Customer support chatbot checklist: 25 questions to answer before launch
A practical pre-launch checklist for AI support bots: data readiness, escalation, accuracy, and maintenance.
IAInqry AI
Most support bots fail for one reason: nobody defined what “good” looks like before launch. This checklist fixes that. Answer these 25 questions before you go live and you’ll avoid the biggest trust-killers.
1) Source of truth
- Do we have a single place for policies, pricing, and product details?
- Are the top 20 questions answered clearly in those docs?
- Who owns doc updates when something changes?
- How quickly do changes reach the bot (hours, days, weeks)?
2) Content coverage
- Are refunds, cancellations, and plan limits explicitly documented?
- Do we have onboarding answers (setup, integration, troubleshooting)?
- Are product names and feature labels consistent across docs?
- Are there “known gaps” we should block or escalate instead of guessing?
3) Answer quality
- Do we have a rule for “don’t know” responses?
- Is the bot allowed to estimate, or must it only use cited info?
- Do we require links to relevant docs in responses?
- What is an acceptable accuracy bar for launch (e.g., 80%+ on top 20)?
4) Escalation and handoff
- Where do escalations go (email, ticketing, Slack)?
- What keywords or intents trigger handoff?
- Do we collect the right context before handoff (email, order ID)?
- Are escalation hours clearly communicated?
5) UX and tone
- Is the greeting clear about what the bot can and cannot do?
- Does the tone match your brand voice?
- Are follow-up questions concise and specific?
- Is there a path to “talk to a human” in one or two clicks?
6) Analytics and ownership
- Who reviews conversations weekly?
- How are failed answers tagged or tracked?
- What metric defines success (deflection, CSAT, resolution time)?
- How often do we review and refresh sources?
7) Security and compliance
- Are we aligned on what data should never be collected (passwords, secrets)?
How to use this checklist
- Answer each question with a single owner.
- If you can’t answer a question quickly, that’s a pre-launch task.
- Revisit monthly. What was true at launch usually breaks after the first product update.
Quick win: the top 5 that matter most
If you only have an hour, focus on these:
- Source of truth for policies
- Top 20 questions answered
- Clear escalation path
- “Don’t know” behavior defined
- Weekly review owner assigned
If you want, copy this list into a Notion doc and assign owners. That alone gets you 80% of the way to a good launch.