What to Train Your AI Chatbot On: A Checklist for Australian SMEs
A practical checklist covering services, pricing, FAQs, policies, and more — matching how Pivra lets you upload URLs, PDFs, and text to train your chatbot.
A chatbot is only as good as what you've trained it on. Feed it thin content and it gives vague, unhelpful answers. Train it properly and it becomes an accurate, always-on version of you — answering questions in your voice, with your information, 24 hours a day.
This checklist covers everything you should add to your chatbot's training data, organised by business type and priority.
How Pivra training works
In Pivra, you can add training data in three ways:
- Website URL — paste your site URL and Pivra crawls and ingests your pages
- PDF upload — upload pricing guides, service brochures, menus, or policy documents
- Text input — paste or type content directly (great for custom FAQs)
Start with the sources that have the most accurate information. Your website is usually the best starting point.
Priority 1: The essentials (add these first)
Business basics
- Full business name (and any trading names)
- Physical address and service areas (suburbs, postcodes, or radius)
- Business hours (including public holidays if relevant)
- Phone number and email address
- Website URL
Services or products
- Full list of services or products you offer
- Brief description of each
- What you don't do (exclusions are as important as inclusions)
- Minimum job sizes or order values if applicable
Pricing
- Pricing structure (fixed price, hourly rate, quote-based)
- Starting prices or price ranges for common services
- Call-out fees or booking fees
- Any conditions that affect pricing (urgency, distance, complexity)
- Payment methods accepted
Contact and next steps
- How a customer should contact you (call, form, email, book online)
- What to expect after initial contact (response time, site visit, quote process)
- Your booking or enquiry link if you use an online system
Priority 2: FAQs and common questions
Write out the 10–20 questions you answer most often. Include the actual question wording you receive (not just the clean version). The more specific and natural the language, the better the bot handles real visitor queries.
Common FAQ categories:
- Availability and lead times
- Insurance, licences, or certifications
- Guarantees or warranty terms
- Emergency or after-hours availability
- Whether you service specific areas or do specific job types
- Comparison questions ("do you do X or only Y?")
Priority 3: Policies
- Cancellation and rescheduling policy
- Refund or warranty policy
- Privacy policy summary (what data you collect and why)
- Any terms of service relevant to customers
By business type
Tradies (plumbers, electricians, builders, etc.)
- Licensed and insured — state the licences you hold
- Emergency callout availability and fees
- Service area map or suburb list
- Typical timeframes for common jobs
- Whether you provide free quotes or charge for assessments
- Peak season notes (e.g. "extra demand in summer for air con")
Local services (salons, gyms, clinics, cafes)
- Full service menu with prices
- Booking instructions and link
- Health fund acceptance (clinics)
- New client or trial offers
- Parking or public transport access
- Dietary or accessibility information (cafes, events)
E-commerce
- Shipping times and carriers
- Returns and exchange policy
- Product descriptions and sizing guides
- Order status process (how customers track orders)
- Stockist locations if relevant
Professional services (accountants, solicitors, consultants)
- Services and specialisations
- Typical client profile (who you help best)
- Fees or fee structure
- Initial consultation process
- Turnaround times for common work
Priority 4: Brand and tone
This is optional but makes the bot sound more like you:
- A short paragraph in your own voice describing what you do and who you serve
- Your mission or values statement
- Any phrases you use frequently (local expressions, brand language)
- Competitors you're commonly compared to (and how you differ)
What not to add
Some things don't belong in your chatbot's training data:
- Internal documents — staff rosters, financial records, internal notes
- Outdated pricing — old price lists will confuse the bot; delete them before uploading
- Vague content — "we provide high-quality services" adds nothing; specifics win
- Sensitive personal data — never upload customer records or personal information
Testing after training
Once you've added your content, test the bot yourself. Ask it questions as a customer would:
- Ask your most common FAQ
- Ask a tricky question it might not know the answer to
- Ask something outside your business (to check it doesn't hallucinate)
- Check the tone sounds natural
Refine based on what you see. This takes 15–30 minutes and significantly improves the bot's accuracy.
Keeping it up to date
Plan to review your chatbot's training data every time:
- Your pricing changes
- You add or remove a service
- Your hours or location changes
- You launch a promotion or special offer
Pivra lets you update training data at any time. Changes take effect on the next conversation after you save.
Getting started
If you haven't set up your Pivra chatbot yet, this checklist is the fastest way to prepare. Gather the items above, sign up, and you'll have a trained chatbot live on your site in under an hour.
Start free at Pivra — one chatbot, 500 messages/month, no credit card required.
