How to train AI on your photography studio: building the knowledge base

How an AI uses a knowledge base

When a client asks a question, the AI looks through the information you gave it, finds the most relevant parts and writes an answer from them. It’s only as good as that information. If your newborn page says one thing and your FAQ says another, expect confused answers. If something is missing, the AI may say it doesn’t know, or it may guess, which is why testing and handover rules matter.

What to include

• Each session type: who it’s for, length, what’s included, where it happens
• Prices, as a table, with what each includes
• Booking: how to book, the booking fee and when the balance is due
• Policies: rescheduling, cancellation, late arrival, weather
• After the session: how and when clients see their images, the viewing, products and delivery times
• Practical details: address, parking, access, what to wear and bring
• Niche details: newborn window and safety, sibling photos, pet rules, boudoir privacy
• Your 20 most asked questions, with your real answers

How to write it so the AI gets it right

• One fact, one place. Don’t repeat a price on three pages. When it changes, you’ll miss one.
• Tables for prices and packages, one row each, rather than paragraphs.
• Plain, specific sentences. “Newborn sessions are best in the first two weeks after birth” beats “we love fresh little ones”.
• Say what you don’t do. “We don’t offer unedited files.” “We don’t photograph weddings.”
• Write questions the way clients ask them. “Can we bring the dog?” “What if it rains?”
• Date anything seasonal, such as mini session dates and holiday order deadlines, and remove it when it’s over.

An example knowledge base entry

Here is one session written the way an AI reads best. The studio is fictional and the prices are placeholders.

Every session type gets the same headings, so the AI knows where to look.

Add instructions: tone and handover

The knowledge base holds facts. Instructions tell the AI how to behave:

• Tone: warm, short, no jargon, use the client’s first name, sign off as the studio
• Goal: answer the question, then offer to book or suggest times
• Hand over to a person for custom quotes, complaints, refunds, anything about a child’s health, boudoir questions about body confidence, and anything not in the knowledge base
• Never: promise discounts, invent availability or guess prices

Write your most asked questions properly

Go through a month of enquiries and copy out every question, in the client’s words. Group the duplicates, then write one clear answer for each, the way you’d say it to a client on the phone. Include the question wording clients use, such as “how much”, “what does it cost” and “price”, so the AI matches them all. For each answer, add the next step: a link, a booking offer or a handover.

Test it before clients see it

Ask the AI the questions real clients send, including the awkward ones:

• “How much is a newborn session?”
• “What if baby comes early?”
• “Can Grandma join the mini?”
• “My dog is reactive, is that okay?”
• “Who sees my boudoir photos?”
• “Can I get all the raw files?”

When an answer is wrong or vague, fix the source, not just the reply. Then start with the AI drafting replies for your team to approve for the first few weeks, and read what it writes.

Example instructions

Common mistakes

• Uploading everything. Old price lists and last year’s mini session pages confuse the AI. Remove what’s out of date.
• Vague policies. “We’re flexible” leads to vague answers. Say exactly what happens.
• No handover. An AI that must answer everything will eventually guess.
• Switching to full auto on day one. Approve replies first, and switch on automatic replies only for the questions it handles well.

Use the same knowledge on the phone

If you use an AI receptionist, give it the same knowledge base, so clients get the same answer by phone as by text. Phone answers should be shorter, so add a line to its instructions about keeping answers brief and offering to text details.

Keep it current

• Update prices and policies the day they change
• Add seasonal information, such as mini session dates, before you announce it, and remove it afterwards
• Each month, read a sample of AI conversations and add any question it struggled with
• Name one person as the owner of the knowledge base

Where Allio fits: In Allio, the AI knowledge base takes your website, FAQs, tables, written policies and files, and the same knowledge sits behind the AI enquiry replies and the AI receptionist.

Privacy and what not to include

Your knowledge base is what the AI can say to anyone who asks. Keep out client names, addresses, phone numbers and anything about individual bookings. Don’t include staff home numbers or internal notes. For boudoir and newborn work in particular, write the privacy policy into the knowledge base in plain words, so the AI can answer “who sees my photos?” exactly as you would.