Assistant Setup Guide
This is the end-to-end walkthrough for building and deploying an AI assistant on WIIL. Whether you're setting up a phone assistant for calls or a web assistant for your site, the core steps are the same — pick a voice, give it a role, connect capabilities and knowledge, wire up a channel, test, and go live.
Steps 4 (Capabilities) and 5 (Knowledge base) — at least one must be configured, so your assistant has something to do or something to know.
1. Choose your assistant type
WIIL offers two assistant types that together cover every customer channel. For a full comparison, see Assistants Overview.
A phone assistant is your AI-powered phone line — a dedicated local or toll-free number, natural voice conversations, multilingual support, smart transfers to a person, SMS follow-up, and call recording and transcription. Best for businesses that receive phone inquiries, appointment-based services, and support lines.
A web assistant is an embeddable widget — chat, web calling, or both, with customizable branding, one-click integration (WordPress, Shopify, React), real-time engagement, and conversation history. Best for e-commerce sites, SaaS products, and service businesses with a web presence.
| Aspect | Phone assistant | Web assistant |
|---|---|---|
| Channel | Phone calls, SMS | Website chat, web calls |
| Customers reach you via | Dedicated phone number | Widget on your website |
| Voice support | Always (primary mode) | Optional (Unified or Voice mode) |
| Text support | SMS | Chat (primary mode) |
| Setup requirement | Purchase a phone number | Enter your website URL |
2. Voice & language
Your assistant's voice and language shape how customers perceive your brand — a well-chosen voice builds trust instantly, while a robotic tone creates friction.
Language — WIIL supports 30+ languages with native-quality pronunciation, including English (US, UK), Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Arabic, Hindi, and many more.
Voice — choose a voice that fits the personality:
- Female: Achernar, Aoede, Autonoe, Callirrhoe, Kore
- Male: Fenrir, Charon
- Neutral: Puck
If most customers are from a specific region, match that accent; for diverse audiences, choose a clear, neutral voice. On the phone, favor clarity over style and slower pacing (audio compresses and callers can't re-read), and always test on a real phone call, not just the in-browser preview.
3. Role & objective
The role defines your assistant's personality, expertise, and boundaries. A billing specialist speaks differently than a sales rep — and customers notice.
Ready-made templates are pre-configured for common use cases and fully customizable later — the fastest way to get going.
| Template | What it does |
|---|---|
| Billing Support Specialist | Helps with invoices and payment issues |
| Technical Support Specialist | Troubleshoots common product or service problems |
| General Customer Support | Answers FAQs and routes complex issues to a human |
| Customer Onboarding Specialist | Guides new customers through setup |
| Sales Representative | Qualifies leads and presents offers |
| Create Custom Role | Build your own with a fully customizable prompt |
For a custom role, be specific — vague instructions lead to inconsistent responses. Cover what it should help users accomplish, the tone to use, which sources or rules to follow, and what it should never do.
Example prompt: "You are Maria, a virtual assistant for WIIL Coffee. Your job is to greet customers, answer product questions, and help them schedule coffee tastings. Always be warm, concise, and proactive. Never discuss competitor products or make promises about discounts."
Role instructions shape every response. Test changes in sandbox mode before deploying to production.
4. Capabilities
Capabilities are the Platform Services your assistant can perform — they turn a Q&A bot into an agent that takes real actions. Each maps to a catalog you manage.
| Capability | What it does | Catalog |
|---|---|---|
| Appointment management | Books appointments, checks availability, sends confirmations | Services |
| Reservation management | Table, room, and resource reservations | Reservations |
| Menu management | Dine-in, takeout, and delivery ordering | Menu |
| Product management | Catalog browsing and conversational orders | Products |
| Property management | Listings, inquiries, and lead capture | Property |
An assistant needs something to do or something to know.
| Configuration | Your assistant can… |
|---|---|
| Capabilities only | Perform actions (book, order) with limited Q&A |
| Knowledge base only | Answer questions but not transact |
| Both (recommended) | Answer questions and perform actions |
5. Knowledge base
Your knowledge base is what makes a generic AI into your assistant — it's the foundation for every answer, from business hours to policies. Think of it as onboarding a new employee.
There are three ways to add content:
- Text input — type business information directly (hours, location, products and services, pricing, FAQs, return/refund policies). The fastest option.
- Website import — enter a URL and the system crawls your site and extracts relevant information.
- Document upload — upload files (PDF, DOC, DOCX, TXT, CSV, XLS, XLSX).
| Tip | Example |
|---|---|
| Be specific | Not "great prices" — "Haircuts from $35, color from $85" |
| Answer common questions | Include your top 10–15 FAQs with conversational answers |
| Include policies | Cancellation, refund, and booking policies set expectations |
| Keep it current | Update when prices, hours, or services change |
Your assistant only answers from its knowledge base. If a topic isn't covered, it offers to transfer the caller to a human (phone) or indicates it doesn't have that information (web).
6. Channel configuration — phone
A phone assistant needs a dedicated number; customers call it like any line, but your assistant answers 24/7.
| Number type | Best for |
|---|---|
| Local | Regional businesses — area-specific numbers build local trust |
| Toll-free | National businesses — 800/888/877/866 project nationwide presence |
To set one up: choose the number type, add an optional label (e.g. "Main Support Line"), then select and purchase from available numbers.
Choose local if most customers are in one region; choose toll-free for multi-state or nationwide reach.
A few common questions: number porting is coming soon; you can have multiple numbers, each with different assistant behavior; and there are no setup fees for new numbers.
7. Channel configuration — web
Choose how visitors interact on your site:
| Mode | Description | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Website chat | Text-based chat widget | Quick support, FAQs, mobile, typists |
| Website call | In-browser voice calling | Complex consultations, accessibility, hands-free |
| Unified (recommended) | Both chat and voice | Most businesses — maximum flexibility |
Then enter your website URL (e.g. https://yourbusiness.com). The platform validates the domain and generates a unique configuration for your assistant to serve there.
8. Testing & deploy
Before deploying, confirm each step is complete:
| Step | Phone assistant | Web assistant |
|---|---|---|
| Voice & language | Professional voice matching your brand | Appropriate voice for your audience |
| Role & objective | Clear instructions and call handling | Clear instructions and personality |
| Capabilities | Relevant platform services configured | Relevant platform services configured |
| Knowledge base | Comprehensive product/service info | Comprehensive information |
| Channel setup | Number purchased and configured | URL entered and mode selected |
When you deploy, WIIL validates your configuration, sets up knowledge sources, creates the instruction and agent configurations, sets up the communication channel, creates the deployment configuration, and finalizes setup. A phone assistant then starts receiving calls and texts at your number immediately; a web assistant gives you an embed code to add to your site.
Test before relying on it. On phone, use a test call (your assistant calls you back and simulates a customer) and a test SMS; on web, run a chat test and a voice test. Verify the greeting sounds right, intent is identified, knowledge answers are accurate, capabilities work (appointments book, orders process), operating hours are respected, and "I don't know" is handled gracefully.
Test with the questions your real customers ask most — it surfaces knowledge-base gaps before go-live.
Next steps
After deploying, monitor conversations for quality and resolution, review transcripts to find gaps, update the knowledge base with questions it couldn't answer, refine the role based on real interactions, and scale up with more channels, assistants, and advanced features.
Ready to start? Open your WIIL console and follow along, then model what your assistant can sell and book in the Catalog.