The assistant is live. Guests still leave. It is usually not the model
Nine p.m., one person closing the shop. LINE: “Weekday haircut price? Seat at noon tomorrow?” They type the price. The guest asks about colour. They type that too. Then silence. The chair is empty the next day — not because nobody asked, because nobody finished the booking.
A newer model will not magically turn that thread into a reservation. The assistant we build with partners — kakinang (askai.tw) — is meant to search approved facts, show a human-readable summary before a lead or booking is stored, and hand off when it should not guess. Their own site says it is not just another chat box.
Four steps shops actually miss
- Clarify: what decision is still missing — people, slot, cut or colour?
- Check: only published prices and hours. Live stock and payments come from the system, not a made-up number.
- Confirm: show a short summary before submit. The same confirm must not create a second ticket.
- Handoff: refunds and complaints go to a named person.
The confirm screen does not need to look clever. The guest should see the slot, headcount, which price list, and who will call next. Only then does “send” write to the back office. A sticky network or a double tap must not open two bookings from the same confirm — that is two angry calls in the morning. Replay the original ticket; do not insert a second one.
Channels can be the site, LINE, Facebook. The failure is each one answering from a different sheet. Do not merge two strangers into one customer because the names look alike.
When the owner accepts the work, do not start by asking for the model name. Walk one fake booking through the four steps. The assistant asks for the missing slot or headcount, reads the price list you approved, and shows the summary before anything is stored. Only your send writes it to the back office. Sending that same confirm again must not create a new number. Then ask for a refund on purpose. It should go to the person you named, not agree to the refund by itself. If any of the four steps fails, do not open free questions to guests yet. Keep the fixed lines and the handoff.
When nobody is on duty at night, the leftover message goes to an inbox someone opens in the morning, and it carries the slot and headcount the guest already saw. Do not leave it only in the chat, waiting for the next read receipt. Who may change prices, and which file counts after the edit, has to be the file the assistant reads. Settle that scope before launch. Do not wait for a guest to argue with a screenshot.
Write these down first
- Which of the top 20 questions must never auto-answer
- Who updates prices, and whether the assistant sees the new file
- Whether the page still claims “pay online” before payments are commissioned
- Which inbox gets night-time leftovers
- What you review after two weeks: handoffs, misses, duplicate leads
Chatbot vs agent: last week’s note. This one only adds: if people still leave, knowledge and confirm are usually missing. See AI services.
FAQs
Is kakinang a ZhuYun product?
It is an AI assistant service we build with partners. The public site is askai.tw. On a client project we use the same checks: search only approved facts, show the guest a summary before a lead or booking is written, and hand off to the person on duty when the assistant should not guess.
Must we switch platforms?
You do not have to move onto that platform. LINE, the website, or the desk you already use can work. The difference is whether there is one approved set of facts, whether the guest sees a summary before anything is written, and which inbox receives messages when nobody is on duty. Similar names are not a reason to merge two strangers into one customer.
Can we launch with no knowledge base?
You can launch fixed menu lines and a handoff first, such as hours, address, and a line that says this question waits for the person on duty. Open questions with no approved file means the assistant is guessing prices and slots. One wrong guess makes the shop sound unreliable, which is worse than having no assistant yet. Open free questions only after the files are in place and the confirm screen blocks a duplicate lead.
Scope a support pilot AI agents
Product site: kakinang. Not a performance claim for that platform.