On a conversation that is not yet on a job, with the booking assistant on, a bar at the top says where the assistant is with that customer.
The five states
- “Assistant will answer their next message.” Nothing has happened yet.
- “Assistant is talking to them.” A booking conversation is in progress.
- “Assistant stopped on this conversation. You have it.” A member of staff typed, or pressed Stop.
- “Assistant handed this to you.” It reached something it does not do and passed the conversation over. The alert you received says why.
- “Assistant booked this one.” Done. The job exists.
The two buttons
Stop the assistant takes the conversation off it. Nothing it was in the middle of continues. You are talking to the customer now.
Hand back to assistant gives it back, on a stopped or handed-off conversation. It picks up from the customer’s next message.
Typing stops it
You do not have to press Stop. The moment anyone on staff sends a message in a conversation, the assistant stops on that conversation, because two voices answering one customer is worse than either alone. It stays stopped until somebody hands it back.
Switching it off everywhere
The switch on the Chat Assistant’s Settings tab. Off there is off on every conversation at once.
When it hands off, and why you are told
It hands over, and alerts whoever is on the notification list, when:
- the customer says it is an emergency (the callback promise depends on somebody seeing this);
- the customer asks to speak to a person;
- what they want is not on your services list;
- the address is outside your area;
- it is not sure what they mean after asking;
- the monthly AI allowance is spent;
- the conversation has gone round too many times.
The alert lands as a tag on the Inbox entry with the reason and a link to the conversation, so you can read what it gathered before you reply.