How the AI DM assistant works

What it does

A normal automation sends what you wrote, then stops. If the person asks something else, nobody answers. The AI assistant picks up that conversation and keeps it going.

It answers people who are already in your Lead Inbox, for example someone who got a DM from one of your automations. It replies when their next DM does not match any of your automations. It points people who are ready to buy to your booking link.

Not sure which you need? See scripted automation or AI assistant.

The assistant is off until you turn it on. It is on Pro and Scale only.

Turn it on

1. Open Lead Inbox in the menu, then the AI Agent tab.
2. Click Edit to open the AI Sales Agent box.
3. Fill in What you offer and Booking / checkout link (https) first. Without them, it can only ask questions.
4. Add your Business name, a Tone and your Do's and don'ts.
5. Under FAQ the agent can answer, add the questions people ask you most.
6. Tick Turn the AI sales agent on for this workspace.
7. Click Save.

To start faster, use Auto-fill from your Instagram page. It reads your bio and recent captions into a draft. It only fills blank fields, so check the draft and then save. For examples of good answers in each field, see how to set up the assistant.

Hand over from an automation

You can also choose automations that pass the chat to the assistant on purpose:

1. Open an automation with the User DMs you trigger.
2. Tick Hand over to the AI DM agent after this automation replies, then save.

After that automation replies, the person’s next message goes to the assistant instead of matching the same keyword again. The box starts unticked. If the assistant cannot answer, for example because the AI allowance is nearly used up, your automations answer instead.

What people see

Its first message says they are talking to an automated assistant for your business. It also tells them they can say “talk to a person” at any time. It says this again once 24 hours have passed. See Does the AI tell people it is a bot?.

It is told to answer only from your offer, your FAQ and your knowledge pages. If a question is outside those facts, it hands the chat to you instead of guessing.

When it stops

The assistant steps back and passes the person to you when:

• it has sent 10 replies in one conversation
• the person asks for a human
• it decides it cannot answer from your facts, which it is told to do instead of guessing

If the person replies STOP or asks to opt out, the assistant stops and does not message them again. It also leaves alone any lead you mark Converted, Ignored or Junk.

After 10 replies, it tells the person someone will take over and asks for their email or phone number. Once it steps back, it stays quiet for that person. Your normal automations carry on.

People it handed over appear on the Waiting for you tab. See Waiting for you and when the assistant hands the chat to you.

Good to know

• It can only reply within 24 hours of the person’s last message. That is Instagram’s rule. See The 24-hour window.
• Every reply uses your monthly AI allowance. It is the same allowance as AI comment replies, not a second one. See AI comment replies.
• Before the AI reads a private chat, emails and phone numbers are removed from the messages.
• Running several brands? Fill in the shared answers, then change the ones that differ for each Instagram account further down the page. See one AI voice per account.
• For everything it cannot do, see What are the limits of Replavia’s AI?.
• To test it, message your business from an Instagram account that is not connected to Replavia.
• Add web pages and documents in the knowledge library to give it more facts.