Activate your assistant
Unlike traditional chatbot tools, Reepli is not a drag-and-drop visual builder. The assistant works thanks to pre-written behaviors, refined by the Reepli team, that you enable or disable in one click. Combined with the context you provide about your business, these behaviors cover most use cases for a solopreneur or a small business.
This guide explains the model, then walks you through enabling your first behaviors.
Prerequisites
- A Reepli account with a verified email address — see Create your account.
- A connected WhatsApp number — see Connect WhatsApp Business.
The Reepli model in brief
Reepli combines two ingredients: your context (who you are) and the enabled behaviors (how the assistant acts in a given situation). When a message comes in, the assistant cross-references the two to write a suitable reply — and triggers a concrete action when needed, such as creating an appointment or alerting you.
- The context tells the assistant who you are (services, prices, rules, FAQ, tone, default language). It's set in the settings.
- The behaviors tell the assistant how to behave in a given situation (qualify a prospect, book an appointment, follow up on a quote, etc.). They're enabled on the Scenarios page.
- The assistant combines the two on every incoming message, and calls actions when needed (creating an appointment, handing over to you, searching the FAQ).
Button-and-checkbox flows look simple but break quickly: a customer who doesn't type the exact word hits an error. The Reepli assistant understands natural language in multiple languages, with no flows to maintain. You stay in control via the behaviors and the context.
Step 1 — Provide your business context
Before enabling behaviors, take 5 minutes to flesh out the context. This is what sets a generic assistant apart from one that really speaks about your business.
Open the settings and fill in:
| Field | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Business name | The name customers recognize | Salon Lumière |
| Description | 1 to 3 sentences about your business | Unisex hair salon in the heart of Lyon, open since 2018. |
| Services | List of your services with indicative prices | Women's cut — €45; Men's cut — €28; Coloring — from €70 |
| Hours | Opening hours | Tue–Sat 9 a.m.–7 p.m., closed Sunday–Monday |
| FAQ | 5 to 15 frequently asked questions with their answers | "Do you accept cards? — Yes, from €5." |
| Rules | What the assistant must always/never do | Always offer a slot; never accept a cancellation after 6 p.m. |
| Free-form instructions | Anything that doesn't fit elsewhere | Mention the "-10% on Tuesdays" promo to every first-time visitor. |
If you provided a website during onboarding, Reepli has already extracted services, FAQ and hours. Review and correct rather than typing everything.
Also remember to:
- Availability — your opening hours for appointment booking.
- Calendar — Google or Outlook connection to actually book slots.
- Assistant — default reply language, action permissions (create an appointment, send a review request), privacy.
Step 2 — Explore the behavior catalog
Open the Scenarios page of your dashboard. You'll find two audiences there:
- Customer — behaviors that directly affect your customers/prospects.
- Support — behaviors that help manage incoming contacts in pre-sales or product support.
Each behavior has a label (the human-readable name shown in the interface) and a clear description of what it does.
Customer-facing behaviors
| Label | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Welcome & qualification | First contact: identifies who the customer is and what they're looking for |
| Appointment booking | Offers a slot when the customer requests an appointment |
| Appointment reminder D-1 | Reminder sent the day before at 6 p.m. |
| Appointment reminder H-2 | Reminder sent 2 hours before the slot |
| Post-service follow-up | Short thank-you message after the service |
| Quote follow-up (D+2 / D+5 / D+10) | Progressive follow-up on an unsigned quote |
| Dormant customer follow-up | Wakes up a customer who hasn't been in contact for a long time |
| Google review request | Requests a Google review after a good experience |
| 12-month loyalty | Small anniversary message for the first visit |
Support behaviors
| Label |
|---|
| Pre-sales — qualification |
| Pre-sales — pricing |
| Pre-sales — demo appointment |
| Support — product knowledge base |
| Support — my appointments |
- Trial / Starter: Welcome & qualification, Appointment booking, Appointment reminder D-1.
- Pro / Business: all behaviors.
Step 3 — Enable the three essential behaviors
To get started, enable these three behaviors — they cover the overwhelming majority of incoming conversations:
1. Welcome & qualification
On the Scenarios page, toggle Welcome & qualification to On.
What the behavior does:
- Politely greets the customer on their first message.
- Identifies the need (appointment, product info, support, quote request).
- Routes to the right next behavior (appointment booking, FAQ, sales follow-up).
2. Appointment booking
Enable Appointment booking.
What the behavior does:
- Detects an appointment request in the conversation.
- Checks availability via the connected calendar and the hours declared in the settings.
- Offers 2 or 3 concrete slots.
- Creates the appointment in your calendar as soon as the customer confirms one.
- Sends a confirmation message.
Without a connected calendar, the behavior stays active but can't actually book. Connect Google Calendar or Outlook from the settings to enable the full feature.
3. Appointment reminder D-1
Enable Appointment reminder D-1.
What the behavior does:
- For each appointment in your calendar, sends a reminder the day before at 6 p.m.
- If the customer replies to cancel or reschedule, the assistant handles the exchange and updates the calendar.
Step 4 — Test the assistant
To confirm everything works, ask a friend to send a message to your WhatsApp Business number.
- On a third-party phone, message your Reepli number: Hi, I'd like to book an appointment next Monday.
- Wait 2 to 5 seconds. The assistant should welcome, qualify and then move on to appointment booking by offering slots.
- On the Reepli side, open the Messages page: the conversation appears in real time.
- If the customer confirms a slot, check that the appointment appears in the Appointments page and in your connected calendar.
Taking over when it's useful
The assistant isn't a wall: at any time, you can take over a conversation from the Messages page:
- Open the conversation and click Take over the conversation. The assistant pauses on this thread.
- Type your messages directly in Reepli, or continue from your WhatsApp Business mobile app (the two are synced).
- To hand control back to the assistant: click Resume with bot.
If you type a reply from your WhatsApp Business mobile app, Reepli automatically detects your intervention and pauses the assistant on that thread. No need to touch the dashboard to switch to manual.
Going further
Add more behaviors
Once your three essential behaviors are running well, gradually enable:
- Google review request — to collect reviews after every good experience (Pro and above).
- Quote follow-ups — if your business involves quotes that take time to be signed (Pro and above).
- Dormant customer follow-up — to wake up your inactive base (Pro and above).
Refine the context
As you watch the assistant reply, you'll spot what's missing from the context. Go back to the settings regularly to add an FAQ, adjust a rule, or specify a price.
Tune the tone
In the settings, the Free-form instructions field lets you frame the tone ("use informal address", "stay very formal", "always end with a question", etc.).
Next steps
- Single-operator mode — Understand coexistence with your WhatsApp Business mobile app.
- Dashboard overview — Take a tour of the sections.
- Configure the assistant — Go further on context and advanced behaviors.