Aeri: The AI Chatbot That Captures Leads While You Sleep
Aeri is Centripe's website chatbot. It sits on your pages, answers visitor questions using your knowledge base, captures contact information, qualifies prospects with preset questions, and hands off to a live agent when the conversation needs a human - with the full chat history preserved.
What Aeri Does on Your Website
Not a rule-based chat tree. A conversational AI that reads your knowledge base and talks like a human.
Answers Visitor Questions Instantly
A visitor lands on your pricing page and types "Do you offer monthly plans?" Aeri pulls the answer from your uploaded knowledge base and responds in under a second. No waiting for business hours. No "submit a ticket and we'll get back to you." The visitor gets their answer and stays on the page instead of bouncing to a competitor.
Captures Lead Information
During the conversation, Aeri naturally collects name, email, phone number, and company name. It doesn't ask for everything upfront in a form - it asks as the conversation progresses, the same way a human would. "I can send you more details - what's the best email to reach you?" The info goes straight into the CRM as a new contact.
Qualifies Prospects Automatically
You configure qualifying questions: company size, budget, timeline, use case. Aeri weaves them into the conversation naturally. A visitor who says "We're a 50-person agency looking to consolidate our tools" gets tagged as high-value. One who says "Just browsing for a school project" gets a polite thank-you and a resource link instead of a sales push.
Hands Off to Live Agents
Books Appointments Mid-Chat
If the visitor is qualified and ready to take the next step, Aeri can offer calendar time slots right inside the chat window. "Want to book a 15-minute demo? I have slots Tuesday at 2 PM or Thursday at 10 AM." The booking syncs to your appointment calendar with confirmations sent via email and SMS.
Works After Hours Without Compromise
Most B2B website traffic happens during work hours, but a good chunk of high-intent visitors browse evenings and weekends. Aeri handles those conversations with the same quality as during business hours - full knowledge base access, lead capture, qualification, and booking. Your team picks up warm leads Monday morning instead of cold form submissions.
Aeri vs Webchat Widget vs AI Receptionist
Centripe has three communication tools. Here's when you use each one.
| Aeri (AI Chatbot) | Webchat Widget | AI Receptionist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence | AI-powered — understands natural language, reads knowledge base | Basic — live chat for human agents, no AI responses | AI-powered — handles voice calls + chat |
| Channel | Website chat widget | Website chat widget | Phone calls + chat + SMS |
| Autonomy | Answers independently, escalates when stuck | Requires human agent to reply | Answers independently, transfers when needed |
| Best for | High-traffic websites, after-hours lead capture | Teams that want human-only conversations | Inbound phone calls, multi-channel reception |
| After hours | Fully functional — answers, qualifies, books | Shows "We're offline" or collects a message | Fully functional — answers calls 24/7 |
Many agencies use Aeri for website chat and the AI Receptionist for phone calls - covering both channels with AI, no human needed during off-hours.
How a Chat Conversation Actually Works
From the first message to CRM update - here's what happens behind the widget.
Visitor opens the chat
They click the chat icon on your website. Aeri greets them with a message you customize - "Hi! Looking for something specific, or just browsing?" The greeting can change based on which page the visitor is on. Someone on your pricing page gets a different opener than someone on a blog post.
Visitor asks a question
"What's included in the Pro plan?" - Aeri uses natural language processing to understand the intent, not keyword matching. It doesn't need the visitor to type exact phrases. "How much is the middle plan?", "Tell me about the Pro tier", and "What do I get for $297?" all map to the same answer.
Aeri answers from your knowledge base
The response pulls from the content you uploaded during setup - your FAQ, pricing details, feature descriptions, service terms. Aeri cites the right information and can follow up with related details: "The Pro plan includes CRM, email automation, and AI tools. Want me to walk through the differences between Pro and Enterprise?"
Lead capture happens naturally
Instead of a lead form popup, Aeri asks for contact info as part of the conversation: "I can email you a comparison sheet - what's your email?" This converts better than static forms because the visitor is already engaged in a dialogue. Name, email, phone, and company get mapped to CRM fields automatically.
