AI automations allow you to resolve tickets automatically with zero human interaction, via a Chatbot on your website or via the AI Agent in your Mailbox. If the automation answers the question or takes real action on the ticket or chat conversation, this is counted as a billable outcome.

This guide will walk you through how to set up and manage your Automations, explain how each resolution is determined and how to monitor your usage. 

Before you start

  • You'll be charged per outcome, at €0.99 for each billable outcome. Find out more here.
  • See our pricing here. 

01 Activating AI automations

AI automations can be activated in two ways:

1. Create a Chatbot

  • When you create a Chatbot, it will be in test mode by default.

  • You can test it using the simulator in the Widget settings or place it on a staging site.

  • A banner will be displayed in the chatbot settings, widget settings and on the chat simulator while in test mode.

  • Once you turn off test mode, any tickets verified as resolved by the AI and which have not received a new message from the customer in 24 hours, will become billable. 

  • The Admin of your account will receive an email letting them know Automations are now active.

Points to note when your Chatbot is in test mode:

  • No billable resolutions occur.

  • No Chatbot tickets are created.

  • No AI Automations will appear in Insights.

  • Triallists of eDesk can disable test mode and they won't be charged for any resolutions until they become a paying client.

    For an overview of the Chatbot, click here.

2. Create an AI Agent

  • Go to the AI section and click Create AI Agent.
  • Any ticket where the AI Agent replies or takes real action will become a billable outcome once the conditions in section 03 are met.

    For more on the AI Agent, click here.

02 Managing payment for Automations

AI automations are billed at the end of each month, and you'll only be charged for the number of billable outcomes achieved by the automation.

Once enabled, Automations will appear on your billing summary with a price of €0.00.

You can see the number of billable outcomes on the list page here as they build up over the 30 day billing period.

Outcome packs

You can also purchase an Outcome pack, which gives you a set number of outcomes in advance. How you receive your outcomes depends on your subscription:

  • Monthly plan: your Outcome pack is added to your account each month.
  • Annual plan: you get all your outcomes for the year upfront.

Once your Outcome pack is used up, any further outcomes are billed at €0.99 each at the end of the month.

Note: Outcomes beyond your Outcome pack are always billed monthly, whether your subscription is on a monthly or annual plan.

  • You can see the number of billable automations on the list page here as they build up over the 30 day billing period.

Managing your automation limit

There's no limit on the number of outcomes per month by default. If you'd like to stay in control of your spend, you can set your own monthly outcome limit.

If you set a limit, once it's reached:

  • AI automations will be paused

  • You will not be charged beyond the set limit with one exception: if the AI Agent replied to a ticket before your limit was reached, that reply can still become a billable outcome after 72 hours, even if your limit has been reached in the meantime.

To set or change your limit:

Click on Manage Automations in the AI automations insights page or the subscription page of your account.

A pop-up will appear where you can:

  • See how many free outcomes you have left
  • Purchase/see outcome pack usage
  • Set your own monthly outcome limit
  • Activate or deactivate Automations

Note: If you want to add 5000 or more resolutions to your monthly budget, please reach out to us and we'll be happy to get it set up for you.

Important to know

  • You will only be billed for the actual number of resolutions achieved - not the limit you set.

  • For example:

    • If you set a limit of 900 resolutions but the AI only resolves 855 tickets, you’ll be charged for 855 - not 900.

  • The limiter is simply there to help you stay in control of your AI usage and budget.
     

03 What is an Outcome?

An outcome is any customer conversation that is answered or actioned through automation without the need for human intervention. There are different conditions depending on whether the outcome is through the Chatbot or the AI Agent:

1. Chatbot resolution 

  1. A conversation starts and concludes with the chatbot. No agent transfer occurs (regardless of agent availability) and no ticket is created by the Chatbot for agent follow-up.
  2. AI has assessed the chat transcript to confirm the shopper's question was responded to with sufficient answers.
  3. No other ticket in eDesk, on any channel, has been created by the same shopper within 24 hours of the chat session occurring.

2. AI Agent resolution

An AI Agent outcome is counted when the AI Agent replies to a ticket or takes real action, without human intervention. These are broken down into two categories - Completed action or Resolution:

Completed action (counted immediately)

  1. The AI Agent completes a real action on a ticket.
  2. No human agent was involved in completing the action.
Resolution (counted after 72 hours)
  1. An AI Agent automatically replies to a ticket.
  2. No customer response is received on this ticket within 72 hours.
  3. No additional human agent reply was sent after the AI Agent reply.
  4. No other ticket in eDesk has been created by the same shopper within 72 hours of the AI Agent reply being sent.

Each ticket will only ever be billed once and will only appear in Insights as one of the above.

Note:  It’s possible to have a ticket marked as “Resolved” in eDesk but not be billable since the same shopper created a separate new ticket in the 24/72 hour window.

04 Tracking Automations

You can track your Automations in two areas within eDesk:

1. Insights

Important: Data on the Automations dashboard is based on the date the ticket was Resolved.

2. Report extracts 

  • Navigate to:
    Insights > Reports > Report extracts > Create report

  • Under Report Type, select AI automations report.

The report includes the following columns:

  • Ticket ID

  • Channel

  • Type (Ava = Chatbot / HandsFree = automated via Mailbox)

  • Created on

  • Resolved on

  • Billable resolution

  • CSAT received

This gives you a clear breakdown of where and how AI outcomes are happening across your account.