Automate Customer Support with the AI-Powered Answer Emails Support Skill
Introduction
The Answer Emails support skill enables your AI assistant to automatically respond to incoming email tickets from customers, following your pre-defined business rules and tone of voice. This powerful feature significantly reduces support workload by handling routine inquiries without human intervention, providing instant answers to customers 24/7, and freeing your support team to focus on more complex issues.
How It Works
When a customer sends an email to your support address, the AI assistant will:
Receive the support ticket through your connected helpdesk platform
Analyze the content to understand the customer's inquiry
Generate a helpful, personalized response based on your business knowledge and policies
Either send the response immediately or save it as a draft for human review (based on your settings)
Track the conversation to provide continuous assistance if needed
This entire process happens efficiently without requiring your support team's immediate involvement, dramatically reducing response times and increasing customer satisfaction.
Setting Up the Answer Emails Support Skill
Basic Setup
Access the Support Skills section
Navigate to your Rep AI dashboard
Select "Support Skills" from the navigation menu
Find the "Answer Emails" card
Enable the feature
Toggle the switch to turn on the Answer Emails Support Skill
Click "Activate" to enable the skill with default settings, or
Click the settings button to customize how emails are processed
Integration Requirements
This feature requires a connection to one of these supported helpdesk platforms:
Gorgias
Zendesk
Kustomer
Help Scout (Beta)
Freshdesk (Beta)
Richpanel (Beta)
If you don't have one of these integrations active, you'll need to connect your helpdesk platform first through the Integrations section of your Rep AI dashboard.
Configuration Options
The Answer Emails support skill offers several customization options to match your support workflow:
Response Handling
After crafting an answer: Choose how your AI should process responses
Send answer immediately: AI automatically sends responses to customers without review
Save as draft: AI creates responses but saves them as drafts for human review before sending
AI Identity Options
Identify as an AI agent: Toggle whether the AI should identify itself as an automated assistant
When enabled: Responses include a disclaimer that they were AI-generated
When disabled: Responses appear as if they came from a human agent
Agent name: Customize the name that appears in the signature when "Identify as an AI agent" is disabled
AI Instructions
Use specific AI instructions for emails: Toggle to create custom guidance just for email responses
AI instructions field: Provide detailed instructions for how your AI should handle email inquiries, including:
Response style guidance
Specific policies to emphasize
Topics that should be escalated to humans
Do-Not-Answer Rules
Rep AI automatically filters out spam and automated emails (like out-of-office replies, delivery failures, and system notifications) so your AI assistant only responds to genuine customer inquiries. You can create custom Do-Not-Answer Rules to add your own business-specific filtering on top of this automatic protection.
Do-Not-Answer Rules: Create custom rule definitions to prevent AI from automatically responding to specific types of emails that are unique to your business
When enabled, the AI will analyze incoming emails against your defined rules
If an email matches any rule, the AI will skip it, leaving it for your human agents to handle
Rules work alongside automatic spam filtering, giving you complete control over which emails receive AI responses
Rules take precedence over other AI instructions, ensuring sensitive inquiries always receive human attention
Accessing Do-Not-Answer Rules
You can access this feature in two ways:
Path 1: Through Integrations
Go to Settings > Integrations
Select your helpdesk integration
Find the "AI answering email tickets" toggle
Click the Settings button next to it
Path 2: Through Support Skills
Go to Support Skills in the navigation menu
Find the "Answer Emails" card
Click the settings button
Creating Do-Not-Answer Rules
Once in the settings modal:
Scroll to the "Do-Not-Answer Rules" section
Toggle the feature ON
Click the + Add rule button
In the popup modal:
Enter a descriptive Name (100 character maximum)
Provide a detailed Description of the email types this rule should match (500 character maximum)
Click Add Do-Not-Answer Rule to save
Repeat to add additional rules as needed
Click Save Changes to apply your configuration
Example Rule Types
Here are some common rule examples that merchants find valuable:
Benefits of Using the Answer Emails Support Skill
Instant Response Times: Provide immediate answers to customer inquiries, even outside business hours
Reduced Support Workload: Automate responses to common questions and routine support requests
Consistent Customer Experience: Ensure all support emails receive the same high-quality, on-brand responses
Scalable Support Operations: Handle increasing support volume without proportionally increasing staff
Better Resource Allocation: Free your human agents to focus on complex issues that truly require their expertise
Automatic Filtering: Spam and Automated Emails
Rep AI automatically protects your AI assistant from wasting resources on emails that don't need responses. This built-in intelligence works in the background without any configuration needed, ensuring your AI only responds to genuine customer inquiries.
