Business settings

What it is

This is the Settings screen of your business panel. It groups, in cards, every global setting that affects how the assistant behaves: response times, keywords, state transitions, tags, notifications, manual-mode triggers, time zone, office hours, and external integrations.

Unlike the AI Agent (which defines what the AI says), here you define how and when the AI operates in your account.

Connection with external assistants (MCP)

Lets you manage the business in natural language from ChatGPT or Claude. After connecting your private link, you can ask them to update agents, follow-ups, sales links, content, or to simulate responses before activating them.

Availability

The MCP connection is only available on the Business and Annual plans.

Response time

Setting	What it does	Range
Minimum minutes to send a message	The AI waits between N and N+1 minutes before sending each reply, so the conversation feels human.	1–3590 min

Keywords

A block that defines the business keywords. You can enable “Reply only to keywords” mode so the AI ignores any message that doesn’t contain them, and route matches to a specific AI. See the Keywords page for the details.

State Transition Conditions

Defines, in natural language, when a lead moves between the states the AI actively manages:

• Qualifying — default: “When the first qualifying question is asked”.
• Client — default: “When they confirm they have paid”.
• Booked — default: “When they confirm they have booked”.
• Unqualified — define when the lead is not a good fit.
• Postponed — default: “When the lead indicates they want to be contacted later”.

Leaving a condition empty disables that transition. Other transitions (Proposal, Open, Lost) are automatic and can’t be edited here.

Tags

Create, edit, or delete the tags the AI will automatically apply to conversations as they evolve. Details on the Tags page.

Extra notification recipients

A list of additional emails and phone numbers that receive tag notifications, by email or SMS. Useful to alert the team when a conversation falls into a specific category.

Closer notifications

Configure closer emails and choose which lead state changes trigger the report. By default only Booked is notified; optionally you can also enable Proposal and Client.

Manual-mode triggers

These toggles switch a lead into manual mode when a condition is met. In manual mode the AI stops replying until you reactivate the lead.

If you need a trigger based on what the lead says (rather than a concrete action), use the Switch-to-Manual Condition: describe the situation in natural language and the AI will switch the lead when it detects it.

Setting	What it does
If you reply from Instagram	If you reply to the lead manually from Instagram with a text message, the AI stops responding automatically. Only text messages count — audio, images, and other media are ignored.
If the business sends the first welcome message	Switches the lead to manual when the business is the one starting the conversation with a text message.
If the AI sends a sales link	After sending a sales link, the AI stops continuing the conversation. Useful to keep it from talking past the booking or checkout page.
Remove Spanish opening punctuation (¿ and ¡)	Cosmetic: removes ¿ and ¡ from every reply, including follow-ups.

If you use ManyChat

Don’t enable “If you reply from Instagram” when you use ManyChat alongside ZeroChats — it can cause leads to switch to manual unintentionally.

Welcome messages

ZeroChats doesn’t send proactive welcome messages due to Meta API limitations: the AI only responds when the lead writes first. If you need an automated welcome message, we recommend combining it with a tool like ManyChat.

Time zone

Configure the business time zone. It’s used both for statistics and to accurately compute office hours. There are predefined zones for Latin America, Europe, North America, Asia, Oceania, and Africa.

Office hours

Define when the AI can send messages. If disabled, the AI replies 24/7. If you enable it, you pick a start and end time (in the business time zone).

Setting	What it does
Enable Office Hours	Enables or disables the hours restriction.
Start time / End time	Range during which the AI and follow-ups send messages.

Behavior outside business hours

Messages that arrive outside office hours are processed when it’s back inside the active window. Follow-ups also respect office hours.

GoHighLevel integration

Connect your GoHighLevel account to automatically create contacts as soon as a lead has its first interaction. Once connected, you can also use the GHL calendar to book appointments.

Ignored users

A list of Instagram users and WhatsApp numbers the AI must not reply to. Useful for excluding internal accounts, partners, or test numbers.

• For WhatsApp include the country prefix (e.g. +34612345678).
• For Instagram enter the username (e.g. @juan_perez).
• You can add several at once with Bulk Add (one per line).

Owner actions

Available only to the business owner:

Action	What it does
Clone Business	Creates a copy of the current business with its settings.
Share business	Grants other users access to the business panel.

Best practices

• Configure the time zone first, then the office hours — hours depend on the zone.
• Start with 1 minute for the minimum minutes setting. Raise it only if your sector calls for more relaxed replies.
• Define state transitions in clear, concrete language. Avoid vague verbs like “when they show interest”.
• If you have a sales team, add their emails to Closer notifications and enable the states they want to track.
• Review Ignored users before launch: include at least your internal test phone numbers.