Set up Formala for real results

The name, type, and description are literally how the assistant understands who it works for, and how it introduces the business to visitors. Write the description the way you'd describe yourself to a customer — “We do same-day residential plumbing across the metro” beats “plumbing services provider.” Adding your phone, address, and hours lets it answer “where are you?” and “when are you open?” directly.

The goals you pick (capture leads, answer questions, book appointments…) shape what the assistant steers toward. If you add a scheduling link (Calendly, Cal.com, anything), it offers that link the moment someone wants to book — while still collecting contact info as a backup.

Three settings layer together here. Persona is who's speaking: Formala (a named assistant with its own character — sharp, warm, a little dry), a neutral assistant (no name, no flourishes), or your own front desk (speaks as “we,” never mentions AI or Formala).

Tone is the register — how formal the language is. Formal: “Yes — we offer a 30-day free trial; no credit card is required.” Balanced: “Yes! There's a free 30-day trial — no card needed.” Casual: “Yep! 30 days free, no card — try the whole thing.”

Voice is the personality — the energy and character that comes through, in your own words: “cheery and enthusiastic,” “calm and reassuring,” “playful but professional.” When set, your voice wins over the persona's default character wherever they differ — so “warm and upbeat” beats Formala's dry wit. And if you paste in writing samples — a few sentences from your site or emails — it mirrors your rhythm and word choice instead of sounding generic.

Email is on by default; turn on phone if you call leads back. Custom fields (budget, timeline, service area…) are gathered conversationally — the assistant works them in where they fit rather than interrogating, so a chat that ends early may leave some blank. Name and contact info get priority: the assistant aims to ask for those before wrapping up, though some quick exchanges can end without the ask coming up.

The “Always get contact details” checkbox guarantees the ask: the chat won't wrap up without requesting a name and a way to reach them at least once — even in a quick FAQ exchange, or when a special instruction routes the visitor somewhere else. What it doesn't do is press people: a visitor who clearly declines is let go politely. Their information is always their choice — same as any contact form. Recommended if the whole point of your form is callbacks.

Suggested questions are woven in when relevant, not run as a script — 3–5 targeted ones is the sweet spot. More than that mostly goes unused.

Every lead lands in your Formala inbox and is emailed to you the moment it's captured. If you work out of other tools, add a webhook and each lead is pushed to Zapier, your CRM, or Slack too — see the webhook guide.

Bubble is the classic corner button; bar is a wider labelled pill — “Chat with us” unless you write your own (more visible, more inviting); panel opens the chat by itself when the page loads, so the greeting shows immediately. You can also embed it inline, right inside a contact section of your page. Match the color to your brand, pick an avatar, and watch the live preview act each option out.

This is the assistant's brain. Every question–answer pair you add is something it can handle on its own, in your words. Start with the Draft starter FAQs button, then edit the drafts and add the questions you actually get: pricing ranges, service area, turnaround, what to bring, cancellation policy.

If you skip this step you can still go live — but expect most answers to be a polite “I'll have the team follow up.” Ten minutes here is the single biggest upgrade you can make.