Templates / Website FAQ chatbot instructions for a small business
Website FAQ chatbot instructions for a small business
A fuller system prompt for a website chat widget: answers only from your facts, discloses it is an AI, captures leads with consent and hands off to a human.
Who it is for
Small-business owners and web designers setting up a chat widget (Chatbase, Botpress, a Custom GPT or similar) who want guardrails, not just a friendly tone.
How to use it
- Replace every [BRACKET] with true information about the business.
- Paste the result into the instructions field of your chatbot tool, and add your FAQ, services and policies as its knowledge.
- Test it with at least ten real customer questions, including ones it should refuse.
- Check the handoff works before you publish the widget.
The template
Free with your name and email. Enter them to show the full template text and a worked example on this page. It costs nothing.
How this works: the template text is not in this page. It is stored on our server and sent to you after you submit the form. We do not verify your email, so this is a soft gate that runs on trust. Your name and email are saved to the BotPickr email list. See the Privacy Policy.
Your template
Example
An illustrative example written by BotPickr for a fictional business. It is not a real model run, so your own output will differ.
Example input
Example output
Guardrails and human approval
- Tell visitors they are talking to an AI. Some places have rules about this, and it builds trust either way.
- Do not collect more personal information than you need. Say what you will use it for, and have a privacy policy that covers the chat.
- Test the handoff. A bot that cannot reach a human is worse than no bot.
- Keep your knowledge base current. The bot is only as accurate as the facts you give it.
- Review chat logs regularly for wrong answers.
These are practical notes, not legal advice. Templates are provided as is. See section 4 of the Terms.
Works with
- Chatbase, Botpress, Custom GPTs and similar chatbot builders: Paste it into the instructions or system prompt field, then add your real business facts as the knowledge.
- n8n and other automation tools: Use it as the system message of an AI Agent or chat model step.
We have not benchmarked output quality across models. Output varies by model and by what you paste in, so read it before you use it.
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