How SUBLAKE works

SUBLAKE is an all-in-one AI front office for local service businesses and small teams. Instead of juggling a separate phone service, chat widget, booking tool, customer list, and payments app, you get one place — run by AI employees that answer your customers, book appointments, follow up, and get you paid, 24/7.

Who it's for

Local service businesses and SMBs — dental and medical practices, law firms, home services (HVAC, plumbing, electrical), auto shops, salons and med spas, veterinary clinics, accounting practices, and similar businesses that live and die by answered calls and booked appointments.

What it does

• Answers every inbound call, text, and message — in your voice, around the clock
• Books appointments straight into your calendar
• Keeps one record of every customer across every channel
• Sends reminders and follows up so fewer customers slip away
• Takes payments from your customers

The idea

You hire AI employees the way you'd hire a person. They share one customer brain, work together, and never clock out — for one simple monthly price.

SUBLAKE gives you AI employees that work as a team on a shared foundation.

One shared customer record

Every call, text, chat, and email about a customer lands in a single record. When your AI Receptionist answers a call, your AI Office Manager already has the context to follow up. Nothing is siloed.

Every channel, one inbox

Every inbound channel — phone, SMS, web chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger — flows into one unified inbox, and the email you send from your own address appears in the thread too. You reply from one place; customers get answered on the channel they used.

Always on

Your AI works nights, weekends, and holidays — so you never lose a customer because you were busy with another one.

You can be live in a few minutes.

1. Add your business details

Open Business Info and add your hours, services, and address. Your AI uses these facts to answer customers accurately.

2. Connect one channel

Start with the channel you get the most customers on — a phone number, the web chat widget, or a messaging app. Add the rest later.

3. Try it

Use the Test Call to hear your AI answer, or send your web chat a test message. When it sounds right, you're live.

Start with one channel and one set of business facts. You'll see the whole loop end-to-end without any noise, then add more.

SUBLAKE includes two AI employees today, bundled into one product. Both work 24/7 against the same shared customer record.

AI Receptionist — Aria

Answers inbound calls, texts, web chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and email. Books appointments, answers questions about your business, qualifies new customers, and takes a message when something needs you.

AI Office Manager — Max

Handles the follow-through: following up on conversations that went quiet, recovering no-shows, sending reminders, and routing work to the right place.

They share one brain

Because both read and write to the same customer record, a call answered by Aria can arm a follow-up from Max automatically. One shared context, working together.

More on the way

Additional AI employees are planned for future releases.

Aria answers your customers automatically, in your voice.

What Aria does

• Answers inbound calls, texts, web chat, WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, Messenger, and email
• Answers questions about your hours, services, pricing, and policies
• Books appointments into your calendar
• Recognizes returning customers and greets them by name
• Takes a message and notifies you when something needs a human

Bilingual

Aria handles English and Spanish at parity, and can switch when a caller does.

You stay in control

Aria only knows what you tell it. Set its tone, knowledge, and rules under your AI's settings — see Training Your AI.

Max owns the follow-through that keeps your day on track.

What Max does

• Follows up on conversations that went quiet
• Recovers no-shows and missed appointments
• Sends appointment reminders
• Routes new customers and tasks to the right place

Outbound, with your rules

Max handles outreach on your behalf according to the cadence and channels you allow, working alongside Aria on the same shared customer record.

Status

Max is rolling out follow-up workflows now, with more capabilities landing in upcoming releases.

Your AI is only as good as what it knows — and you control that.

Business Info: your facts

Business Info is the one place for your business details — name, hours, services, address, and logo. Every AI employee reads from it, so you update a fact once and it's used everywhere.

Brain: tone, knowledge, and rules

Each AI employee has a Brain where you set:

• Tone — how it sounds (professional, friendly, direct)
• Knowledge — answers to the questions your customers actually ask
• Rules — specific do's and don'ts for how it should behave

Grounded in your business

Your AI answers from your business facts and your rules — not from guesswork. When it isn't sure, it takes a message instead of making something up.

You're always informed — your AI never disappears with a customer.

How you're notified

• A notification the moment a call, message, or booking comes in
• One unified inbox that collects every interaction
• Full context attached — the summary and the customer's history in one place

What your AI never decides alone

Some situations your AI never tries to resolve on its own — it takes a message and notifies you so you can step in:

• Refunds or disputed charges
• Legal threats
• Abusive or hostile callers

On a phone call

Your AI never transfers a live call to you. It takes a message and promises a callback, then notifies you right away with the full context — so your day isn't interrupted by your own phone ringing.

Hear your AI before your customers do.

Test Call

From your voice settings, use the Test Call to have your AI call your own phone. You'll hear it answer in your chosen voice, using your business facts.

Test your web chat

Open your own website after adding the chat widget and send it a question — you'll see exactly what a visitor sees.

Test a few real-sounding questions before you go live, and adjust the Brain until it answers the way you'd want.

Get a business number, or bring your own.

Buy a new number

Under Integrations → Phone, pick an area code, choose from available numbers, and activate. Your AI starts answering right away.

