What questions can a WhatsApp chatbot answer for a tuition centre?

The repetitive ones: fees per subject and level, class timetable and availability, trial-class booking, location and parking, teacher qualifications, exam-board coverage and payment methods. Give it a fee sheet and a timetable and it answers those in the parent's language. Anything it cannot find in your material it hands to a human.

Will the bot reply inside my existing parent WhatsApp groups and chats?

Not if it is set to new conversations only, which is Replai's default for new accounts. Chats that were already on the phone when you paired, including long-running parent threads, stay with your staff. Only parents who message for the first time get the AI, and you can release a single old thread to it when you choose.

Can it answer parents in Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and English?

Yes, and it follows the parent's language message by message, including voice notes. A parent who opens in English and switches to Mandarin mid-conversation gets replies that switch with them. This matters in Malaysia and Singapore, where the same centre hears from families in three languages every week.

How do we capture enquiries so staff can follow up?

Turn on lead capture. When a parent asks about a trial class or fees, the bot records the child's level, subject, preferred day and the parent's number to a Google Sheet your staff already use, then tells the parent someone will confirm. Staff work the sheet in the morning instead of scrolling the phone.

WhatsApp chatbot for tuition centres: a setup guide

Quick answer

A tuition centre bot answers fees by subject and level, timetable availability, trial class rules, location and payment methods from your own fee sheet, in the parent's language, and logs trial requests to a Google Sheet for morning follow-up. Set it to new conversations only so parent groups and existing threads stay with your staff.

Six documents cover it: fees, timetable, trial policy, logistics, teachers and payment.
Enquiries peak between 8pm and 11pm, when nobody is at the centre.
New conversations only keeps the bot out of parent groups and live threads.
Starter is $19 a month; Growth at $49 covers three numbers and campaigns.

Tuition centres get the same fifteen questions on WhatsApp every evening, mostly between 8pm and 11pm when parents sit down after dinner: what are the fees for Form 4 Add Maths, is there a Saturday slot, can my daughter try a class first, where do I park. A WhatsApp chatbot answers those from your own fee sheet and timetable, in the parent's language, and logs the ones who want a trial class to a sheet for your staff to confirm in the morning. Done right, it never touches the parent groups and existing threads already on your phone.

This guide is the setup we recommend after watching centres do it well and badly.

Why tuition centres are a good fit for a WhatsApp bot

The enrolment race has a measured shape. The Lead Response Management Study run with MIT found that contacting an enquiry within five minutes rather than thirty makes contact about 100 times more likely and qualification 21 times more likely (InsideSales.com and MIT, 2007), and Harvard Business Review later reported that most companies still respond nowhere near that fast (Harvard Business Review, 2011). A parent messaging three centres at 10pm decides on that gap.

Three things line up. The questions are highly repetitive and the answers live in documents you already have. The timing is awful for humans: enquiries peak when the centre is closed. And the cost of a slow reply is high, because a parent who asks three centres the same question enrols with whichever answers first.

What makes centres a bad fit is the other half of the phone: a live parent community. Group chats, homework photos, fee reminders, the principal's own conversations. A bot that wades into those is worse than no bot. The whole setup below is designed around that line.

What should a tuition centre chatbot know?

The bot only answers from what you give it, so this is where the work is. Aim for six short documents, pasted as text or uploaded as PDF:

Fees by subject, level and frequency, including registration and materials fees, and what happens for a missed class. If fees differ by branch, say which branch.
Timetable with days, times, level and current availability. Update it when a class fills; an accurate "Saturday 10am is full, Sunday 2pm has two seats" is the single most useful thing the bot can say.
Trial class policy: free or paid, how to book, what to bring.
Location and logistics: address, landmark, parking, nearest LRT or MRT, opening hours, school holiday schedule.
Teachers and results: qualifications, years teaching, exam boards covered, past results you are allowed to quote.
Payment: bank transfer details you are comfortable publishing, DuitNow or PayNow, whether you accept cards, refund policy.

Leave out anything you would not want quoted verbatim to a stranger. The bot will quote it.

