Introduction

The goal of this article is to provide answers to some of the most common questions that are asked regarding the AI Assistant / Chatbot. If you have questions that are not answered via this article, please reference the other Help Center articles regarding the AI Assistant (found here) or send an email to <support@lofty.com>.

 

FAQs

• Can I take over the conversation and pretend to be my AI Assistant?
• How can I mute the AI Assistant?
• Will the AI Assistant apply to my whole team? And can I choose which websites?
• What should I do with the Smart Plans that I have built if I enable the AI Assistant?
• Will the AI Assistant make mistakes?
• At what point is a lead considered "engaged"?
• Can I combine Smart Plan functionality with the activity of the AI Assistant?
• How is lead routing and the "Assigned To" section affected by the AI Assistant?
• What happens when the limit on the number of available engagements is reached?
• Can the AI Assistant be texted directly by a lead and have the qualification process started?
• Why would an individual agent on a team want to purchase the AI Assistant on their own? How does it work?
• If the AI Assistant is working on a lead and the lead is reassigned to a different agent, will the AI continue to qualify the lead?
•  
• AI Assistant: Seller Call Consultations
• Compassionate Responses
• Schedule a Meeting
• Support for Scheduling Showings via Text

Can I take over the conversation and pretend to be my AI Assistant?

No, this is not a current feature. The AI Assistant's functionality would reflect that of a real assistant who, if they were to be replaced in a conversation, would likely have a separate phone number, etc. 

So, if you try to take over a conversation that the AI Assistant is having with a lead, know that your message will come from your virtual number, not the AI Assistant's. This means that the lead will have a separate conversation in their mobile messages. Be sure to present yourself and reference the separate conversation.

 

How Can I mute the AI Assistant?

You can mute the AI Assistant by opening the lead in which you are looking to mute the assistant, and at the top of the lead, press the Mute button on the top blue banner. The AI will no longer interact with the lead, and cannot be reactivated. 

 

Will the AI Assistant apply to my whole team? And can I choose which websites?

By default, the AI Assistant is assigned at the team level and will work with all Team Leads that match the criteria set up (see AI Assistant / Chatbot Setup Process). If the website portion is enabled, it will be installed on all websites (Team Website, Agent Websites, and Agent Subdomains).

There are settings, however, that allow you to choose which website you want the AI Assistant to appear on:

 

For text message qualification, you can choose specific lead sources, lead types, and most importantly for this question, the assigned agent. 

This works because the AI Assistant will not begin working to qualify a new lead until after lead routing has finished assigning the lead to an agent.

 

What should I do with the Smart Plans that I have built if I enable the AI Assistant?

Initial Smart Plans (especially those with auto texts) should likely be disabled if you have the AI Assistant turned on to avoid confusion. You can make that decision knowing that the AI Assistant's goal is to qualify the lead and then hand it off to you. You can learn more about that qualification process by referencing the following article: AI Assistant / Chatbot Qualification Process.

 

Will the AI Assistant make mistakes?

Yes, the AI Assistant will likely make mistakes, but so do real people. If the AI Assistant does not recognize the direction the conversation is heading, it will attempt to hand it off to you as the agent.

• The AI Assistant works as your everyday assistant by using machine learning and natural language processing technologies. In general, it works in the following steps:
  (a) comprehend the end-user's conversation, (b) match the end-user's conversation with the "intent" the AI Assistant can recognize, (c) trigger responses or actions according to the matching results. To make the AI Assistant understand, capture, and process your leads better, we taught it what to say and how to behave in many common scenarios. Mistakes may occur when the AI Assistant encounters some "intents" that it has not yet learned yet. Or, like us human beings, the AI Assistant may misunderstand the end user's intent and then offer responses that do not match their expectation.
• The behavior of the AI Assistant is monitored by our system. When it is found incompetent, the AI Assistant will go through some targeted learning processes. By continuing to learn, the AI Assistant will be able to react in more and more circumstances.

