How to take gas orders on WhatsApp with AI

Why orders come in on WhatsApp

For a lot of gas businesses, most orders now arrive on WhatsApp. Customers already have it open, it costs them nothing and they can send an order at 10 at night without waiting for you to answer the phone. Trade customers like it too: the person on site can send the order between jobs.

That suits your customers. Someone in the office still has to read every message and type each order in.

What it costs you

A WhatsApp order is rarely complete. “2 big ones when you can please” does not say which cylinder, which address or whether there are empties to collect. So someone has to read it, work out who it is, ask the missing questions, wait for the answers and then type the order in.

• Typing everything twice. Every order is read on the phone and typed again into your system or the diary.
• Orders spread over several messages. An order sent in three or four messages is still one order, and it is easy to enter it twice.
• Shared numbers. A pub landlord who also runs the chip shop orders for both from one phone.
• Empties forgotten. Nobody asked, so the driver turns up not knowing what to bring back.
• Messages missed. An order sent on a busy evening scrolls out of sight and the customer rings on Friday asking where their gas is.

What AI is good at here

Reading short, loose messages is something AI does well. It can tell what a regular customer means by their usual shorthand, that three messages in a row are one order, and that “leave them by the shed” is a note for the driver. It reads a message in Polish or Romanian as easily as one in English.

When it cannot tell which customer or which cylinder, it should ask the customer or you.

What it should ask the customer

Most of the questions you ask on WhatsApp are the same every time. A good assistant asks them for you, one at a time, and asks each one once:

1. Which address, when it cannot tell. On a number more than one customer uses, it should ask without naming an address, so one customer never sees another’s.
2. Which product, when two could fit, such as propane or butane.
3. Any empties to collect, so the driver knows what is coming back.
4. The order read back, with the address and the day, for the customer to confirm with a yes.

That read-back matters most. A customer who has said yes to their order has checked it for you.

Where staff still step in

Staff should be able to step in at any point. When someone replies from the phone, the assistant should stop, so the customer never gets two answers.

Your customers’ messages

WhatsApp messages hold names, addresses and phone numbers, so treat them as customer records.

• Take orders on a WhatsApp Business number, not on someone’s personal WhatsApp.
• Check where the messages go to be read, which AI provider reads them and in which country, and say so in your privacy notice.
• Keep the message text only as long as you need it, and delete it when a customer asks to be forgotten.

Getting started

Start with a handful of regular customers who order on WhatsApp every week. Let the assistant read and reply to their numbers only, check each order against the messages for a week or two, and add everyone else once you trust it.