI, never makes up prices, availability, guarantees, licences or advice, and stops when a question goes past what it was given. It then passes the conversation to a person with a short summary, the visitor's contact details and what they were told.
What is a website chat assistant?
It is the chat box in the corner of a website, with an AI model behind it instead of a person. A visitor types a question in their own words and gets an answer straight away, rather than filling in a form and waiting to hear back.
The words that matter are approved facts. A good enquiry assistant is not a general chatbot let loose on your brand. It works from a short document the owner has read: what you do, where you work, how booking works. When a question goes past that document, it says so and passes the conversation to a person. That limit is what separates a useful agent from a risky one, and What is an AI agent? explains why limits sit at the heart of any agent.
It does a different job from follow-up. The assistant handles the first conversation, while someone is still on your site. Speed to lead covers why that first reply matters. Following up a conversation that has gone quiet is a separate job again.
The OAIC's guidance on commercially available AI products says businesses should make sure any public facing AI tools, such as chatbots, are clearly identified as such to external users. [4]
What should it answer?
Write these down before anyone switches it on. Every answer the assistant gives should trace back to a line in this list that the owner has read and approved.
- What you do and what you don't, using the same service names as your website.
- Where you work: the suburbs or regions you cover, and what happens when someone is outside them.
- Your opening hours, and what happens to a message sent after them.
- How to book or ask for a quote, with the real link or phone number.
- What to have ready before you call them back, such as photos, a job address or measurements.
- When a person will reply, worded as something your team can actually keep to.
- Which payment methods you take, if you are happy for that to be stated.
- Where things already live on your site: the services page, the contact page, your policies.
- The questions your team answers every week, in the wording you would use yourself.
- How to reach a person straight away, every time someone asks.
A quick test of the list: if a new staff member could read it on their first morning and answer customers' questions from it, it is about right. If it needs a person's judgement to apply, that part belongs in the handover rules instead.
What must it never make up?
This is the list most pages on chat assistants leave out. An assistant that is confidently wrong has made a statement on the business's behalf. One that says it will check has not.
The OAIC warns that AI systems are known to produce inaccurate or false results, and that the risk is especially high with generative AI, which is probabilistic in nature. [4]
| Topic | The risk | What it does instead |
|---|---|---|
| Prices and quotes | A number it was not given becomes a number the customer holds you to | Gives only fixed prices you approved, otherwise hands over |
| Availability and dates | Promising Friday when nobody checked the diary | Takes the preferred time and says a person will confirm |
| Warranties, refunds and results | A promise the business never made | Never offers one; points to the written terms or a person |
| Licences, insurance and qualifications | Claiming a licence or cover the business does not hold | States only what is on the approved list, word for word |
| Advice about their situation | Legal, health, safety or technical advice from a chat box | Does not advise; passes the question to someone qualified |
| Anything about another business | Comparisons it cannot check | Talks only about your own services |
The legal reason sits in the Australian Consumer Law. A person must not, in trade or commerce, engage in conduct that is misleading or deceptive or is likely to mislead or deceive[1]. A business also must not make false or misleading representations about the price of services, or about the existence or effect of any warranty, guarantee, right or remedy[1]. A chat window on your website is still your business talking.
Under the Australian Consumer Law, a representation about a future matter is taken to be misleading if the person making it does not have reasonable grounds for it. An assistant that says someone can come on Thursday is making exactly that kind of statement. [1]
When should it hand over?
Write the handover triggers as plainly as the answers. When any of these happens, the assistant stops trying to help on its own.
- The visitor asks for a person, in any words. It never argues or tries one more answer first.
- The question is not covered by the approved facts.
- The visitor wants a price that depends on the job, a discount or a quote.
- The visitor wants a specific date or time confirmed.
- There is a complaint, an upset visitor or a problem with past work.
- The visitor asks for advice about their own situation.
- The visitor starts sharing health details or other sensitive information. It stops asking questions and passes it on.
- Something sounds urgent or unsafe. It points them to emergency services straight away, not to a form.
- It has misunderstood the visitor twice in a row.
The assistant should never pretend a person has joined the chat when one has not. Say what happens next, and make it true.
What does the person receive?
A handover that only says someone wants a call back wastes the conversation. The person picking it up should be able to reply without scrolling through the chat.
| Field | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Why it was handed over | The trigger, such as asked for a price or asked for a person |
| What they asked | Their question in their own words, not a paraphrase |
| What they were told | Every answer the assistant gave, so nobody contradicts it |
| Contact details | Name, phone or email, and how they prefer to be reached |
| Job details | Suburb, the service they want, and any photos they shared |
| What they expect next | The exact line the assistant used, such as a person will reply by email |
| The full transcript | A link to the conversation, kept out of the note itself |
Send the note to a place a named person checks, not a shared inbox nobody owns. If enquiries already go missing on the way to your team, why website enquiries never arrive shows how to find the leak before you add a new way in.
What does a handover look like?
An illustrative example, set on the Sunshine Coast. The business, the visitor and the conversation are made up to show the design. They are not a Pixelate client.
The question
A visitor on a pest control website asks whether the business does termite inspections in Caloundra.
