What an after-hours AI assistant on your website actually does
An AI assistant on your website answers common questions (prices, hours, services, availability) any time of day, using information you approve, then captures the visitor's details and hands them to you. Done right, it's clearly labeled as AI, makes it easy to reach a person, and never guesses about things it doesn't know.
Customers now expect answers outside business hours. The question isn't whether to be available at 10pm. It's how to do it without hiring a night shift.
Customers already use AI, and expect speed
Nearly half of US adults (49%) now use AI chatbots, up from 33% in 2024, according to Pew Research Center.[1] In Zendesk's 2026 CX Trends research, 74% of consumers said they now expect 24/7 service because of AI.[2]
But they don't want to be trapped with a bot
It isn't all enthusiasm. A 2024 Gartner survey found 64% of customers would prefer companies didn't use AI for customer service, and their top worry was that it would be harder to reach a person.[3] Salesforce found nearly three in four customers want to know when they're talking to AI.[4]
Customers don't hate AI. They hate being stuck. So ours says it's an assistant, answers what it knows, and gets them to a real person the second they want one.
Jailah Topp · Founder, Topp Level Marketing
What a good website AI assistant does
- Answers from your own approved info: services, prices, hours, service area, policies
- Says clearly that it's an AI assistant
- Captures name, contact info and what they need, then sends it straight to you
- Hands off to a person (call, text or form) whenever someone asks
- Says "let me get someone to confirm that" instead of guessing
What it shouldn't do
- Make up prices, availability or policies
- Give medical, legal or financial advice
- Hide the way to reach a human
- Collect sensitive information it doesn't need
The model is the easy part. The work is the knowledge base and the guardrails: what it's allowed to answer, what it must hand off, and testing it against the weird questions real customers ask before it goes live.
Darius Smith · Head of Operations, Topp Level Marketing
Where it fits
Businesses that get a lot of repeat questions get the most out of it: appointment services, trades that quote jobs, clinics, gyms, venues and online stores. Pair it with instant lead capture and every conversation turns into a lead in your inbox.
Get After-Hours AI Assistant handled by Topp Level.
Answers the 10pm questions on your site from your approved info, then captures the lead for you.
Common questions
Will an AI assistant give customers wrong answers?
It can if it's set up carelessly. We train it only on information you approve, tell it to hand off anything it isn't sure about, and test it with real customer questions before launch.
Do customers know they're talking to AI?
They should. Salesforce research found nearly three in four customers want to know when they're dealing with AI, so we label the assistant clearly and always offer a way to reach a person.
How much does an after-hours AI assistant cost?
Topp Level Marketing's After-Hours AI Assistant is $750 flat and is usually live in about a week. Larger custom AI chatbots start at $1,800.