Your shop gets its own SalesThumb email forwarding address. Forward your shop's email to it and emails from your customers show up in the Inbox next to their texts. If you want, the AI receptionist can answer them too. It's off until you turn it on.
Set up forwarding
- Go to Settings → AI receptionist.
- Under Where it answers, find the Email row.
- Under Your forwarding address, click Copy.
- In your email account, add that address as a forwarding address. In Gmail it's Settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP → Add a forwarding address.
Gmail and most providers send a confirmation email first. When it arrives, the card shows Confirmation email received with the details. After that, the card shows when the last email came in. Until your email is forwarded, nothing changes.
Only owners and admins can set this up. Others see "Ask the owner to set up email forwarding."
Turn on AI email replies
Turn on the switch on the Email row. The AI then answers emails from your customers that arrive at your forwarding address. Turn it off and your team answers every email.
The usual AI rules apply:
- It's part of the Growth plan and up.
- Its first email to a customer in any 24 hours starts with "Automated reply from" and your shop's name, so they know it's automated.
- It doesn't answer emails that look automatic, or ones it can't confirm came from the customer.
- Your team can take any conversation over from the Inbox. See Taking over a conversation from the AI.
If the AI bar in a conversation says email needs your own connected address, connect it first. The bar links to the page that fixes it.
Related
- Setting up the AI receptionist for chat and calls
- Texting a customer: new messages and replies in the Inbox
Frequently asked questions
Q: Does the AI answer emails as soon as I set up forwarding?
A: No. Forwarding only brings customer emails into the Inbox. The AI answers them only after you turn on the switch on the Email row.
Q: Where do I find my forwarding address?
A: In Settings → AI receptionist, on the Email row under Where it answers. Click Copy next to Your forwarding address.
Q: How do I stop the AI answering emails?
A: Turn off the switch on the Email row. Customer emails still arrive in the Inbox, and your team answers them.