Testing your bot before going live

Always test your bot before turning it on for real customers. A two-minute test catches most issues.

Run a test conversation

1. Open Test / Preview

In the Bot section (left sidebar), open your bot settings. In the bottom-right corner, click the floating chat trigger — "How I Can Help You Today?" — to open the live preview. This is HAB's built-in Test/Preview tool; no separate test button needed.

Close-up of the floating Test/Preview trigger — click "How I Can Help You Today?" to start.

2. Choose Voice or Chat

When the widget opens, use the Chat / Call toggle at the top to pick the channel you want to test.

Chat widget open on the Bot page — use the Chat and Call toggle at the top to switch channels.

Voice channel preview — the Call toggle opens the voice interface so you can test phone-style conversations.

3. Act like a customer

Play the role of a customer and send a realistic message — for example, "Hi, my water heater is leaking — can someone come out tomorrow?" Check that HAB understands the request and replies naturally.

Example test chat — type a customer message in the widget and confirm the bot's reply.

What to check

Work through this quick checklist after your test conversation:

4. Greeting

On the Chat Settings tab, confirm Default first message, Bot title, and Description match how you want HAB to introduce itself.

Chat Settings — Default first message, Bot title, and Description fields for your greeting.

5. Knowledge

On the Knowledge Base tab, make sure FAQs, uploaded files, and Training Data (services, areas, pricing, and business summary) are filled in so HAB can answer common questions.

Knowledge Base — training website, uploaded files, and Training Data fields.

6. Qualifying

On the Lead Form tab, review every field HAB collects from customers — name, phone, email, address, service required, and any custom job-detail fields.

Lead Form — the fields your bot collects from every lead (name, phone, service, and more).

7. Booking

Go to Calendar (separate page from the sidebar), confirm Google Calendar is connected, and verify HAB is offering real open slots and bookings appear on your schedule.

Calendar page — Google Calendar connected and your booking schedule with available slots.

8. Sync (Leads + Calendar)

After the test, confirm the lead landed in Leads and any booked appointment shows on Calendar.

Leads page — the test lead appears in your leads table with status and contact info.

Calendar page — the same test appointment appears on your schedule.

Fix and retest

If anything sounds off, update the matching area — greeting in Bot, answers in your Knowledge Base, slots in Calendar — then run the test again.

Tip: Test a few different scenarios: an emergency repair, a request outside your service area, and a question you get asked a lot. This shows you how HAB handles the messy real-world calls, not just the easy ones.

When everything looks good, your bot is already active — no toggle needed. Just make sure the embed snippet is added to your website and a phone number is assigned.

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