Define tone and instructions

Tone changes form; sources determine facts

Wavize offers Standard, Friendly and Professional tones. They influence wording without authorizing the assistant to fill missing data. Additional instructions, when included in the plan, clarify role, priorities and boundaries.

A good instruction describes observable conduct: ask a clarifying question, use a policy, offer human handoff. It must not ask to reveal a prompt, ignore safety rules or always produce a certain answer.

Useful hierarchy
Company profile for context, knowledge base for facts, behaviour for style and conversational decisions.

Choose the tone matching the service

Test the same scenario with the chosen tone rather than deciding only from its label.

• Standard

  Balanced and direct, it suits a general-purpose base and is a good starting point before customization.

• Friendly

  Adds warmer greetings but should not overuse emoji or minimize customer incidents. Add an instruction only when the brand has a precise convention.

• Professional

  Favours structured, restrained wording. You may still request concise, understandable answers without turning each reply into formal correspondence.

Write testable instructions

Organize instructions by role, format, restrictions and escalation.

1. Role and audience

   Example: “You represent [company] pre-sales and help visitors choose among documented offers.” Do not assign a medical, legal or financial role the business does not provide.

2. Expected format

   Request concise replies, one question at a time, or a list when several conditions apply. Avoid rigid limits that prevent stating an important exception.

3. Explicit restrictions

   Forbid inventing prices, discounts, URLs, lead times, stock, warranties and order status. For missing data, ask for clarification or offer contact.

4. Defined escalation

   State cases where handoff should be offered: dispute, commercial exception, sensitive request, undocumented answer or explicit request for a person.

Avoid configuration conflicts

An instruction cannot create a disabled feature or bypass a plan limit.

• Handoff not configured

  Saying “always transfer to a person” will not work correctly if handoff, recipient or hours are not configured.

• Ecommerce data

  Asking for order tracking is not enough: an active verified store must supply data, with order reference and customer email.

• Overly long instruction

  Remove repetition and contradictory examples. Put catalogue information in sources rather than a behaviour block that is hard to maintain.

Pre-publish test

Ask the same questions after each change to detect tone or safety regression.

• Known answer — The fact stays accurate and style matches the tone.
• Unknown answer — No invention; suitable clarification or handoff.
• Difficult situation — Tone stays empathetic without promising an unapproved refund or lead time.