Questions for the visitor

Should you ask a visitor questions before or after giving them an appointment?

Ask your visitor questions after giving them an appointment, not before. A Muzau agent's chat is set to offer up to three free slots, then, once a slot is chosen, to ask what helps your team prepare the conversation: by default, the visitor's need and a way to contact them again. You choose these questions, and you can require a piece of information before the slots. The answers fill in the visitor's record if the agent keeps a file.

Why the slot comes before the questions in a chat

A visitor who writes "I'd like an appointment" on your site is ready now. If they must first give their need, their deadline, their budget and their number, the conversation becomes a form, and it closes with one click. Once Thursday at 10 am is chosen, the visitor also has an appointment to prepare for, and two questions go down much better.

By email, an agent that qualifies does the opposite. Nobody is waiting at the screen, and an appointment granted too quickly costs your team a slot. So the agent first gathers the answers to your questions, then offers you the next step already written, an appointment or a polite refusal, for you to review. That is the method for qualifying a prospect. In a chat, the visitor is right there: the slot comes first.

How the agent goes about it

Input

A website visitor asking for an appointment

It does

Offers free slots, blocks the appointment, then asks your questions

It delivers

A booked appointment, an "Appointment" line for the team, a completed record

Slots first, no questionnaire

When a visitor wants an appointment, the Muzau chat is set to offer up to three free slots straight away, within the hours you have set. With Google Calendar or Outlook connected, they are read from your calendar, never made up. To block the slot and send the invitation, it asks for the visitor's email. The rest is on the page booking an appointment from a chatbot.

Your questions next, once the slot is chosen

Once the slot is chosen, the Muzau chat asks for what you need to prepare the conversation. You choose these questions when you create the agent; by default, they are the visitor's need and a way to contact them again. There are two exceptions. One of your rules can require knowing something before offering an appointment: the chat then asks for it first. And when the chat cannot book any appointment, with no calendar connected and no business email to send the invitation, it asks your questions before passing the request on to you.

The visitor's answers fill in their record, column by column

As soon as the visitor writes their email in the Muzau chat, they enter the agent's file, with their first question and the mention "website chat". Their answers then fill in their record, column by column, in their own words; what they did not say stays empty, never "not provided". For this, the agent must keep a file and you must have given it access to contacts. A budget or a deadline mentioned can also reach you as a note in the cockpit, when the agent judges them useful.

Your team knows who it is about to meet

Once the Muzau chat has booked the appointment, an "Appointment" line appears in "Good to know", with the visitor's address and their request. When the agent has summarized the request, that summary is also written in the appointment description: whoever meets the visitor knows what it is about without rereading the conversation. If your settings do not let the agent book an appointment on its own, the chat passes the request to your team instead of booking it.

What to ask before the slot, what to keep for after

With or without a chat, one question is enough to sort: without this information, does the appointment still make sense? If so, it can wait until the slot is taken.

• Before the slot: only what decides whether an appointment is possible. A request outside your offer, a place where you do not receive visitors, a language nobody speaks at your company.
• At the time of the slot: an email, to send the invitation.
• After the slot: the need in one sentence, the deadline, who will take part, a number if you plan to call. Two or three questions are usually enough.
• Not as an opener: the budget. Asked before the need is even known, it sounds like a filter; asked once the appointment is booked, it goes down better.

The message that follows the slot comes in two steps: the day and time chosen, then a single short question, for example "To prepare our conversation, what are you looking for, in one sentence?" The visitor answers, then comes the next one.

Three mistakes come up again and again. Asking five questions before showing a time: the visitor came for an appointment, not a questionnaire. Asking again during the appointment what they already wrote in the chat: they understand nobody read it. Asking a question whose answer nobody will read: each one must help prepare the conversation. To make use of these answers, see how to arrive prepared for a first appointment.

What it does not do

• It fills in the visitor's record only if the agent keeps a file, with access to contacts, and the visitor has left their email: a phone number alone does not enter the file.
• It offers no slot without a connected calendar (Google Calendar or Outlook) or a business email to send the invitation: it then asks your questions and passes the request on to you.
• It does not verify the email address the visitor types: it is used to send the invitation and file their record, not to prove who they are.

Frequently asked questions

Should you offer an appointment as soon as a visitor first asks?

When the visitor asks for an appointment, yes: a Muzau agent's chat is set to offer up to three free slots straight away, each on a different day, within the next 14 days, if your calendar is connected or your business email can send the invitation. The questions to prepare the conversation come once the slot is chosen.

Can a chatbot qualify a website visitor?

Yes, in the reverse order of an agent that qualifies by email: a Muzau agent's chat offers the appointment first, then asks the questions you have chosen, by default the visitor's need and a way to contact them again. The answers fill in their record if the agent keeps a file, with access to contacts, and the visitor has left their email.

What questions should a chatbot ask before offering an appointment?

Only those that decide whether an appointment is possible: a request outside your offer, a place where you do not receive visitors, a language nobody speaks at your company. With a Muzau agent, one of your rules can require this information, and the chat then asks for it before offering the slots. The rest waits until the slot is taken.

Should you qualify a prospect before or after the appointment?

It depends on the channel. By email, nobody is waiting at the screen: a Muzau agent that qualifies first gathers the answers to your questions, then offers you the next step already written, an appointment or a polite refusal, for you to review. In the website chat, the visitor is there and ready to choose: the slot comes first, the questions after.

How do you tell the team about an appointment booked in the website chat?

With a Muzau agent, an "Appointment" line appears in "Good to know", with the visitor's address and their request. When the agent has summarized the request, that summary is also written in the appointment description, and a budget or a deadline mentioned can arrive as a note in the cockpit.