Replai knowledge base with pasted fee sheet and timetable sources — The knowledge base: fees, timetable, trial policy, logistics. The bot answers from these and nothing else.

Keeping the bot out of your existing chats

This is the step most centres skip, and it is why they switch the bot off within a day.

When you pair a number that already has months of conversations on it, a naive bot answers all of them. Parents mid-discussion about a fee dispute get an AI reply. The principal's chat with a school gets a cheerful clarification question. We have seen exactly this happen.

Replai's default for a newly paired number is new conversations only: every thread that existed on the phone before pairing stays with your staff, and the bot only answers people who message for the first time. That is the right setting for a centre for at least the first month. Later, if you want it to cover an existing parent who asks about next term, you can release that one thread to the bot without opening the floodgates. The connect screen tells you which mode you are in before you scan.

If you evaluate another tool, ask this question first. If the answer is "it replies to everything", do not pair your main number.

Language

Malaysian and Singaporean centres hear from families in English, Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin, often inside the same message. The bot should follow the parent's language message by message rather than picking one at the start, and it should handle voice notes, because a lot of parents send them from the car. Replai does both, and our multilingual setup guide covers how to test it with mixed-language messages.

What does the first week with a tuition chatbot look like?

Day 1. Pair a dedicated business number, not the principal's personal one. Load the six documents. Leave the bot on new conversations only. Message it from a staff phone with ten real parent questions from last week and fix the documents where the answers are wrong.
Day 2 to 3. Let it answer new enquiries. Read every conversation in the dashboard each morning. Watch for the bot saying "let me check with the team" too often; that means a document is missing something.
Day 4 to 7. Turn on lead capture to a Google Sheet with columns for child's level, subject, preferred day and parent's number. Staff call the sheet back each morning.
After week one. Decide whether to let it cover existing parents. Most centres keep it on new-only and are happy.

What it costs

On Replai the Starter plan is $19 a month for one number and 120 conversations a cycle, where a conversation is one parent thread of up to five bot replies. Growth is $49 for up to three numbers, 300 conversations and outbound campaigns, useful if you run more than one branch or want to send term reminders. The AI is included, there are no per-message fees because the bot pairs to your existing number rather than the Meta API, and you can top up 100 conversations for $9 on Starter, $8 on Growth or $7 on Pro, in a busy enrolment month. There is a 7-day free trial with no card.

If you would rather see it on your own timetable before deciding, the tuition use case has a worked example, and our WhatsApp auto-reply guide for Malaysian small businesses covers the general setup.

Frequently asked questions

What questions can a WhatsApp chatbot answer for a tuition centre?: The repetitive ones: fees per subject and level, class timetable and availability, trial-class booking, location and parking, teacher qualifications, exam-board coverage and payment methods. Give it a fee sheet and a timetable and it answers those in the parent's language. Anything it cannot find in your material it hands to a human.
Will the bot reply inside my existing parent WhatsApp groups and chats?: Not if it is set to new conversations only, which is Replai's default for new accounts. Chats that were already on the phone when you paired, including long-running parent threads, stay with your staff. Only parents who message for the first time get the AI, and you can release a single old thread to it when you choose.
Can it answer parents in Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and English?: Yes, and it follows the parent's language message by message, including voice notes. A parent who opens in English and switches to Mandarin mid-conversation gets replies that switch with them. This matters in Malaysia and Singapore, where the same centre hears from families in three languages every week.
How much does a WhatsApp chatbot cost for a tuition centre?: On Replai, $19 a month for one number and 120 conversations a cycle, or $49 for up to three numbers and 300 conversations. The AI is included, there are no per-message fees because it pairs to your existing number, and a conversation is one parent thread of up to five replies. A 7-day trial needs no card.
How do we capture enquiries so staff can follow up?: Turn on lead capture. When a parent asks about a trial class or fees, the bot records the child's level, subject, preferred day and the parent's number to a Google Sheet your staff already use, then tells the parent someone will confirm. Staff work the sheet in the morning instead of scrolling the phone.

Sources

Lead Response Management Study, InsideSales.com and MIT, James Oldroyd, 2007
The Short Life of Online Sales Leads, Harvard Business Review, 2011-03

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