Every demo is impressive, because every demo is the happy path. The useful questions are about the unhappy paths — what happens when the agent does not know, when the system it depends on is down, when a customer says something nobody anticipated, and when you want to leave.
#What it can actually do
- Does it take actions, or only produce text? Booking an appointment, holding stock and logging a lead are actions. A paragraph describing how to book is not.
- What exactly does it connect to, and who builds those connections? Ask which of your systems — calendar, inventory, CRM, payments — will be wired up, and whether that is included or a change request.
- Where does it get its answers? A model answering from general knowledge will invent your return policy. Ask to see the knowledge source and how it is updated.
- What does it do when it does not know? The only acceptable answer is that it escalates with the conversation attached. An agent that guesses is worse than no agent.
#How it behaves in the wild
- Can I see it fail? Ask for a live test with a deliberately awkward question. Watch what it does when cornered.
- Does it make claims it cannot support? Ask it something with a number in the answer and check whether the number is real.
- What language does it reply in, and who decided the tone? Tone should be configured to your brand during setup, not inherited from a template.
- Who reviews what it said last month? An agent that is never reviewed drifts. Ask whether tuning is a service or a support ticket.
#The commercial questions
- What does a busy month cost? Ask for the overage rate and the included volume in writing, and work out your worst month, not your average one.
- What is the setup fee actually for? If it cannot be itemised into specific integrations and configuration, it is a number someone guessed.
- Who owns the conversation data? It is your customer relationship. You should be able to export it.
- What happens if we leave? Ask how you get your data out and what happens to your WhatsApp number. A number that cannot come with you is a lock-in you did not agree to.
#A note on the demo itself
Insist on testing with your own questions, not the ones prepared for you. Bring the five questions your team is asked most often and the two that always end in an argument. Ten minutes of that tells you more than an hour of slides.
#And one for us
Every question above is one we are happy to be asked. If you want to run the list against us, send a brief or message us on WhatsApp and put the agent through it directly — it is on this page, in the corner.
Where to go next