AI email support that waits for your approval
AI email support drafts replies to your support mailbox automatically, using your own help content. BotReply connects your mailbox, writes a draft for every incoming message, and waits for a person to read and send it. Switch a channel to auto-send when its answers have earned that — the default is that nothing reaches a customer unseen.
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Why email is the channel to be careful with
A wrong answer in a chat window is a small embarrassment you can correct in the next message. A wrong answer emailed to a customer is a written commitment they can hold you to, forwarded to their colleagues, and quoted back at you months later. That is why every email channel starts in approval mode and stays there until you decide otherwise — the AI removes the typing, not the judgement. Teams that move a channel to auto-send usually do it after watching the drafts for a week, and only for the routine mail.
How to set it up
Four steps, and no migration off whatever you use today.
Connect your support mailbox
Gmail connects in one click through Google sign-in. Any other provider connects over IMAP and SMTP with your address, an app password, and host names. Either way the credentials are encrypted at rest and never returned by the API.
Upload what your answers come from
Policies, product documentation, FAQs, pricing, shipping and returns rules. Drafts are written from this content, which is the difference between a reply your team can send as-is and one they have to rewrite.
Choose approval or auto
Channels start in approval mode: the AI drafts, a person reads and sends. Switch an individual channel to auto-send once its answers have earned that, and switch back the moment they do not.
Work a queue instead of an inbox
The mailbox is polled every few minutes, so a draft is usually waiting within minutes of a customer writing in. Your team edits and sends rather than composing from scratch.
The details that decide whether you can actually use it
Email automation fails on the unglamorous parts — threading, loops, lost replies.
Drafts, not surprises
Approval is the default. Every reply is written for a human to read, edit, and send — auto-send is a decision you make per channel, not something switched on for you.
Written from your content
Retrieval over your uploaded policies and documentation means a draft quotes your actual terms and prices instead of a plausible-sounding invention.
Threads correctly
Replies carry proper In-Reply-To and References headers and a Re: subject, so they land in the existing thread in the customer's mail client rather than starting a new one.
Ignores what it should
Out-of-office replies and bounce notifications are detected and skipped, so your mailbox never loops with another auto-responder. Quoted history is stripped so the AI answers the new question, not the whole thread.
Captures outcomes
An email conversation can produce an order, appointment, lead, or support ticket in your pipeline, the same as any other channel.
Nothing gets lost
If sending fails, the reply is kept as a pending draft rather than discarded, and repeated connection failures are recorded on the channel so a broken mailbox is visible.
What this looks like in practice
Half the inbox is order status and returns questions answered in your policy pages. Drafts are ready when your team opens the queue, and they send the good ones in a click instead of retyping the same answer.
A customer emails a configuration question already covered in your documentation. The draft cites the right steps, and your engineer edits a line rather than writing from scratch.
Sixty messages arrive over a weekend. Each already has a draft against it on Monday, so the team triages and sends rather than reading everything cold and deciding who answers what.
Auto-responders vs drafted replies
| Capability | Auto-reply tool | BotReply |
|---|---|---|
| Who sends the reply | The tool, immediately | A person, until you decide otherwise |
| Where answers come from | Generic model knowledge | Your uploaded content |
| Threading | Often a new thread | In-Reply-To and References set |
| Out-of-office and bounces | Risk of reply loops | Detected and skipped |
| When sending fails | Reply may be lost | Held as a pending draft |
| Other channels | Email only | Same agent on WhatsApp and social |
Email is rarely the only inbox
The same agent answering your mailbox can answer WhatsApp, Instagram, your website widget, and Slack — one knowledge base, one persona, one set of rules. Update a refund policy once and every channel reflects it, including the drafts waiting in your email queue.
Open your inbox to drafts, not a backlog
Connect your mailbox, upload your help content, and let AI do the typing while your team keeps the judgement. Free plan available — no credit card required.
AI email support FAQ
Approval, mailbox setup, threading, and what the AI will not do.
Does the AI send emails to customers without me seeing them?
Not unless you choose that. The default reply mode is approval: the AI writes a draft against your knowledge base and it waits in your dashboard for someone to read, edit, and send. You can switch a channel to auto-send once you trust its answers, and switch back at any time.
How do I connect my support mailbox?
Two ways. Gmail connects in one click through Google sign-in. Any other provider connects over IMAP and SMTP with your email address, an app password, and your provider's host names. Credentials are encrypted at rest either way.
How quickly does it pick up new email?
The mailbox is polled roughly every ten minutes, so a draft is usually waiting within minutes of a customer writing in. Nothing is missed between polls — messages are tracked by Message-ID, so a message is ingested exactly once even if a poll overlaps.
Will replies stay in the same email thread?
Yes. Replies carry proper In-Reply-To and References headers and a Re: subject, so they thread correctly in the customer's mail client instead of starting a new conversation. Your configured signature is appended automatically.
What stops it replying to out-of-office messages and bounces?
Automatic replies and bounce notifications are detected from their headers and skipped, so the mailbox cannot get into a loop with another auto-responder. Quoted history is also stripped before the AI reads a message, so it answers what was actually just asked.
Can it answer from our own help content?
Yes — that is the point. Upload your policies, product documentation, FAQs, and pricing, and drafts are written from that content. The same knowledge base serves your WhatsApp, website, and social channels, so an answer changes everywhere at once.
Does this replace a helpdesk like Zendesk or Freshdesk?
For smaller teams it often removes the need for one, since conversations, drafts, and outcomes all live in one inbox. If you already run a helpdesk, BotReply is better understood as the layer that drafts the answers and handles your other channels alongside email.
What happens if sending fails?
The reply is kept as a pending draft rather than discarded, so a temporary SMTP problem never silently loses an answer. Repeated connection failures are recorded on the channel so you can see that a mailbox needs attention.