Start with the message you answer every day
“Does this come in a larger size, and can it arrive before Friday?” That looks like one Instagram message. Answering it may require the product range, delivery area, dispatch schedule and a question about the customer's location. A friendly greeting alone doesn't move the sale forward.
An Instagram AI agent needs the same useful facts you would give a new colleague handling your inbox. AnswerAct is a platform where you build your own agents to reply to your customers. You add your business data, write the instructions, choose the tools and connect your business pages. The preparation below helps you define that agent's first job and what a good conversation should achieve. Start with one repeatable customer need.
Give the agent a clear first job
Choose a specific outcome: helping shoppers pick a product, explaining delivery, or collecting the information needed for a booking enquiry. “Handle everything” is difficult to test because success could mean almost anything.
For a clothing shop, the first job might be answering questions about fit, material and delivery, then pointing the shopper to the right next step. For a studio, it might be explaining service options and asking which day the customer has in mind. Write down what a completed conversation looks like. A customer who understands the options and knows how to proceed is a more useful target than an agent that simply produces a reply.
Build a small, useful set of business answers
Look through recent enquiries and group repeated questions. Prepare the product or service names, differences between options, current prices, delivery coverage, opening hours and the steps for returns or changes. Include the exceptions people actually ask about: weekend dispatch, custom sizes, deposits or collection from a branch.
Write answers as facts rather than slogans. “We offer excellent delivery” gives the agent little to use. “Delivery is available to these areas; the quoted time starts after dispatch” is more useful when those are your actual terms. Keep a clear owner for information that changes. Updating a price in your knowledge should be part of changing the price, not a task someone remembers days later.
Separate what the agent knows from how it replies
Business knowledge supplies the facts. Instructions explain how to use them. A price belongs with product information; “ask which size the customer wants before suggesting an option” belongs in the instructions. Separating the two makes updates easier to follow.
Here is an illustrative instruction for a shop: “Answer the customer's question first. Use the product information provided. Keep replies concise. If the choice depends on size or delivery area, ask one relevant question. When a detail is missing, say what needs checking and explain how the customer can get that answer.” Adapt it to your business. Choose the reply languages and dialect your customers use, and add examples that sound like your team. Your agents are not limited to the dashboard's Arabic and English interface. Test your chosen model with actual customer wording; quality can vary across languages and dialects.
Make the next step match the customer's question
Consider this fictional exchange for a bag shop. The customer asks, “Which one fits a laptop?” An unhelpful response lists every bag and finishes with “How can I help?” A better response asks for the laptop's dimensions if needed, compares the relevant options using the supplied measurements, then explains how to order the selected bag.
The same principle applies when you connect a tool. Decide what useful action it adds to the conversation and provide the information it needs. A booking enquiry isn't a confirmed appointment, and a product recommendation isn't a completed order. Use wording that tells the customer what has actually happened and what they still need to do.
Test conversations, not just isolated questions
Use questions from your own inbox, with personal details removed. Try a straightforward enquiry, a vague “How much?”, a customer who changes their mind, and a request for something you don't sell. Include a follow-up such as “And the smaller one?” to see whether the reply still makes sense in context.
For each conversation, check three things: did the agent use the right facts, ask a useful question, and offer the correct next step? If it fails, identify the missing ingredient. An outdated price needs a knowledge update. A long, repetitive answer needs clearer instructions. Changing several settings at once makes it harder to tell which change helped.
Use the first conversations to improve the setup
After launch, look for places where customers repeat themselves, ask for clarification or stop just before the next step. Read the conversation before deciding why. A delivery answer may be accurate but still leave the customer wondering about their specific area.
Keep a simple review note: the question, what the reply missed, and the change you made. As patterns appear, add the missing business information or improve the instruction. Those notes become a useful record of what customers need to know. Give the next person updating the agent access to them, so the same missing answer doesn't keep coming back.
Choose a plan and create your agent
Choose one recurring enquiry and prepare its answers before opening the builder. Then use Answer Act to add your instructions, connect the relevant channel and test the conversation. Start with a job you can judge well, then expand when the replies help customers choose and take the next step.