Getting Started
Setting up ReadyChatAI takes two screens. This page walks through both, and through the one thing you have to do afterwards that isn't part of them.
Creating your account
On the sign-up page you'll be asked for:
- Email address
- Phone number — required. We use it to start your trial and to reach you if something happens with your account
- Password — at least 8 characters. A strength indicator shows as you type
You can also sign up with Google or Facebook instead of filling in the form. Either way, a line below the sign-up options states that continuing means you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy — it's not a box you check.
There's also a box to receive product news by email, checked by default. Leave it checked and you're opted in; uncheck it before you submit and you're opted out immediately, everywhere marketing email is sent. You can also unsubscribe later.
When you submit, we send a confirmation email. Open it and click the link to verify your address — notification emails depend on it.
See Account Access if you need to sign in, request a new confirmation link or reset your password.
Setup: two screens
After signing up you land in setup. The header counts your progress — Step 1 of 2, then Step 2 of 2.
The first screen appears because your account needs a card to start its trial, which is the normal case. If yours doesn't, you'll go straight to the business screen and the header will say Step 1 of 1.
Step 1 — Start your trial
If your account owes a card for the trial, you're first asked for your business name, a business category, and a description of what your business does — still counted as Step 1 of 2. The category (Retail & e-commerce, Food & restaurants, Professional services, Health & wellness, Beauty & personal care, Real Estate, or Other) is mostly descriptive; picking Real Estate can turn on real-estate-specific behaviour for your assistant.
Then comes the trial itself. It runs for 14 days, and it starts with a card.
If we don't already have your phone number, this screen asks for it first, and the plans stay locked until you save it — the message reads "Save your number to pick a plan." We only use it to reach you about something important in your account.
Pick the plan you want to start on and add your card through Stripe's checkout. You are not charged during the trial; the plan you picked begins when it ends. If someone gave you a trial-extension code, there's a field for it on this screen — a valid code lengthens your trial past the standard 14 days.
See Settings for what each plan includes.
Step 2 — Your business
| Field | Required | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Business name | Yes | Under 100 characters |
| What does your business do? | Yes | 40–8000 characters |
The name is what your assistant introduces itself with, so use the name your customers know you by. The description is how your assistant knows what you sell or do, so it can answer customers properly — something like "We sell handmade leather wallets and accessories" is a reasonable starting point. If you already gave your business name and description on the earlier screen, this one fills itself in automatically and you won't be asked again.
Click Finish and go to my dashboard and setup is done.
The step nobody tells you about: connect a channel
Setup does not ask you to connect a channel, and your assistant cannot reply to anyone until you do. This is the single most common reason a new account looks like it isn't working.
A channel is where your customers message you. Connect WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or Instagram under Channels, or install the Website Widget on your own site. Start with at least one customer-facing channel.
Once a channel is connected, your assistant answers new messages on it as they arrive, and those conversations start showing up on your Dashboard.
See Channels for how to connect each one.
Then make your assistant actually good
Setup gets your assistant running. Once it finishes, the account owner's dashboard home shows a Guided setup checklist — four milestones (business info, catalog and FAQs, testing your assistant, and connecting a channel) with your progress and step-by-step instructions for each, until you complete them all. These sections cover the same ground:
- Knowledge Base — the answers your assistant gives. It also collects the questions it couldn't answer, so you can fill the gaps. This is the highest-value thing you can spend time on.
- Products and Services — what you sell, so it can quote and take orders or bookings.
- Configure — tone, greeting, and the rest of its behaviour. Business Info keeps the public facts and hours it needs.
- Playground — try it out yourself before your customers do.
- What the bot can and cannot do — the boundary between an answer, an action and a human handoff.
Changing things later
Nothing you entered during setup is permanent.
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| Business name, description, address, hours, currency, time zone | AI Bot → Configure → Business Info |
| Your own name, photo, language, time zone, password | Settings → Personal |
| Your plan and payment method | Settings → Billing |
| Your team and their roles | Settings → User Management |
Before you start, have ready
- The name your customers know your business by
- A sentence describing what you do
- A card, for the trial
- Access to whichever account you'll connect first — the Facebook Page, Instagram account, or the phone number for WhatsApp
If you get stuck
Click the button in the bottom-right corner of your dashboard to open a support ticket. See Help.