Could an AI Receptionist Improve Your Website? My Experience with Evrella
A website should do more than look beautiful.
It should help people find the information they need, understand what you offer and, ideally, take the next step towards working with you.
But what happens when someone visits your website outside your usual working hours and has a question?
This is something I have been thinking about increasingly at Sophisticated Cloud, particularly as I work with businesses and individuals who want their website to become a more useful part of their digital presence.
Recently, I discovered Evrella, an AI receptionist from Hampshire-based PuglieseWeb, and decided to install it on the Sophisticated Cloud website.
I have been very happy with the result.
What is Evrella?
Evrella is an AI receptionist designed to answer questions from your website visitors.
What particularly appealed to me is that it isn't simply a generic AI chatbot.
Evrella uses the information you provide through your own website pages and documents to answer questions. If it doesn't have the information, it doesn't simply invent an answer. Instead, it can invite the visitor to leave their details so that the enquiry can be passed on to you.
For a business website, I think that distinction is important.
The aim isn't to replace the person behind the business. It is to make the website more useful when that person isn't available.
Why I decided to add it to the Sophisticated Cloud website
I specialise exclusively in Squarespace, and one of the things I like about the platform is that a well-designed website can be relatively straightforward for a business to manage and evolve.
But even the most carefully considered website has limitations.
I cannot be online answering questions at 10pm.
I don't want to be.
And neither should most business owners.
We all have clients to look after, projects to work on and lives away from our screens.
Yet potential clients don't necessarily visit websites between 9am and 5pm.
They might be researching a web designer in the evening, looking at services over the weekend or simply have a question while I am away from my desk.
Evrella provides another layer of assistance without requiring me to be permanently available.
It answers from my website
This is probably the feature I like most.
Evrella is designed to answer from the information published on your website rather than simply producing generic responses.
That means the quality of the answers is connected to the quality of your own content.
In a way, this makes your website even more important.
Your service pages, FAQs, pricing information and other useful content aren't just there for human visitors or search engines. They can also become a knowledge base that helps an AI receptionist answer questions about your business.
And if there is something missing?
That can actually be useful information for you.
If visitors repeatedly ask questions that your website doesn't answer, perhaps your website needs another page, a clearer explanation or a more detailed FAQ.
Your visitors are effectively showing you where the gaps are.
It doesn't pretend to be human
Another aspect I appreciate is that Evrella isn't trying to disguise itself as a member of my team.
For me, transparency matters.
There is a difference between using AI to make a website more helpful and creating an artificial conversation that gives the impression a human is sitting behind the screen.
Evrella's approach is much more straightforward.
It can provide information from the website and, when it cannot help, encourage the visitor to leave their details so the enquiry can reach the business.
That feels much more appropriate for a professional website.
What happens when it can't answer?
This is another important point.
AI is not appropriate for every question.
There will always be situations where a visitor needs to speak to a real person, particularly when a question involves something specific to their individual circumstances.
Evrella recognises that boundary.
If the information isn't available, it can direct the visitor towards leaving their details rather than making something up.
For me, that is exactly how AI should complement a website: help where it can, and know when to hand over to a human.
A particularly useful addition for service businesses
I can see this being particularly useful for professional service businesses that receive the same questions repeatedly.
Think about questions such as:
What services do you offer?
Do you work with clients outside the UK?
How does the process work?
How much does your service cost?
Do you work with my type of business?
What happens after I make an enquiry?
How can I get started?
These questions may already be answered somewhere on your website, but visitors don't always find the information themselves.
An AI receptionist creates another route into that information.
Instead of expecting someone to navigate through several pages, they can simply ask.
What about Squarespace?
For Squarespace website owners, the installation is relatively straightforward.
Evrella can be added to an existing website using a small piece of code, and PuglieseWeb provides installation guidance for Squarespace as well as other website platforms.
As someone who works exclusively with Squarespace, I particularly liked the fact that I could add it to my existing website rather than needing to rebuild anything.
That is important.
Good technology should fit into your existing digital presence rather than forcing you to redesign everything around it.
AI should enhance the website, not replace it
There is a temptation at the moment to think that adding AI automatically makes a website more sophisticated.
I don't think it does.
A beautiful, well-structured and intuitive website still matters.
Clear navigation still matters.
Good writing still matters.
Strong photography, accessibility, mobile responsiveness, SEO and a thoughtful user journey still matter.
AI can sit alongside all of those things.
In fact, the better your website content is, the more useful a tool like Evrella can potentially become.
That is one of the reasons I find the concept interesting from a web design perspective.
It reinforces something I have always believed: your website should be an active part of your business, not simply an online brochure.
My experience so far
I've now installed Evrella on the Sophisticated Cloud website and I'm very happy with it.
It feels like a natural addition rather than something that has been bolted on for the sake of having an AI feature.
For me, the appeal is simple.
My website can now provide another level of assistance to visitors when I am not at my desk, while still directing people towards me when they need a conversation with a real person.
And ultimately, that's what I want my website to do.
To be useful.
Is an AI receptionist right for your website?
I don't think every website needs one.
But if your business receives the same questions regularly, if you have useful information already published across your website, or if potential clients often visit outside your working hours, an AI receptionist could be worth considering.
For me, Evrella is an interesting example of how AI can be used in a practical and relatively understated way.
Not to replace the business owner.
Not to replace good website design.
And certainly not to replace human interaction.
Simply to make the website a little more helpful.
And sometimes, that is exactly what good technology should do.
Want to try Evrella?
Evrella is developed by PuglieseWeb, a UK technology company, and offers a 30-day free trial with no card required to start. It can be added to an existing website, including Squarespace.
If you're curious, I would recommend trying the chat on their own website and asking it a question. It's a rather good way of seeing how the technology works in practice.
Collection: The Art of Digital Presence