Port your existing number

Keep the number your customers already know. Start a port under Integrations → Phone; while it transfers (typically a few business days) we provide a temporary number so nothing goes dark.

Freedom to leave

You can port your number out to another provider at any time. No lock-in.

Configure how your AI sounds and behaves on the phone.

What you can set

• Identity — your AI's name and voice
• Languages — English, Spanish, or both
• Business hours — how it answers during and after hours
• Recording disclosure — the notice played if you choose to record calls
• Greeting and instructions — what it says and how it handles calls

Everything is editable in plain language — no scripts to code.

Natural conversation

Your AI is built to handle real conversations — interruptions, pauses, and follow-up questions — so it feels like a real front desk, not a phone menu.

SUBLAKE handles the rules of texting so you don't have to.

Opt-out is automatic

• A customer who replies STOP (or UNSUBSCRIBE, END, CANCEL, QUIT) is opted out immediately, with a confirmation
• Replying START opts them back in
• Replying HELP returns help information
• Keywords are case-insensitive and work in English and Spanish

Transactional texts

Reminders and confirmations are sent in response to a booking or a message the customer sent first, and your business name appears in the text so customers always know who it's from.

See the Messaging (SMS) Terms for full details.

Add a chat widget to your website in about a minute.

Install

Under Integrations → Web Chat, copy the embed snippet and paste it into your site. It works on common site builders and plain HTML.

Make it yours

Choose a style and position, set your brand color (with a built-in contrast check), and preview it live as you edit.

Lock it to your site

Pin the widget to your own domains so your snippet can't be reused on someone else's site.

It answers like your Receptionist

Every web chat runs on the same AI and business facts as the rest of SUBLAKE — one consistent voice everywhere.

Connect your WhatsApp Business account so your AI can answer there too.

How it works

Under Integrations → WhatsApp, connect your WhatsApp Business account. Incoming messages flow into your unified inbox, and your AI replies in your voice.

Interactive replies

Your AI can offer quick-reply buttons and option lists — for example, when proposing appointment times — so customers can respond with a tap.

Answer Instagram DMs and Facebook Messenger from the same inbox.

Connect

Under Integrations, connect your Instagram or Facebook page. The same AI handles both.

What's supported

• Incoming DMs and story replies route to your unified inbox
• Your AI replies in your voice
• Photos and videos are handled

You're notified on every new message so nothing slips.

Send email from your own address.

Outbound only

Connect Gmail or Outlook to send from your business address. SUBLAKE requests send-only access — it does not read your inbox.

For inbound customer messages

Use Phone, Web Chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, or Messenger — those are your always-on inbound channels.

Every channel in one place, with one record per customer.

What you see

• A list of conversations you can filter by channel, unread, drafts, or archived
• The conversation itself in the middle
• The customer's full history alongside it

Channels

SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, web chat, and phone calls (as summaries) all land here, along with the email you send from your own address. (Email is send-only — for inbound customer messages, use phone, web chat, or a messaging channel.)

One customer, one thread

The same customer across email today and WhatsApp tomorrow is the same record — you always have the full picture.

The reply box does more than send text.

AI rewrite

Type a draft and let the AI polish it — make it more formal, friendlier, shorter, or translated — using what it knows about the customer.

Send from the right address

If you have more than one connected inbox, choose which one to send from.

Undo send

Every send has a short undo window, so a message you sent by mistake never actually leaves.

When a customer calls, your AI knows who they are before it says hello.

Greeting by name

If the caller is already in your records, your AI opens with their name and their context — for example, an upcoming appointment — instead of treating them like a stranger.

Why it matters

It makes your AI feel like a real front desk that remembers your customers.

Your AI books appointments straight from a conversation.

How it works

1. A customer asks for a time
2. Your AI checks your real availability
3. It offers open slots
4. The customer picks one and it's booked
5. A confirmation goes out with the time and a calendar link

Two customers can't grab the same slot — the final check happens at the moment of booking, so you never get a double-booking.

SUBLAKE has its own calendar, and syncs with Google.

Built-in calendar

Every workspace has a calendar. Appointments your AI books land here and respect your business hours and blocked times.

Google Calendar

Connect Google under Integrations → Calendar. SUBLAKE pushes bookings to your Google Calendar and reads your busy times before offering slots — so it never books over something you already have.

Outlook

Outlook sync is planned for an upcoming release.

Control when your AI can book.

Hours

Set your weekly hours in Business Info. Your AI only offers times you're actually open.

Around your existing schedule

Your AI only offers times inside your set hours and works around the appointments already on your calendar, so it won't book over something you already have.

Accept payments from your customers, built in.

How it works

Set up payments once under Payments. You can send a customer a secure payment link by email or share it directly, and get paid to your bank.

You're the merchant

Payments go directly to you. SUBLAKE helps you collect them; you remain responsible for your own goods, services, and refunds.

Secure by design

Card details are handled by our payment provider and are never stored on SUBLAKE's servers.

Take a card in person, right on your phone.

In-person payments

Tap to Pay lets a customer tap their card or phone to pay you in person — no extra hardware.

