Guided activation: setting up your WhatsApp AI assistant step by step¶

In short: the guided activation is the checklist that takes Wably from an empty account to a working assistant. There are six steps, with a bar showing the completion percentage. When it reaches 100%, the assistant is up and running: the master switch on the Home is already on.

How the guided activation works¶

The guided activation, subtitled "Complete all the steps to enable the AI Assistant", walks you through getting Wably up and running.

At the top there is a bar with the completion percentage, and below it the list of steps. Tap a step to open it: the ones already completed are marked, so you always know where you are without having to remember what you did last time.

You do not have to complete everything in one session. You can stop and pick up again whenever you like: Wably keeps what you have entered and the bar starts again from where you left it.

The six activation steps, in order¶

1. Profile, your business details¶

Business name, type of business, address, language and time zone.

It looks like the most bureaucratic part and it is in fact the one that shapes everything else: the time zone is the setting the assistant uses to work out which slots to offer, while the language determines how it addresses whoever writes in when the conversation does not suggest otherwise.

Full guide: profile.

2. Business hours, when you are available¶

Working days, time bands, lunch break and closing days.

This is the step that deserves the most attention, because it is on these hours that the assistant offers appointments. Wably starts from a standard schedule, but yours will almost certainly be different: if you work on Saturday mornings, if you work straight through, if you close at 2 pm on Wednesdays, sort it out now and not after the first appointment booked at the wrong time.

This is also where you set the length of appointments and the gap between one client and the next, the two settings that stop the calendar filling up without room to breathe.

Full guide: business hours.

3. Info & services, what the assistant can tell clients¶

The step that makes the difference between a useful assistant and one that refers everything back to you. Here you write:

• the description of your business: who you are, what you do, how you work;
• the list of services, with the duration and price of each;
• the questions clients keep asking, with the answer you would give yourself;
• the practical information: where to park, how to get into the practice, what to bring to a first appointment, how to pay.

The simplest rule of the product applies: the assistant can only say what you have written for it. If a piece of information is missing, it does not make it up but refers back to you. The more complete this card is, the fewer interruptions you get during appointments.

If you are short on time, start with the three services you provide most often and the five questions you are asked most. You can come back and enrich it at any point, even with the assistant already switched on.

Full guide: info and services.

4. Connect Google Calendar, your real diary¶

The connection that turns Wably from a chatbot into a secretary. From here on the assistant reads your actual availability before offering a time, and every appointment it takes goes straight into your calendar, with no manual copying and no double bookings.

If you have more than one calendar, you can choose which one to use.

Full guide: connecting Google Calendar.

5. Connect Google Contacts, your address book¶

This is what lets the assistant recognize who is writing: a message from a saved contact is treated differently from one from a number it has never seen. If you turn the option on, new clients handled by the assistant are also saved automatically among your contacts, so your address book builds itself.

Full guide: importing contacts.

6. Connect WhatsApp, the step that switches everything on¶

This is the connection that turns your setup into an assistant that works: from here on, messages arriving at your number are received and handled.

Two things worth knowing before you start.

You keep your number. Thanks to the Coexistence feature you carry on using the number your clients already know, with the history you have, and you carry on writing from your phone as you always have. You do not have to give anyone a new number. The detail is on the page your WhatsApp number.

Meta will ask you for a payment card. It covers the WhatsApp Business conversations, it stays registered on your Meta account and it is not a Wably charge. We chose not to go through intermediaries, so the cost of messages and reminders is the one set by Meta, with no markups and no third-party commissions.

Full guide: WhatsApp Business setup.

When every step is complete, the bar reaches 100% and Wably is ready to work.

How long it takes to set Wably up¶

A handful of minutes for the technical part. Connecting WhatsApp, the calendar and the address book only takes a few guided authorizations, with no keys to copy and no parameters to enter by hand.

The real time goes into the third step, writing your services and information. And it is time well spent: it is the part that then works in your place every day, every time somebody asks how much an appointment costs or where to park.

How to check that activation worked¶

Two checks from the dashboard, one confirmation in the field.

1. On the Home, check that the status of the integrations shows as connected on every entry.
2. Still on the Home, check that the assistant's master switch is on.
3. Have someone message your WhatsApp number from another phone and watch the reply.

The third check is the one that really counts, and it is also the best way to find out whether the information you entered in step 3 is as complete as you thought. If the assistant answers vaguely about a service, it is the card that needs enriching, not the assistant getting it wrong.

Changing your setup after activation¶

Nothing you set is final. Hours, services, tone of voice and automations can be changed at any time from the dashboard, without redoing the checklist and without interrupting the service. Changes take effect on subsequent conversations.

The same goes for the integrations: you can disconnect and reconnect Google Calendar, or change the destination calendar, whenever you need to.

After activation: what to set up¶

With the assistant switched on, the next step is deciding how it should behave day to day:

• set up automatic reminders to cut no-shows;
• turn on cancellation and free-slot alerts so you do not lose the times that free up at the last minute;
• turn on the daily email summary to know every evening what the assistant handled;
• review tone of voice and controls to decide how it speaks and who it replies to.