AI chatbot development for Belgian businesses

The Belgian support problem

A customer in Ghent writes in Dutch, one in Namur writes in French, and a visitor in Brussels may switch between the two in one message. Many Belgian teams cannot staff every language at every hour, so questions wait until the morning. A chatbot that answers common questions in the right language, and says clearly when it cannot, shortens that wait without replacing your staff.

How the chatbot is built

This retrieval design is described in more detail in our RAG chatbot work. To decide between scripted and AI chat, see AI chatbot vs rule-based chatbot.

Channels

We deploy the bot where your customers already are: a chat widget on your site, a web form assistant, email drafts for your team, or WhatsApp through the official business route. Each channel has its own consent and message rules. WhatsApp in particular needs an approved business account and clear opt-in, and we plan that with you before building.

Rules to plan for

• GDPR. The Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD/GBA) enforces it. Chat logs can contain personal data, so we limit what is stored, avoid sending unneeded details to the model and agree a data processing contract with the provider.
• EU AI Act. People should generally be told they are chatting with an AI system. We add a clear label and a route to a human. Timing of each duty is phased, so confirm with your lawyer.
• Consumer promises. A bot must not invent prices, delivery dates or refund terms. We restrict answers to sourced content and show the source link when useful.
• Cookies. If the widget sets non-essential cookies, it loads after consent.

Our AI chatbot script template helps you collect the first set of questions. None of this is legal advice.

Measuring whether it works

A chatbot should earn its place with numbers you can read. We agree a few measures before launch: the share of chats resolved without a person, the share handed to staff, the share rated unhelpful, and the common questions the bot could not answer. We review them with you monthly and use the gaps to improve the source content first, before touching the model settings.

Cost is part of the review. Each reply uses model tokens billed by the provider, so we watch the average conversation length and trim retrieval and prompts that waste usage. If volumes grow, we can compare providers and models on quality and price. Our OpenAI vs Claude API comparison covers the trade-offs.

Testing in Dutch and French

Before launch we build a test set from your inbox: 100 or more real questions per language where you have them, plus awkward ones such as angry messages, mixed language and questions the bot should refuse. We score each answer for accuracy, tone and correct hand-off, record failures and fix the source content or prompt. A native speaker from your team reviews the wording.

Project flow and price

We are remote. Belgium is 3.5 hours behind India in summer and 4.5 hours in winter, so Belgian mornings are easy to book. You get a prototype in the first weeks, a weekly demo and one lead. Projects start at $1,500 and our rate is $30 an hour, in US dollars; model usage is billed by the provider. See the AI chatbot cost guide and our Belgium AI overview. VAT on our services is normally reverse-charged at 21% by a Belgian VAT-registered buyer; confirm with your accountant.