Qualification and next step
If the visitor is a good fit, Aeri offers a next step: book a demo, schedule a call, or download a resource. If they're not a fit (wrong industry, too small, not ready), Aeri wraps up politely and offers an alternative - a blog post, a comparison guide, or a newsletter signup. No hard sell.
CRM gets updated
A new contact record is created (or the existing one updated) with: chat transcript, source page, qualification score, tags, and any appointments booked. The conversation appears in the omni-channel inbox alongside the contact's email and SMS history. The next person who talks to this lead sees everything.
Setting Up Aeri on Your Website
No developer needed. Four steps, about 15 minutes.
1. Upload your knowledge base
Paste your FAQ answers, product descriptions, pricing details, and service terms. You can also point Aeri to pages on your website and let it extract the content automatically. The more information you provide, the more questions it can answer without escalating.
2. Set your chat personality
Choose the tone - professional, friendly, casual, or custom. Set the greeting message, fallback responses, and conversation style. If your brand is playful, Aeri can be playful. If your brand is buttoned-up enterprise, Aeri matches that. You preview the personality in a test chat before going live.
3. Define qualifying questions
Tell Aeri what to ask: budget range, team size, timeline, use case - whatever your sales team uses to qualify leads. Set the criteria that determine whether a visitor is qualified enough to get the "book a demo" offer or whether they get a softer next step like a resource download.
4. Add the widget to your site
Copy a single line of code and paste it into your website's header — or use the WordPress plugin, or add it through your Centripe-hosted landing pages and website builder where it's already built in. The widget appears in the corner of every page you choose. Style it to match your brand colors.
How Agencies Use Aeri Across Client Accounts
Each client sub-account gets its own chatbot - separate branding, separate knowledge base, separate data.
White-labeled per client
Your dental client's website shows a chatbot that says "Welcome to [Dental Practice Name]!" - your agency name never appears. Each client's Aeri instance uses that client's knowledge base, pricing, and branding. Full white-label separation, same as the rest of Centripe.
Replaces contact forms
Static forms have 3-5% conversion rates. Conversational chat captures 10-15% because visitors are already engaged in a dialogue before they give their info. Agencies that replace their clients' "Contact Us" forms with Aeri see more leads from the same traffic - no extra ad spend.
Covers off-hours without staff
Most small business clients can't afford a 24/7 receptionist. Aeri gives them after-hours coverage at the cost of a software subscription. A lead that visits the client's website at 10 PM on a Saturday gets the same instant response as one who visits at 10 AM on a Tuesday.
How Aeri Connects to the Rest of Centripe
Chat conversations don't live in a silo. They feed into your entire CRM workflow.
| Connects To | What Happens |
|---|---|
| AI Copilot | When Aeri escalates to a human agent, the copilot summarizes the chat and drafts a suggested response so the agent can reply instantly without reading the full transcript. |
| Lead Scoring | Every chatbot interaction feeds the lead score: opened chat (+3), asked about pricing (+10), provided email (+15), booked demo (+25). The score updates in real time on the contact record. |
| Lead Nurturing | Visitors who chat but don't book enter a nurture sequence automatically. Aeri tags them ("chatted, interested, not ready") and the automation sends a follow-up email series over the next 2 weeks. |
| Sales Funnels | Embed Aeri on specific funnel pages. On the pricing page, it answers pricing questions. On the case study page, it offers to book a demo. Each funnel step can have different Aeri behavior configured. |
| Segmentation | Chatbot interactions create segments automatically: "Visitors who asked about Enterprise plan," "Leads who mentioned budget over $5K," "Prospects in healthcare vertical." Use these segments for targeted campaigns. |
| Workflow AI Action | Trigger post-chat automations: send a follow-up SMS 30 minutes later, notify the account owner on Slack, create a deal in the pipeline, or add the contact to a specific email sequence — all based on what Aeri learned during the conversation. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about our AI chatbot platform
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