Availability

Tap to Pay is rolling out in the SUBLAKE mobile app. Payment links work everywhere today, including on the web.

Your money, to your bank.

How payouts work

When a customer pays you, the funds settle to the bank account you connect during payments setup. You can see your balance and payout activity under Payments.

Fees

Any processing fees are shown to you before you take a payment. SUBLAKE doesn't add a surprise markup.

Business Info is the single home for your business facts.

What lives here

• Business name, address, and hours
• Services and pricing
• Public contact details
• Your logo

Why it matters

Every AI employee, your booking page, and your web chat all read from Business Info. Update a fact once, and it's correct everywhere.

Every customer is one record, unified across channels.

One record per customer

When someone contacts you — by call, text, chat, or email — SUBLAKE matches them to an existing record or creates one. The same person across different channels stays a single record, so you never have duplicates or half the story.

Built automatically

Records are built from real interactions — you don't have to type anything in. Each one holds the customer's history and the context your AI (and you) need to help them.

Your data is protected in transit and at rest.

How we protect it

• Encrypted in transit and at rest
• Each business's data is isolated from every other business's
• Access is limited to what's needed to run the service
• Regular backups

Card details are never stored on SUBLAKE's servers — they're handled by our PCI-DSS Level 1 payment provider. For the full picture, see our Security page.

SUBLAKE is built to keep your outbound calls and texts compliant.

Consent first

Before a text or call goes out to a customer, SUBLAKE checks that consent exists — for example, from a booking, a form, or a message they sent you first.

Opt-out always works

STOP opts a customer out immediately and START opts them back in — case-insensitive, in English and Spanish. Every opt-in and opt-out is recorded.

You remain responsible for your relationships with your customers; SUBLAKE gives you the tooling to stay compliant.

Recording is optional and disclosed.

Disclosure

If you enable recording, a disclosure is played at the start of the call. You can set the wording.

Your responsibility

You're responsible for any recording notice or consent required where your callers are located — including places that require all parties to consent. See the Terms of Service.

Access, export, and delete your data on your terms.

Export your data

From Billing, you can export your workspace data as a single spreadsheet — one tab per type — and get a secure download link by email. Open it in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers.

Delete a customer's data

You can delete a customer and all of their linked data from their record.

Portability, no lock-in

Your export is yours — taking your data elsewhere is fully supported.

For privacy rights under GDPR and CCPA, see our Privacy Policy, GDPR, and Do Not Sell pages.

SUBLAKE runs on a small set of trusted providers.

Sub-processors

We use vetted providers for hosting, telephony and texting, AI, payments, and email. Each is bound by a data-processing agreement and may only use your data to provide services to us.

The current list — what each one does and where — is on our Sub-processors page.

Closing your account is reversible for 30 days.

30-day grace

When you delete your workspace, access stops right away, but your data is kept for 30 days in case you change your mind. After 30 days it's permanently removed.

See the Account Deletion page for the full process.

Simple plans that bundle your AI employees and tools.

Two plans

• Pro — $99/month
• Business — $299/month

Both include your AI employees and the built-in tools (calls, texting, web chat, email, scheduling, and your customer records). See the Pricing page for the current limits on each.

14-day free trial

Start free, no credit card. Try your AI end-to-end. Add a card when you're ready to keep going.

More than one location?

Contact us about multi-location pricing.

Each plan includes a set amount of calls, texts, email, and customer records.

No overage, no surprises

When you reach a plan limit, outbound calls and texts pause — but inbound calls and messages always come through. There are no overage charges and no surprise bills.

Need more?

Upgrade to Business for higher limits, anytime, from Billing. Your usage is always visible with month-to-date and projected totals.

Change or cancel anytime.

Upgrade or change plan

From Billing, pick a plan and confirm — changes take effect right away or at your next renewal, as shown.

Cancel

Cancel from Billing. You keep access through the end of the period you've paid for.

Payment issues

If a payment fails, you get a grace period and reminders before anything changes, and you can update your card from Billing to resolve it immediately.

Everything you need for your records.

Invoices

Download any invoice as a PDF from Billing, with your business details and line items.

Payment methods

Add or replace a card in Billing. Card details are handled entirely by our payment provider — SUBLAKE never stores your card number.

Tax

Applicable sales tax or VAT is added where required. Need a VAT ID or other detail on your invoices? Contact us and we'll add it.

Quick fixes for the most common questions.

"My AI answered something wrong"

Open the conversation to see what happened, then add the missing fact or rule to your AI's Brain. Test it again to confirm.

"My web chat isn't showing"

• Make sure the snippet is on the page
• Make sure the page's domain is in your allowed domains
• Refresh the page

"I'm not getting notifications"

• Check that notifications are turned on in Settings → Notifications
• Allow notifications for the site in your browser
• On mobile, install SUBLAKE to your home screen to receive push notifications

When you need a person.

Contact support

Reach us from Settings → Support, or email support@sublake.com. We reply within one business day.

What to include

• What you tried
• What you expected
• What actually happened
• A screenshot if it's visual

The more detail you give, the faster we can help.