Volume is the least useful number
A thousand conversations means nothing on its own. A thousand conversations with a 40% answer rate is a content problem; with an 85% answer rate it is a working system.
Always read volume alongside the ratios.
The four that matter
| Metric | Healthy | What a bad number means |
|---|---|---|
| Answer rate | 75–90% | Content gaps |
| Handover rate | 10–25% | Too high: content; too low: it is guessing |
| Lead capture rate | Varies by traffic | Asking at the wrong moment |
| Repeat questions | Falling over time | Content not being updated from the log |
The unanswered-question list is the prize
It is a list, written by your actual customers, of what your website fails to tell them. No content brief you commission will ever be better than that.
Read it weekly at first, then monthly. Write the answers as real pages, and both the bot and your search visibility improve.
Handover rate cuts both ways
Too high means the bot cannot answer enough, which is a content problem. Too low can mean it is answering things it should be escalating, which is worse.
Read a sample of conversations rather than relying on the number alone.
Read actual conversations
- Ten a week, chosen at random
- All of the ones that ended without an answer
- Any where the visitor sounded annoyed
- The longest ones, which usually indicate confusion
Numbers tell you where to look. Conversations tell you what is actually happening.