FAQ Bot Content That Does Not Invent Answers

A FAQ bot that invents an answer is worse than a missing page. A missing page makes someone call. An invented Saturday hour makes someone drive over. You will not win that argument with “the bot misunderstood.”

This lesson is how to feed the FAQ Bot Builder only text you would be willing to print on the shop door — and how to write the lines the bot is allowed to say when it does not know.

Tool: FAQ Bot Builder Artifact: seed file + refusal SOP (download faq-bot-seed.md)

The rule that keeps you out of the ditch

The bot may only say sentences that appear in the seed, or the refusal script. If a sentence is not in the file, the bot does not get to assemble a cousin of it.

The builder on this site is an accordion of your Q&A. It does not call a live model. That is a feature. Treat it that way. Do not “upgrade” it later to a chat model until the seed is clean — a live model will happily invent the cousin.

If you later bolt on ChatGPT or Claude, the same rule applies. The model’s job is to retrieve and rephrase approved answers, not to be helpful beyond the file. Helpful-beyond-the-file is how you get a refund policy you never wrote.

Step 1 — Mine tickets, not imagination

Sit down with the last 30 days of inbox, texts, and voicemail. Write the questions people actually asked. Not the questions you wish they asked.

A useful source list, in order:

1. Phone notes and texts
2. Email subject lines
3. The questions your newest person still forwards to you
4. Google reviews that are actually questions (“Do you serve Auburn?”)

Do not start from a blank “top 20 FAQs” brainstorm. Brainstorm FAQs are where invented answers are born. You will write a shipping policy for a shop that does not ship.

Aim for 8–15 questions for the first embed. Enough to cover the loop, not enough to hide a bad answer.

Step 2 — Write answers in the approved format

Every answer has three parts, in this order:

1. Direct sentence. Yes, no, or the number.
2. The two-sentence why / how.
3. Next step the human can take (call, form, hours).

Bad (invents a promise):

We typically respond within 24 hours and our team of experts will find the best solution for your unique needs.

Good (only what you do):

Email quotes are answered on weekdays. We reply during 9–4. If you need a same-day yes or no, call the shop. We do not quote roof work from photos alone — we schedule a look.

If you do not have a number, do not install a number. “We typically…” is how a bot writes you a service-level agreement.

Copy-paste prompt: turn a ticket into a seed row

You are turning a real customer question into a FAQ seed row for our site bot.
Business: [name], [town], [what we sell].
The bot may only use facts I list. If a fact is missing, write NEED FACT and stop.
Do not invent hours, prices, service areas, warranties, or wait times.

Customer question (verbatim if you have it):
[paste]

Facts I allow in the answer:
- [fact]
- [fact]
- [fact]

Write:
Q: (one line, how a customer would type it)
A: (direct sentence. Then two short sentences. Then a next step.)
ALSO ASKED AS: (2 alternate phrasings)
REFUSE IF: (what this answer does not cover)

Run that once per real question. Not once for “write me 20 FAQs.”

Step 3 — The refusal script (this is the product)

Most FAQ pages skip this. It is the part that stops invention.

The bot — or the person using the accordion — needs lines for:

• We don’t know / it isn’t in the file
• This needs a human
• This is a price, a diagnosis, or a legal yes

Steal these. Change the name and the phone.

I don’t have an approved answer for that. I won’t guess.
Call the shop at [phone] or leave your name and a callback number.
If this is about a price, a leak, or a date we already booked, ask for [name].

I can answer hours, service area, and how to book.
I cannot diagnose from a photo, promise a price, or change a scheduled job.
Those go to a person.

This chatbot only repeats what we published.
If you need something that is not on this list, you are not being difficult.
You are in human territory.

Put the first refusal in the builder as its own FAQ: “What if you don’t have my question?” That way the accordion has an honest door.

Step 4 — The do-not-invent list (tape it)

Never let a seed row or a later model invent:

• Hours, holiday closures, “usually open”
• Prices, “starts at,” “average job”
• Service area (“we cover the greater metro”)
• Warranties and “we’ll make it right”
• Staff names and who is in today
• Wait times and “we’ll be there in 30”
• Medical, legal, or tax answers
• Star ratings, review counts, or “customers love us”

If a later vendor demo shows a bot answering “What’s your warranty?” from general knowledge, that demo is a trap. Ask them to show the exact line in your file.

Step 5 — Load the builder without getting cute

In the FAQ Bot Builder:

1. Name the bot after the shop, not “Support Assistant.” People trust a name they have seen on a van.
2. Paste only approved Q&A.
3. Add the refusal question.
4. Copy the embed.
5. Test on your phone. Tap every row. Read it like a stranger who is annoyed.

Then run the five nasty questions out loud. The bot should not have a clever answer.

1. “Can you do it cheaper if I pay cash?”
2. “Are you open Thanksgiving?”
3. “My cousin said you guaranteed this for life.”
4. “What’s the license number of the tech coming today?”
5. “Can you tell me if this is mold?”

If any of those get a yes, a price, or a diagnosis from your seed, you wrote a seed that invents. Fix the row. Do not add a disclaimer at the bottom and keep the row.

Finished artifact

Download faq-bot-seed.md. Fill the header. Replace the sample rows with your ticket-mined rows. Keep the refusal block.

You should be able to hand that file to someone else and they can rebuild the embed without calling you.

Weekly cadence (so the bot does not rot)

Every Friday, ten minutes:

1. Open the questions people asked that the bot did not have.
2. For each, either write an approved answer from a real source, or leave it as refusal.
3. Never add a row to “be complete.” Complete is how invented shipping policies start.
4. If a row’s fact changed (hours, price, area), change the file the same day. A stale true answer is just a slow invention.

Pair this with the 30-day one-workflow rollout if this bot is the one workflow you will finish.

When this lesson is done

A stranger can use the widget and not be misled. You would let the answers sit on the door. If you would not paint an answer on the door, it does not go in the seed.