Building a 24/7 assistant for WhatsApp and Instagram

Why I built this

"Is this still available?" "Do you ship to Brisbane?" "Can you do a better price?"

Anyone selling online answers the same questions all day, often at 11pm, often from their phone. Slow replies lose sales. Fast replies mean never switching off.

What it does

Customers get an accurate answer in about 3 seconds, any time of day. For a shop getting around 30 enquiries a day, that's roughly 5 hours a week back (an estimate).

How it works

1. A customer messages on WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger.
2. The assistant checks the live product list for price, size, stock and delivery times.
3. It replies in the shop's tone, in seconds.
4. When it isn't sure, it doesn't guess. Discount requests, complaints or stock it can't confirm go straight to the owner, with the conversation so far.

What it runs on

The product list the shop already keeps: a Google Sheet, a Shopify store or a website. Change a price there and the answers change too. I'm setting it up for Hour & Hearth, a Sydney home decor brand, on their real catalogue, so the answers use their actual sizes, prices and viewing appointments. It goes live on their Instagram once Meta approves the messaging app, which takes a week or two.

What it costs to run

Automation server and AI	Roughly $10–30 a month
WhatsApp fees	Replying to customers who message first is free on WhatsApp's business platform; messages the business starts are charged by Meta
Owner's time	Keeping the product list current, and the chats it hands over

What I learned

• "Don't guess" was the most important rule. A confident wrong answer about stock is worse than a slow right one.
• Owners don't want another tool. Keeping everything in the spreadsheet they already update made it stick.
• The hand-off matters as much as the answers. Passing the whole conversation along means the owner never has to ask the customer to repeat themselves.