Don't know where to start automating your business? Your website. Not because websites are exciting, but because that's where your data enters.
The Problem With Unstructured Data
A touring agency owner had a website that pushed everyone to call. One contact form existed, but the main CTA was "Call Us."
So they called. Dozens per day.
She spends half her day driving and the other half in areas with no cell signal. Missed calls don't call back.
When she could answer, every call started the same way: What tour? How many people? What dates? Any special needs?
Same questions. Over and over.
Her company offers multi-day tours, single-day tours, and accommodations. Most calls were for single-day tours and accommodations, simple requests with fixed prices and standard answers.
But because everything came through the phone, she couldn't see the pattern.
If you can't see the pattern, you can't automate it.
What Structured Data Looks Like
We rebuilt her website. (The old one was a WordPress mess, that's a different story.)
Instead of one generic form, we created a form for each service. Each one asks the right questions: which tour, how many people, what dates, any special requirements.
Now inquiries arrive labeled. She knows what they want before reading a word.
Patterns Become Pipelines
Once data is structured, patterns appear.
She noticed: 80% of inquiries were for single-day tours, and do not require a conversation.
Which makes it an automation opportunity, not a customer service problem.
Standard tour inquiry? Automated confirmation with availability.
Follow-up questions? Automated FAQ response.
Payment? Automated link.
Only custom tours need a conversation now.
The Sequence
If your website is slow, broken, or hard to update, fix that first. You can't build on a shaky foundation.
Then structure your incoming data. Replace generic forms with specific ones. Ask the right questions upfront so inquiries arrive labeled.
Once data is structured, patterns show up on their own. Which requests repeat? What questions keep appearing? Where are you giving the same answer every time?
Start automating the repeats. One confirmation email. One FAQ response. Something small.
Once you see it working, the next opportunities become obvious.
What This Looked Like For Her
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| One generic contact form | Forms per service type |
| Every inquiry looked identical | Inquiries arrive structured |
| Dozens of calls per day | Automated responses |
| Manual reading, manual response | Automated pipelines |
| No visibility into patterns | Standard tours handled automatically |
| Missed calls = lost bookings | Personal attention for custom tours only |
The Lesson
Automation at this stage is simpler than most people think: structured data, visible patterns, basic pipelines. No chatbots required.
Start with your website. Structure what's coming in. The rest follows.