Answer inquiries without typing every reply yourself
At bytebrise, answering customer inquiries automatically means: every inquiry from the contact form is sorted (including those from your mailbox), and a reply draft with two suggested appointments is ready. You read it, change it if needed and approve it. We set this up for trade businesses and small businesses in Upper Bavaria, from our base in Fürstenfeldbruck.
bytebrise GO is new in our range and runs in our own business. We set up WhatsApp on request. The example on this page comes from Martin’s fictional joinery.
Why inquiries pile up in a trade business
Inquiries arrive when nobody is at the desk: in the morning before the first job, at lunchtime between two appointments, in the evening after work. By the time the reply is written, the customer may already have asked the next business.
Yet most replies are alike. You say thank you, ask for measurements, photos or the address, suggest an appointment for measuring up and say when the quote will come. You type the same sentences out afresh every week, often in the evening and often on your phone.
A simple tally shows how much time this costs you. For two weeks, note how many inquiries come in and how long each reply takes you. That is the number we work with in the first conversation, not an estimate.
How the “Answering inquiries” workflow runs
The workflow does everything up to the finished reply; sending it stays with you. Of the six steps, only one needs you.
| Step | What happens | Who acts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Intake | An inquiry comes in via the contact form on your website or by email. | automatic |
| 2 Acknowledgement, if you want one | The sender receives a short message with fixed wording: the inquiry has arrived, and a reply will follow by a time you set. No reply to the content, no commitment on price or date. | automatic, wording approved by you in advance |
| 3 Sorting | The inquiry is sorted by type, for example new inquiry, appointment request, follow-up question, complaint or advertising. | automatic |
| 4 Draft | The AI writes a reply draft in your tone, asks for missing details and takes two free slots from your calendar. | automatic, as a draft |
| 5 Approval | You read the draft, change it if needed and approve it. | You |
| 6 Sending and filing | The reply goes out from your own address, and the inquiry is marked as answered. | automatic, only after your approval |
Example: the inquiry from the Berger family at 07:42
This is how a morning in Martin’s joinery could look. The business and the family are fictional; the workflow matches what we would set up for a business.
Why the draft names no price: you calculate a built-in wardrobe after measuring up, not the AI. Prices, discounts and firm commitments only appear in a reply if you write them in yourself.
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 07:42 | Email from the Berger family: “We would like a built-in wardrobe for the bedroom, about three metres wide. What would that cost?” |
| 07:43 | Sorted as an inquiry, built-in furniture. The draft says thank you, asks for the ceiling height and two photos of the wall and suggests measuring up on Thursday at 2 pm or on Friday at 8 am. It names no price. |
| 07:51 | The master craftsman reads the draft on his phone, adds a sentence about the types of wood and approves it. The reply is out. |
What happens by itself and what never goes out without you
Only the sorting, the draft and, if you want it, an acknowledgement with wording you set in advance happen by themselves. Every reply with content only goes out once you have approved it.
| By itself | Only after your approval | Never in the workflow |
|---|---|---|
| Sort the inquiry | Reply with follow-up questions and suggested appointments | Promise prices or discounts |
| Ask for missing details in the draft | Reply to a follow-up question from the customer | Answer warranty claims and complaints |
| the same acknowledgement every time | Turning the job down, if you are not taking it | Send quotes or invoices as attachments |
That is the principle behind our workflows: the technology prepares, a person decides what goes out.
Which inquiries are suitable for an automatic reply?
Inquiries that almost always start the same way are suitable for an automatic reply: measuring up, site visit, appointment request, questions about opening hours or directions. Warranty claims, complaints, payment reminders and anything involving money or liability get no draft. They land with you, flagged.
The workflow sorts spam and advertising into a separate folder that you look through now and then. Nothing is deleted there without you.
| Suitable | Not suitable |
|---|---|
| New inquiry asking for an appointment or a quote | Warranty claim or notice of defects |
| Question about opening hours, directions or the process | Complaint about an employee |
| Inquiry with missing details such as measurements, photos or location | Dispute over an invoice, payment reminder |
| Appointment rescheduled by the customer | Letters from lawyers, insurers or authorities |
Which mailboxes and forms can be connected
As a rule, a normal email mailbox, mailboxes at Microsoft 365 or Google and the contact form on your website can be connected. Whether that works for your mailbox, we check before you pay anything.
- Your email address stays. Customers write to the same address as ever, and the reply comes back from it.
- You find the draft somewhere you can open it on the move too, for example in the “Drafts” folder of your mailbox. We decide exactly where during setup.
- Your calendar provides the free times. If you do not keep a digital calendar, we work with fixed time slots, for example Thursday and Friday afternoons for measuring up. How customers pick a free appointment themselves is explained on the page Booking appointments online.
- We look at WhatsApp and inquiry portals individually. There it depends on the interfaces of the provider in question, and we only commit once we have checked.
Which AI is GDPR-compliant?
Whether an AI is used in a data-protection-compliant way depends less on the name of the model than on where it processes the data, whether there is a data processing agreement and how long data is stored. That is why we go through five checkpoints with you before the workflow runs and record the result in writing.
Inquiries contain names, addresses, phone numbers and sometimes photos from people’s homes, in other words personal data. The five checkpoints do not replace legal advice.
- Which AI writes the draft and where it processes the data. We tell you this in writing for each workflow before it starts.
- Data processing agreement: anyone who processes data on your behalf does so on the basis of a contract under Art. 28 GDPR. That applies to us and to the services involved in the workflow.