It is important to note that the AI Assistant may not always sound exactly like a real person. We invite you to provide feedback to help it improve (see AI Assistant / Chatbot Qualification Process > Training / Improving the AI Assistant). 

 

At what point is a lead considered "engaged"?

The AI Assistant packages are based on the number of "engaged" leads. A lead is considered "engaged" if they respond to at least one message (via text message or via website chat). In other words, the AI Assistant can message an unlimited number of leads but it will only count as an "engagement" on your usage if that lead responds one time.

Ongoing communication between the AI Assistant and leads that have already been engaged does not count as additional engagements. A lead can only count as "engaged" one time even though the AI Assistant will continue communication.

 

Can I combine Smart Plan functionality with the activity of the AI Assistant?

Yes. In most scenarios, we recommend turning off Smart Plans for new leads if the AI Assistant will be doing the initial qualification work. This will help avoid confusion on messages being sent. However, the AI Assistant will add tags to leads depending on their behavior during the conversation (see AI Assistant / Chatbot Qualification Process > Tagging) and these tags could then be used to trigger a Smart Plan to follow up according to that tag (see Smart Plans).

Please note that you can also import specific Smart Plans designed to continue the conversation after the initial AI Assistant process. These are optional but you will find them in the Smart Plan Library here:

Please also note that if a lead responds to the AI Assistant, it will not currently count as "lead reaching out" for the auto-pause criteria on Smart Plans. This means that the AI Assistant activity will not auto-pause a Smart Plan.

 

How are lead routing and the "Assigned To" section affected by the AI Assistant?

Lead routing is not affected by the AI Assistant working on a lead. In fact, the AI Assistant will not begin working on a lead until the lead routing has been completed.

Lead routing will continue as currently established and the users who are typically assigned to leads will still be added to the "Assigned To" section of a lead profile. These assigned users can then monitor conversations as mentioned and described more in detail in the AI Assistant / Chatbot Qualification Process.

 

What happens when the limit on the number of available engagements is reached?

If using the "Premium" package, a specific cap can be set or engagements can continue without a limit (see AI Assistant / Chatbot Billing). Otherwise, AI Assistant engagement will stop. As a reminder, an "engagement" is when a lead responds to at least one message sent by the AI Assistant. Without available engagements to use, the AI Assistant will no longer respond via text message or website chat. On the site, the standard chat box will appear to replace the AI Assistant.

 

Can the AI Assistant be texted directly by a lead and have the qualification process started?

No, the AI Assistant cannot be texted directly in order to get the qualification process started. However, you could consider using the Text Code workaround solution (see Text Codes for Lead Capture) and have the AI Assistant work the leads entering via that source.

 

Will I still be charged for the AI Assistant if I have disabled all the qualification checkboxes in the AI Assistant settings? 

Yes. You will need to remove the AI Assistant package completely in order for the billing to end. Simply unchecking the checkboxes on the qualification scenarios will not cancel billing.

 

Why would an individual agent on a team want to purchase the AI Assistant on their own? How does it work?

Individual agents can purchase their own AI Assistant via the Lofty Marketplace. Instructions for adding are found HERE. Agents can also participate in a 30-day free trial of the AI Assistant.

Reasons for adding an individual AI Assistant might include the following:

• Private Leads (see Lead Privacy: Team Leads vs. Private Leads) can be worked by an individual agent's AI Assistant. The Team-level AI Assistant cannot work with private leads.
• In scenarios where the Team Owner/Admin does not want/need to purchase a team AI Assistant, individual agents can add their own
• The AI Assistant's name can be personalized with an individual agent's AI Assistant, meaning it can be different from a team AI Assistant if one is already set up

A few important notes to keep in mind:

1. If the lead was assigned to an agent who doesn't have the AI Assistant but the Team Owner/Admin does, the team-level AI Assistant will follow up. But, if that agent has their own AI Assistant, their individual AI Assistant will follow up with the lead.
2. The individual AI Assistant will only follow up with leads where their agent is listed in the primary "Agent" role

 

If the AI Assistant is working on a lead and the lead is reassigned to a different agent, will the AI continue to qualify the lead?

