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Home / Features / Response Rules
Response rules

You decide what it says — and what it refuses.

Exact answers for the questions that must never drift, handoffs for the ones that need a person, blocks for the ones you do not want answered.

WhenValueThenState
Contains“discount”, “quote”, “bulk”Ask for email → hand off to salesActive
Contains“refund”, “return”Exact answer from the returns pageActive
Equals“talk to a human”Handoff immediatelyActive
Topicmedical adviceBlock and offer a handoffActive
Fallbackno confident answerSay so and log the gapActive
In short

Response rules let you decide what the assistant says in specific situations: an exact answer for a critical question, a handoff when a topic appears, or a block for subjects you do not want answered. Everything else stays AI-generated from your content.

  • Exact answers before AI
  • Handoff by keyword or topic
  • Block topics
  • Test before publishing
  • Trigger log
Order of operations

Rules first, AI second, gaps last

1

Match a rule

Keywords, exact phrases or topics run first.

2

Otherwise, ask the AI

Grounded in your content, with a source.

3

If unsure, say so

The question becomes a logged gap instead of a guess.

Control

Test before you publish

  • Test a phrase and see which rule fires
  • Enable or pause a rule without deleting it
  • See which rule triggered in each conversation
  • Full log of handoffs and blocks
Test
“Can I get a discount?”
Rule matched: discount → ask for email → hand off
The problem

Where it hurts today

Answers that must not drift

Legal wording cannot be paraphrased by a model.

Sensitive topics

Some questions should never be answered automatically.

Unpredictable escalations

A pricing question reaches the bot instead of sales.

No audit

Nobody can explain why an answer was given.

Capabilities

What it does, in detail

Exact answers

A fixed reply for a specific phrase, used before the AI.

Handoff triggers

Keywords or topics that route the conversation to a person.

Blocks

Topics the assistant refuses to answer, with a fallback message.

Fallback

The message used when the assistant is not confident.

Testing

Try a phrase and see which rule would fire.

Log

See which rule triggered in each conversation.

Fit

Who it is for

Legal and finance

Answers that must be exact.

Sales

Route pricing and volume questions to a person.

Healthcare

Block clinical advice and offer a handoff.

Support leads

Standardise the most sensitive replies.

Comparison

How it differs

CapabilityDeskClerk AIA generic chatbot
Exact answers override AIYesRare
Handoff by topicYesBasic keywords
Blocked topicsYesNo
Test before publishingYesNo
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Exact-answer and block rules run before the AI. Everything else stays AI-generated.
Yes, test a phrase and see which rule would fire before publishing.
Yes, rules can be disabled and re-enabled.
Yes, each site has its own rules.
Yes, each conversation records the rule that triggered.
No. You paste one script tag before the closing body tag of your site, or use a code block in your builder. Most sites are live in about 10 minutes.
PDF, DOCX, RTF, XLSX, XLS, CSV, PPTX, PPT, TXT, MD, HTML, JSON and XML — 11 format processors. Up to 50 MB per file and up to 200 pages per PDF. Scanned images are not supported.
It answers in the visitor's language, using your content. Interface text is available in English, Chinese, German and Arabic today; more interface languages are planned.
One visitor message or one assistant reply is one message. One question plus one answer is two messages, so plans are quoted in complete answers — 1,250 answers per month on Basic is 2,500 messages.
It says so, records the question as a knowledge gap, and can hand the conversation to your team. Handoff asks the visitor for contact details first.
Related

Keep reading

AI Chatbot

Answers visitor questions from your own content — and cites the source

Live Chat

Real-time chat with AI first, humans when needed — all in one inbox.

Chat Widget

A lightweight chat widget that matches your brand — free to start.

Knowledge Base

Feed it your website, PDFs and docs — it answers from them, with sourc

All features

The full capability list in one place

E-commerce

Answer product and shipping questions before checkout

B2B export

Qualify international buyers around the clock

Pricing

Plans, quotas and what is included

Response Rules in a real workspace

Response Rules is not a demo screen — it runs on the site you already have.

In practice

What it looks like on a normal Tuesday

A visitor asks the question you have answered a hundred times. The assistant replies from your content, shows the source, and captures the details when it matters.

  • Set exact answers for specific questions
  • Fallback message when AI is unsure
  • Trigger handoff by keyword or topic
  • Block topics you don't want answered
A monitor showing a softly blurred dashboard
“It answers the way we would answer, because it only uses what we published.”
Operations manager · DeskClerk AI customer
Also included

The details that matter

By the numbers

The product behind this page

Only counts we can verify.

14
product features
4
interface languages
11
file formats
10
minutes to set up

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