When AutoBook Agent needs a fact only a person has, it asks one of your staff and tells the customer it is checking. How to answer the question on the web or the app, who gets asked, how long AutoBook Agent waits, and what happens if nobody answers.
When AutoBook Agent needs something only a person can give (the store's exact fees, whether a unit is held, a price it may not quote on its own), it does not guess. It tells the customer it is checking and asks one of your staff. In the product this is a Question. AutoBook Agent answers most things itself from the store's brand knowledge (lineup, trims, warranty, current programs, ballpark payments marked as estimates), so it asks a person only for what genuinely needs one.
Answering a staff question from AutoBook Agent
1
Find the question
You get a push, and the row reads Question in red on To do and in the Inbox. Questions count toward the red number on To do.
2
Open it
The Question card sits in the conversation under AutoBook Agent needs you to, with what it needs answered. Its top row may show Urgent, Backup (on website chat, it reached you because the first person did not answer in time) and the topic, plus a countdown to when AutoBook Agent answers on its own.
3
Type the facts
Answer AutoBook Agent in your own words: facts, not a finished reply. The customer never sees what you type. On a pricing question, put the figure in Approve at $ if AutoBook Agent may quote that exact number.
4
Send, or Preview
Send gives your answer to AutoBook Agent, which writes the reply and keeps the conversation going. On text and email, Preview has it write the reply and hold it as a draft for you to approve first.
In the app: tap the push or the row on To do. The same card sits at the bottom of the conversation with the box Answer AutoBook Agent in your own words, Approve at $ on pricing questions, Send and Preview (text and email only).
To talk to the customer yourself instead, write in the reply box under the card; AutoBook Agent stays on.
What the customer sees while you answer
On chat and text the customer gets a short line such as Let me check on that and get back to you shortly. On chat, if AutoBook Agent has their number it says the answer may come by text, or asks for a number or email. On email nothing extra is sent. AutoBook Agent never says who it asked, by name or by role.
Who gets asked
- The customer's own rep, whether or not they are working right now. You get one push; there are no reminders.
- If that rep is off (day off, vacation, outside their shift, store closed), the question still waits on them: their customers stay theirs. If they don't answer in time, AutoBook Agent gives the customer its best complete answer itself.
- If the customer has no rep yet, one is assigned from the people set to Takes new work on the Sales desk, and they are asked.
- Only people who use AutoBook are asked: someone not seen on the web or the app in the last 7 days is skipped. If nobody is left, AutoBook Agent answers at the deadline itself.
Who takes new work is each person's desk role on Settings → Staff & Roles (open the person, then Stores & desks): Takes new work, Backup, By name only or Off. The Customers can book switch only controls the booking page and has nothing to do with questions.
How long AutoBook Agent waits for an answer
| Channel | Also asked | AutoBook Agent answers itself after |
|---|
Text and email | Nobody else | 2 business hours |
Website chat | After about 1 minute, other reps working the desk | About 2 minutes |
Text and email count only the store's open hours (or the clock, if no hours are entered), so a question at closing time waits for the morning. Live chat runs on the clock because the customer is sitting there. AutoBook sets these times; they are not a store setting. No manager is paged about a question.
What happens if nobody answers in time
At the deadline AutoBook Agent sends the customer its own best complete answer and says the exact detail is still coming. The customer is never left waiting with nothing. The card then reads AutoBook Agent answered.
The question stays open, with the rep it was asked of, so the customer still gets the exact detail. It does not move to anyone else (for a customer with no rep, or a Service-desk question, it moves to whoever is working that desk).
You can still answer afterwards: your answer is accepted and reaches the customer as a follow-up. If there is nothing to add, clear the card with Dismiss in its ⋯ menu.
Which channels raise questions
Questions come from website chat, text and email, on whichever of them your store has turned on. Phone calls do not raise questions: a caller who needs a person is transferred, or a message is taken for their rep.
Is there a switch to turn questions on?
No. AutoBook Agent asks a person at every store from the day the store is created. Only a plan that does not include it leaves it out.
I was off yesterday. Why didn't the question wait for me?
It still comes to you: you own your customers, even on a day off. If you don't answer in time, AutoBook Agent answers the customer itself, so nobody is left waiting.
Why are chat questions so fast and text questions so slow?
On chat the customer is waiting on the page, so AutoBook Agent answers within minutes. Text and email customers expect a reply later, so AutoBook Agent waits up to 2 business hours for your exact answer.
Does my answer go to the customer word for word?
No. Your answer goes to AutoBook Agent, which writes the customer's reply. Use Preview on text or email to see and approve the exact words first.
Does this work for service questions?
Yes. Service is its own desk, equal to Sales: a question about a service conversation goes to the people working the Service desk, and moves to whoever is working that desk if it waits. Who takes service work is the Service desk on Settings → Routing.