Yes, unless the second agent does not have permission to use the AI Assistant. There are two possible scenarios here:

1. If users assign leads through lead routing, the AI will continue the current conversation.
2. If users assign leads manually and the assigned agent can use the AI, the AI will skip the current conversation and begin to monitor the lead’s behavior. Once the lead matches triggering behavior such as saving listings or searches, the AI will text the lead again.

 

The Standard AI Assistant has a limitation of 80 leads per month.  So.... Does that mean if I have 80 leads in my first month that are still open in the 2nd month, the AI will still work with those leads and a whole new bank of 80 additional leads for 2nd month, totaling 160 leads?

We only count those leads whom the AI assistant texts as usage. Next month they will have a new 80 allotment again.

 

AI Assistant: Seller Call Consultations

 To get better engagement from seller leads, the AI Assistant will attempt to schedule a phone call meeting when the following triggers occur:

1. The seller lead requests a home valuation on the associated Lofty-built website
   1. The AI Assistant will ask the lead if they would like a CMA based on the property address submitted.
2. Seller lead views five unique sold properties in one day
   1. If the lead has a property recorded on their lead profile (under the "Selling" label only), the AI Assistant will ask if they would like a CMA and to schedule a call. The most recent "selling" property will be referenced by the AI.
   2. If the lead does not have a property recorded on their lead profile, the AI Assistant will ask for the property address first and then offer a CMA to schedule a call.

 

Compassionate Responses

The AI Assistant has been trained to respond more compassionately to messages from leads that may indicate some sort of sickness or tragedy. 

 

Scheduling Meetings via AI Assistant

Now that the Lofty Calendar's scheduling link can check your calendars for conflicts, the AI Assistant can now share your scheduling link to help get calls for you on your calendar. 

* Note: The AI Assistant will not send any scheduling link if you do not have it configured in your calendar settings.

Supported Scenarios

There are three scenarios where the AI Assistant will share your calendar scheduling link:

(1) The lead requests a call

The AI Assistant will provide the Lofty user's phone number in case the lead wants to call directly and it will also provide a scheduling link if they want to book a time with you instead.

(2) The lead wants to be contacted later

If the lead is busy and says they cannot talk now, the AI Assistant will provide the scheduling link so that the lead can book a time for a call if they would like to do so.

(3) The lead is interested in a buyer/seller consultation

The AI Assistant regularly offers to schedule buyer/seller consultations. To do so more effectively, the AI Assistant will now share your scheduling link.

Additional Details

Once scheduled, appointments will be shown in the title of the event that is scheduled. It will look something like this:

 

Support for Scheduling Showings via Text

When the AI Assistant is engaging leads on Lofty-built websites, the AI will also send out text messages to leads whose behavior matches the triggers:

• Saving listings
• Sharing listings
• Viewing specific properties more than three times in a 24-hour period
• Requesting showings

 

Please note that these triggering behaviors do have built-in "cooling conditions:"

• The save/view/share trigger is triggered only once within 24 hours. For example, if you share a listing share the system will cool for 24 hours so if another property is shared within that period the AI will not trigger again.
• Verification if the same property is saved/viewed/shared multiple times. If there are save/view/share behaviors for the same property (that has already triggered an AI conversation) after the cool-down period, the same property needs a cool-down period of 7 days before it will trigger again.

 

 

Questions?

If you have any questions regarding this topic or any others, please reach out to our Support Team via email at <support@lofty.com>, by phone at 1 (855) 981-7557, or by chat with us through your Lofty CRM. 

Related Terms: AI chatbot, AI Anna, Digital Assistant