An AI enquiry auto-reply should do four things: acknowledge the message fast, answer simple questions using only facts you have approved, collect the details you need to reply properly, and hand the conversation to a human. It should never promise availability, prices, dates or delivery it cannot actually check, and it should never pretend to be a person.
Get those rules right and an auto-reply makes your business look responsive. Get them wrong and it creates promises you then have to break.
Why have an auto-reply at all?
When someone sends an enquiry, they are often contacting several businesses at once. The first to reply with something useful has an advantage. Most small business owners cannot answer every message instantly because they are on a job, in the kitchen or with a client.
An auto-reply closes that gap. It tells the customer their message arrived, sets expectations, and gets the information you need so your real reply can be quicker and more accurate.
What should the auto-reply always do?
Acknowledge quickly. Confirm the message has been received, in plain language, within minutes.
Set honest expectations. Say when a person will reply, for example “we usually reply within one working day”. Only say this if it is true.
Answer simple questions from approved facts. Opening hours, areas covered, services offered, how to pay, where to find the price list. These should come from a short, written list you have checked, not from the AI’s general knowledge.
Ask for the details you need. This is often the most useful part. For a plumber: postcode, the problem, photos if possible. For a bakery: the date needed, number of servings, collection or delivery. For a salon: the treatment and preferred days. Asking up front saves a round of back and forth.
Hand off clearly. End by saying a member of the team will follow up, and make sure that actually happens.
Be honest that it is automatic. A line such as “This is an automatic reply” is enough.
What should it never say?
These are the rules we would put at the top of any auto-reply setup:
- Never promise availability. “Yes, we can do Saturday” or “we have a slot tomorrow” requires checking a diary the AI may not see. Even if it can see one, bookings change.
- Never quote a price for a job it has not seen. Fixed, published prices are fine. Estimates, discounts and “around £100” guesses are not.
- Never promise dates or delivery times. “Your order will arrive Friday” is a commitment. Leave it to a person.
- Never answer outside approved facts. If the question is not covered, the reply should say a person will answer it, not make something up.
- Never give advice that needs a professional. No medical, legal, safety or structural advice. A clinic auto-reply should never suggest a diagnosis. A gas engineer’s auto-reply should never tell someone a smell of gas is probably fine.
- Never pretend to be a person. Not by name, not by implication.
- Never handle complaints on its own. A message that sounds like a complaint should be acknowledged politely and passed to a person straight away.
What does a good auto-reply look like?
Here is an example for a bakery receiving a cake enquiry:
Thanks for your message, we have received it. This is an automatic reply, and one of the team will get back to you within one working day.
To help us reply properly, could you let us know: the date you need the cake, roughly how many people it is for, and whether you would like to collect or have it delivered (with your postcode)?
Our current range and prices are on our website. We cannot confirm dates until a member of the team has checked the order book.
And one for a trades business:
Thanks for getting in touch. This is an automatic reply to let you know your message arrived. We usually reply within one working day.
If you can, please reply with your postcode, a short description of the problem and a photo or two. That helps us give you an accurate answer more quickly.
If you smell gas, leave the property and call the National Gas Emergency Service straight away.
Notice that neither reply makes a single promise about availability or price. Both make the next step easier for everyone.
How do you write the approved facts list?
Keep it short and boring. A good list is usually one page:
- Business name, area covered and opening hours
- Services you do and, just as important, services you do not do
- Fixed, published prices only (with a link to the price page)
- How to pay and any deposit policy
- What details you need for each type of enquiry
- How quickly a person normally replies
- Who handles complaints, and how
Review it whenever something changes, such as new hours, a new service or a price rise. An auto-reply working from an old list is worse than no auto-reply.
How do you stop enquiries falling through the cracks?
An auto-reply only helps if a person actually follows up. Build in a simple check: any enquiry that has had the automatic reply but no human reply after your stated time gets flagged. This is the “missed enquiry recovery” idea from our post on 6 simple AI automations for small businesses.
It is also worth checking where enquiries come from. If most arrive through Google, the accuracy of your listing matters as much as the reply. Our guide on why your business might not be showing on Google Maps covers that side.
Can the same rules apply to AI review replies?
Mostly, yes. The same principles (approved facts only, no promises, human approval for anything sensitive) apply to review replies. We go through those in should you let AI reply to your Google reviews.
We built and run an enquiry auto-reply for our own family bakery first, and the rule we care about most is the one about never promising dates. You can read more about how we set these up on our automations page. And if you want to know how your business currently appears when customers ask Google or an AI assistant, our free AI Visibility Check will show you, all by email.
Frequently asked questions
Should an auto-reply say it was written by AI?
It should never pretend to be a person. A simple line such as “This is an automatic reply, a member of the team will follow up” is honest and sets expectations. If a customer asks directly whether they are talking to a person, the answer should be truthful.
Can an AI auto-reply give prices?
Only fixed, published prices that you have approved, such as a standard call-out fee or a price list on your website. It should never estimate a quote, apply a discount or guess the cost of a job it has not seen.
How quickly should an enquiry auto-reply go out?
Within a few minutes is ideal. The point is to reassure the customer that their message arrived and tell them what happens next. A quick, honest acknowledgement is more useful than a slower reply that tries to do too much.