Mapping Your Customer Service Needs
Identify the most common customer questions and interactions in your business.
Before we start using AI, we need to understand exactly what your customers ask you. Most businesses find that 80% of customer messages fall into just 5-10 categories.
Exercise: List Your Top Customer Questions
Take 5 minutes right now. Think about the last 20 messages you received from customers. Write down every type of question or request. Common ones include:
- Pricing: “How much does this cost?”
- Availability: “Do you have this in stock?”
- Shipping: “How long does delivery take?”
- Returns: “Can I return this?”
- Custom orders: “Can you make this in blue?”
- Payment methods: “Do you accept mobile money?”
- Bulk orders: “What’s the price for 100 units?”
- Quality: “What material is this made from?”
- Complaints: “My order arrived damaged”
- Follow-ups: “Where is my order?”
Categorize and Prioritize
Now sort your questions into three groups:
🟢 Simple (answer with a template)
Questions with a standard answer that rarely changes. Examples: pricing, payment methods, return policy, business hours.
🟡 Medium (need some customization)
Questions that need a standard response adapted to the situation. Examples: delivery estimates (depends on location), custom orders, bulk pricing.
🔴 Complex (need personal attention)
Questions that require you personally. Examples: major complaints, partnership proposals, unusual requests.
Your goal: Use AI to handle all 🟢 questions automatically and speed up 🟡 questions by 80%.
Using AI to Map Your Needs
Open Claude and try this prompt:
“I run a [your business type] in [your city]. My main products/services are [list them]. Help me create a complete list of every type of customer question I’m likely to receive. Organize them into categories: Simple (can be answered with a template), Medium (needs some customization), and Complex (needs personal attention). For each category, estimate what percentage of total inquiries it represents.”
Review the AI’s response. It will likely suggest categories you hadn’t thought of. Add any that apply to your business.
Your Customer Service Inventory
By the end of this lesson, you should have:
- A list of 10-15 common customer question types
- Each question categorized as Simple, Medium, or Complex
- A rough estimate of how often each type comes up
Save this list — we’ll use it in every lesson that follows.
Next lesson: Building Your FAQ Knowledge Base →