What Gets Automatically Filtered
Your AI assistant automatically skips these types of emails:
Out-of-Office Replies
Auto-replies indicating someone is away from their desk
Vacation notifications and holiday messages
Temporary unavailability notices
Email Delivery Failures
Bounce-back messages from mail servers
Undeliverable mail notifications
Mail delivery system errors
System and Service Notifications
Automated messages from no-reply addresses
Platform notifications (LinkedIn, Zoom, Calendly invitations)
Software update announcements and system alerts
Authentication and Security Emails
Password reset confirmations
Two-factor authentication codes
Email verification requests
Business Communications to Your Company
Cold outreach emails trying to sell services to your business
Marketing pitches and sales prospecting emails
SEO and lead generation service offers
Automated Reports
Analytics summaries and performance reports
Daily digests from business tools
Marketing platform automated emails
How It Works
Completely Automatic: No setup required - this protection is always active
Invisible Operation: These filters work in the background; you won't see them in your settings
Spam Detection: Platform-specific detection based on your helpdesk system
Resource Efficiency: Prevents wasting AI processing on non-actionable emails
Professional Protection: Avoids embarrassing responses to system emails or auto-replies
This automatic filtering works seamlessly alongside any custom Do-Not-Answer Rules you create, providing comprehensive protection for your AI assistant.
Best Practices
For the most effective use of the Answer Emails support skill:
Start with Draft Mode: Begin by using the "Save as draft" option to review AI responses before sending
Create Specific Instructions: Provide clear guidance to ensure responses match your brand voice
Regularly Review Performance: Monitor response quality and customer satisfaction
Gradually Increase Automation: As you gain confidence in the AI's responses, transition to immediate sending
Update AI Knowledge: Regularly review missing information reports to improve response accuracy
Creating Effective Do-Not-Answer Rules
When setting up Do-Not-Answer Rules:
Be specific and detailed in your rule descriptions
Focus on observable characteristics of the email (tone, content, specific phrases)
Use clear, descriptive rule names that your team will understand
Start with a few focused rules and expand as needed based on performance
When the AI Will Not Answer Emails
The AI assistant is designed to handle most routine customer inquiries, but there are several situations where it will not answer or will stop responding:
Knowledge Gaps
Missing Information: If the AI lacks sufficient knowledge to provide an accurate response, it will not attempt to answer and will escalate the ticket to human support.
Incomplete Tickets: Tickets with very limited information that don't provide enough context for the AI to understand the issue will be escalated.
Human Tags
"Human" Tag: If a ticket is tagged with "human" in your helpdesk platform, the AI will not process it. This feature allows you to manually designate tickets that should only be handled by human agents.
Previous Escalation: If a conversation has been previously escalated to human support, the AI will not resume answering in that thread.
Automatic Filtering of Spam and Automated Emails
Always-On Protection: Rep AI automatically filters out spam and automated emails that clearly don't need responses, including out-of-office replies, delivery failures, system notifications, authentication emails, and business solicitations.
Background Operation: This filtering happens automatically without any configuration needed - you won't see these rules in your settings.
Platform Integration: Works alongside your helpdesk platform's spam detection for comprehensive protection.
Resource Optimization: Prevents AI from wasting processing power on non-customer emails.
Do-Not-Answer Rules Matches
Rule-Based Exclusions: When the Do-Not-Answer Rules feature is enabled, any email that matches your defined rules will be skipped by the AI.
Priority System: Do-Not-Answer Rules take precedence over other AI instructions, ensuring sensitive inquiries are always handled by humans.
Common Rule Categories: Typical exclusions include angry customers, legal inquiries, complex technical issues, and emails with attachments.
Complex or Sensitive Inquiries
Complex Issues: Multi-part problems or highly technical inquiries that require human judgment may be escalated.
Sensitive Topics: Inquiries about legal issues, serious complaints, or matters requiring human empathy will be directed to your support team.
Custom Exclusions: Any topics you've specifically designated as requiring human attention in your AI instructions.
By using these guardrails, the AI ensures it only responds when it can provide accurate, helpful information, maintaining customer trust and satisfaction.
Troubleshooting
The AI isn't responding to some email tickets:
Check if they're being flagged as spam by your helpdesk platform
Verify that your helpdesk integration is working correctly
Ensure the tickets contain enough information for the AI to generate a response
Check if they match any of your enabled Do-Not-Answer Rules
Remember that certain automated emails (out-of-office, delivery failures, etc.) are automatically filtered
AI responses don't match your brand voice:
Review and update your AI instructions with more specific guidance
Consider providing examples of ideal responses in your instructions
Use the "Save as draft" option to review and refine responses
Customers are receiving duplicate responses:
This may occur if you have both AI and human agents responding to the same tickets
Consider adjusting your workflow or using the "Save as draft" option
Do-Not-Answer Rules aren't working as expected:
Review your rule descriptions and make them more specific
Ensure the Do-Not-Answer Rules toggle is ON in the settings
Verify you clicked "Save Changes" after adding or editing rules
Related Support Skills
For comprehensive customer support, consider enabling these complementary skills:
Order Status: Lets customers check where their order is in the fulfillment process
Returns / Exchanges: Handles product return and exchange requests
Cancel Order: Allows customers to request order cancellations
Damaged Order: Guides customers through reporting damaged products
Getting Help
If you need assistance setting up or troubleshooting your Answer Emails support skill, contact our support team for guidance on optimizing your automated email response system.