- Retention period: how long inquiries and drafts are stored and when they are deleted.
- Access: who in the business sees the drafts and may approve them.
- Labelling: Article 50 of the EU’s AI Act provides that people are told when they interact directly with an AI system. In this workflow no chatbot replies on its own; you approve every reply. Whether you add a notice anyway, we decide together during setup. The legal assessment is for you to clarify case by case.
What our study shows about inquiries on tradesperson websites
In our sample of 43 Bavarian trade businesses with their own website, 35 per cent had no real contact form (Tradesperson website study, August 2026). Anyone who wants to make an inquiry there has to write an email themselves or call. The sample is not representative, but it shows where things often go wrong even before the reply.
An inquiry that is never sent cannot be answered by any workflow. That is why we also look at the path before it: a form with few fields, a clickable phone number and a sentence saying by when you will get back. What a form needs from a data protection point of view is covered in our article on the GDPR contact form for tradespeople.
Do it yourself with an AI chat or Outlook rules, or a set-up workflow?
With only a few inquiries a week, text templates in your email program are enough. An AI chat writes usable drafts if you copy each inquiry into it one by one. A set-up workflow is the better fit if you type similar replies every day and inquiries regularly sit until the evening.
| Option | What it can do | What is missing | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rules and text templates in Outlook or Gmail | sorts by sender or subject, inserts a template with one click | does not understand the content, does not suggest appointments from the calendar | included in the email program |
| An AI chat or another AI tool by hand | writes usable drafts if you copy the inquiry into it | you copy each inquiry one by one, customer data ends up in a third-party tool, and you check data protection and settings yourself | depending on the provider’s plan |
| Workflow in bytebrise GO | sorts in the background, writes drafts with your free appointments, you only approve | costs a setup fee and a monthly price | bytebrise GO from €79 per month depending on team size, plus a one-off €490 setup fee |
We will tell you whether text templates are enough for you, even if that means you do not need us.
What you approve once and what you approve every day
During setup you decide how the workflow sounds and where it stops. In everyday work you then only approve the individual replies.
- the wording of the acknowledgement, if you want one
- a few sample replies that the drafts follow in tone
- which types of inquiry get a draft and which land with you without one
- the time slots for appointments
- who in the business may approve
Requirements
You need a mailbox or contact form the workflow may access, a source of free appointments and someone who reads the drafts. You do not need any more technology on your side.
- Access to the mailbox that inquiries come in through
- a calendar or fixed time slots for appointments
- a few replies you already write today, as a template for the tone
- one person who approves, from the phone if you like
- in the first few weeks, brief feedback when a draft is off the mark
How can a trade business in Munich automate inquiries?
bytebrise GO collects inquiries from the agreed channels, such as the contact form and mailbox, assigns them to the right case and prepares a reply. The business checks the draft and approves it with one tap. We set this up from Fürstenfeldbruck for businesses in Munich and the rest of Upper Bavaria. We hold the initial consultation by phone or at our office in Fürstenfeldbruck.
What does the “Answering inquiries” workflow cost?
The “Answering inquiries” workflow runs in bytebrise GO. GO costs €79 per month for one person, €149 for teams of up to five people and €399 for businesses of up to 20 people, and on request for more than 20 people. Setup costs a one-off €490, after which GO can be cancelled monthly. We clarify which channels and workflows we set up before the contract starts. The initial consultation is free.
All prices are final prices. Under § 19 UStG (the German small-business rule) no VAT is charged. All tiers are listed on the pricing page.
More about GO: bytebrise GO: automating inquiries, callbacks and appointments. If your business needs a workflow that GO does not cover, we build it as a custom build with its own price.
Frequently asked questions
Does the AI answer inquiries without me?
No. The AI writes drafts; you send them. Without your approval, only the acknowledgement with your pre-approved wording goes out, and only if you want it.
Can I keep my email address?
Yes. The workflow reads along in the mailbox where inquiries already arrive today, and the reply goes out from your address. For your customers, nothing changes about the address.
Which AI is used, and what about data protection?
We tell you in writing which AI model writes the draft and where it processes the data before the workflow runs. We also check the data processing agreement, retention period, access and labelling with you. We do not give a blanket assurance that an AI is data-protection compliant, because it depends on the setup.
What happens to spam, warranty claims and complaints?
Spam and advertising end up in a separate folder. Warranty claims and complaints get no draft. They land with you, flagged, so that you answer them yourself.
Does an AI reply have to be labelled?
Article 50 of the EU’s AI Act provides that people are told when they interact directly with an AI system. In this workflow the AI only writes a draft, and you send the reply. Whether you add a notice anyway, we decide during setup. The legal assessment is for you to clarify case by case.
What does the workflow cost?
The workflow runs in bytebrise GO: €79 per month for one person, €149 for teams of up to five people, €399 for businesses of up to 20 people, on request for more than 20 people. On top of that comes a one-off €490 setup fee, after which GO can be cancelled monthly.
Is this already running at other businesses?
GO already runs in our own business, but not yet at customers. bytebrise GO is new in our range, so we show a fictional example instead of customer figures.
Free initial consultation
Tell us in 20 minutes which inquiries you answer every week. We will tell you whether a workflow is worth it or whether text templates are enough. We hold the conversation by phone or at our office in Fürstenfeldbruck, and we get back to you within one business day.
Prefer to reach us directly? Phone +49 8141 5098988, email hello@bytebrise.com, Balduin-Helm-Straße 71b, 82256 Fürstenfeldbruck.