Writing your FAQs

What this covers

The up-to-20 question-and-answer pairs the assistant uses. Needs the manage-settings permission.

Where to get the questions

Do not invent them. Spend one service writing down every question the phone and the door actually ask, then take the twenty most common. Your inbox and your Instagram messages are the other good source.

Typical winners:

• Are you dog friendly?
• Do you have highchairs / a children's menu?
• Is there a dress code?
• Can we bring our own wine, and what is the corkage?
• Do you have vegan / gluten-free options?
• Is the restaurant wheelchair accessible?
• What is the largest group you take?
• Do you do set menus for groups?
• Is there outside seating?
• Do you take walk-ins?
• Do you have a private room?
• Can we bring a cake?

Writing good answers

• Answer the question in the first sentence. The guest is on a phone.
• Be specific. "Corkage is €15 per bottle, wine only" beats "corkage applies".
• Say no clearly when the answer is no, and offer the alternative: "We cannot take dogs inside, but the terrace is dog friendly and has heaters."
• Write it as you would say it out loud. The assistant rephrases naturally, so plain sentences work better than bullet points.
• One topic per FAQ. A single answer covering dogs, children and dress code will be used for all three questions, badly.

Questions can be up to 300 characters, answers up to 1,000 — far more than you need. Short is better.

Do not repeat what it already knows

Opening hours, address, phone, menu and parking are already covered — hours and menu from your settings, parking and transit from their own boxes. Spending FAQ slots on those wastes them, and creates two versions to keep in step.

Twenty is a real limit

If you are pushing against it, some of your FAQs are too narrow. Merge related ones, and move anything policy-shaped into the Policies box instead — that is a separate 2,000 characters the assistant also reads.

Review them when things change

Take five minutes after any change to your prices, your opening, your accessibility or your rules. An FAQ that was true last summer is the most likely source of a confidently wrong answer.