The support bot’s job is to answer the easy questions instantly and hand everything else to you, with no friction for the customer. It only ever answers from articles you’ve published.
What happens when a customer asks#
Find relevant articles
The question is matched against every published article. Words in the title count most, then the excerpt, then the body, with a bonus when the whole question appears in a title. The best three matches are kept.
Write the answer
With AI answers on, Claude writes a short, natural answer using only those articles and the last few messages of the conversation. With AI off, the bot replies with the best article’s summary and a link.
Cite the sources
The articles used appear under the answer as cards that open the full article in your help center.
Offer a next step
Every bot answer shows two buttons: That helped, which resolves the conversation, and Talk to a human, which hands it to you.
Two modes#
Customers are told it’s a bot#
While the bot is handling a conversation, the widget shows a notice under its header (“You’re chatting with an AI assistant, not a person. A human is one tap away.”) and labels every bot message AI assistant. If AI answers are off, the wording says automated assistant instead, so it always matches what is really answering. Once a person takes over, the notice goes away. You can’t switch the notice off, because some regions (for example the EU) require it.
While the bot is handling a conversation#
Conversations the bot is handling have the status Bot. They aren’t in your Open queue, but you can see them all under Inbox → Bot handling. You can jump in at any time: replying moves the conversation into your normal flow.
Turning the bot off#
Switch off Settings → Automation → Bot answers first and every new conversation goes straight to Open. The widget’s home screen then says your team typically replies in a few hours.
The bot is only as good as your articles