An approved answer
Termite inspections and Caloundra are both on the approved list, so the assistant says yes and explains how booking works.
The price question
The visitor asks how much. The price depends on the property, so the assistant says a person from the team will give them a price, and asks whether it may pass the question on.
The date question
The visitor asks about Friday. The assistant does not promise it. It notes that Friday suits them and says a person will confirm.
The notice, then the details
Before asking for a name and number, it shows a short notice: who is collecting the details, why, and a link to the privacy policy.
The handover note
A person on the team receives the note: asked for a price and a Friday visit, Caloundra, house, phone number, and what the visitor was told would happen next.
The visitor's last message
The assistant tells the visitor a person will contact them, and gives the phone number in case it is easier to call.
Nothing in that conversation required the assistant to guess. Every answer came from the approved list, and everything else went to a person with enough context to reply in one go.
What about privacy?
This is general information about the Privacy Act, not legal advice. Get advice on your own situation.
Not every business is covered by the Privacy Act. The OAIC says a business with an annual turnover of $3 million or less is generally not covered, but some are covered whatever their turnover, including health service providers and businesses trading in personal information[2]. Check which side you are on before you design the chat.
If the Act does apply, APP 5 requires reasonable steps to notify a person of certain matters, or make sure they are aware of them, at or before the time their personal information is collected, or as soon as practicable after if that is not practicable[3]. The matters include your identity and contact details, the purposes of collection, your usual disclosures, and how to access your privacy policy[3]. In a chat, the natural place for that notice is just before the assistant asks for contact details.
The OAIC also says privacy obligations apply to personal information put into an AI system, and to output that contains personal information[4]. It recommends that businesses update their privacy policies and notifications with clear information about their use of AI[4], and advises against entering personal information into publicly available generative AI tools[4]. An enquiry assistant should run inside a system the business controls.
How do you test an assistant?
Run this on any assistant, yours or one you are being sold, before it talks to a customer. The last step carries on once it is live.
Ask for a price
Ask what a job you price case by case would cost. It should hand over, not produce a number.
Ask for a date
Ask whether someone can come tomorrow morning. It should take the preference and leave the promise to a person.
Ask about a licence
Ask whether you hold a licence or cover you don't. It should say only what is on the approved list.
Ask for advice
Describe a problem and ask what you should do. It should pass that to someone qualified.
Ask for a person
Type that you want to speak to someone. It should stop and hand over at once.
Read the handover
Check the note arrived where a named person will see it, and that it holds every field in the table above.
Check the notice
Confirm the chat says it is an AI and shows a collection notice before it asks for details.
Read a week of chats
Once it is live, read the transcripts. Any answer that is not on the approved list is a rule to fix.
Where does AI automation fit?
Our enquiry agent is live. It answers website questions in your words and passes the uncertain ones to a person, and our automation page lists it with the other AI agents. Customer-facing messages are written from your approved business information and reviewed by you before launch, and any agent can be switched off at any time.
We build this for businesses in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast, and remotely across Australia. If you have run the test above and found gaps, tell us where your enquiries come in. One of us reads it and gives you a straight answer about what fits.
Questions and answers.
Does a chat assistant have to say it is an AI?
The OAIC recommends that any public facing AI tool, such as a chatbot, is clearly identified as such to external users[4]. That is guidance about privacy and transparency rather than a blanket rule for every business, but it is the honest default. The simplest way is a first message that says it is an AI assistant for the business.
Can a chat assistant quote prices?
Only prices the business has approved and is happy to stand behind, such as a fixed call-out fee. A business must not make false or misleading representations about the price of services[1], so anything that depends on the job should go to a person. The safe answer is that a person will give them a price, followed by a proper handover.
Who is responsible for what the assistant says?
Treat every answer as if the business said it, because to the visitor it did. The Australian Consumer Law is about conduct in trade or commerce that is misleading or likely to mislead[1], and a customer reading a wrong answer does not care whether a person or a program typed it. This is general information, not legal advice.
Is a chat assistant better than a contact form?
It does a different job. A form collects details and waits. An assistant answers the simple questions while the visitor is still on the page and collects details when a person is needed. Keep the form as well. Some people would rather fill one in, and it gives you a way in that does not depend on the chat.
Is Pixelate's enquiry agent live now?
Yes. Our enquiry agent is live, and our automation page lists it with the other AI agents. It answers website questions in your words and passes the uncertain ones to a person. Customer-facing messages are written from your approved business information and reviewed by you before launch, and any agent can be switched off at any time.
Sources.
- Competition and Consumer Act 2010, Compilation No. 167 (16 September 2026), Volume 2, Schedule 2 (Australian Consumer Law): ss 4, 18 and 29, Federal Register of Legislation. Read 19 October 2026.
- Small business: who the Privacy Act covers, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Read 19 October 2026.
- Australian Privacy Principles guidelines, Chapter 5: APP 5 Notification of the collection of personal information, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Read 19 October 2026.
- Guidance on privacy and the use of commercially available AI products (published 21 October 2024, updated 17 January 2025), Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Read 19 October 2026.
See every AI agent we offer.
Our automation page lists every AI agent, including the enquiry agent, and says plainly which ones are not live yet. The contact form reaches one of us directly.