Set up your assistant
This is where Bonnie learns your venue, so her answers sound like you and match how you actually run things. You set everything in the dashboard at app.bonnie.ai: go to Assistants and click your assistant.
You do not have to set this up alone. Our team can configure your assistant for you, just ask. This guide is here for if you want to do it yourself or fine-tune things later, and Sophie, the chat in the corner, can help any time.
The seven tabs
Your assistant is organised into tabs. After any change, click Save at the bottom.
| Tab | What you set here |
|---|---|
| Business information | Name, description, time zone, location (from Google), opening hours |
| Personality | Language, voice, pronunciation (lexicon), greeting |
| Tasks | Your main instructions (prompt) and post-call instructions |
| FAQ | The questions and answers Bonnie uses on calls, plus your policies and guidelines |
| Telephony | Phone number, transfers, working schedule |
| Integrations | Connect your reservation system |
| Notifications | Email alerts |
Your instructions (the prompt)
The Tasks tab is the heart of your assistant. It has two fields:
- Main prompt: everything for during the call (reservations, events, your tasks).
- Post-call prompt: what happens after the call (sending a WhatsApp, routing emails).
You can use markdown (headings with ##, bold with **, lists with -). For how to write instructions that work, see Writing good instructions.
FAQ and policy
The FAQ tab is where you add the questions you get all the time (menu, parking, accessibility, pets, payment methods, gift cards) and your house rules.
To add an FAQ:
- Go to Assistants and click your assistant.
- Open the FAQ tab.
- Add the question and the answer.
- Click Save at the bottom of the page.
Keep answers short and friendly, one topic at a time. Bonnie reads them aloud on the call, so short and clear works better than long and complete. See Your FAQ: questions, answers and links.
Greeting
On the Personality tab, scroll to Greeting and choose:
- Dynamic: Bonnie generates the greeting from your business. You can set the tone and listen to a sample.
- Personalized: type exactly what Bonnie should say. Keep it short and welcoming.
Avoid lines like "press to reach a person", as callers then ask to transfer before giving Bonnie a chance.
What Bonnie already knows (do not put in the prompt)
Bonnie fills these in automatically, so leave them out of your instructions:
- Opening hours, and whether you are open right now (from Google).
- Public holidays in the coming days.
- Transfer numbers and availability (from your transfer settings).
- Maximum group size (your reservation system blocks oversized bookings).
- The date, time and phone number of the call.
Going deeper
- Language, voice and pronunciation: Languages, voice & pronunciation.
- When and why to transfer: Transfers & working schedule.
- Reservation system: Connect your reservation system.
In the first week
Listen back to a few calls in your dashboard and flag anything to fine-tune. Small tweaks early make a big difference. You can update any of this whenever your venue changes.