Guide Customers
Customers usually go through a few steps before they buy: asking around, weighing it up, then deciding. Tell the AI those steps, and after each answer it asks the right next question to move the customer toward buying or booking. Guide customers is a tab of the AI Agent area, next to Auto reply and Teach answers.
How It Works
A customer writes
For example: "How many months for this app?"
The AI answers
With an answer you taught or your Knowledge Hub, as usual.
The AI works out the step
It decides which step the customer is at from the whole conversation. Customers can go back a step.
The AI follows up for that step
It asks one more question, asks for a phone number, or invites a booking.
Steps only decide what the AI asks next. Facts such as prices and policies always come from Teach answers and the Knowledge Hub; steps never add new facts.
Where to find it
Click AI Agent in the sidebar and open the Guide customers tab. The tab shows the number of steps while guiding is on, and Off when it is switched off. The Auto reply tab also has a card that links here.
Who can use it
Only company admins can add, edit, reorder or turn off steps. Users with the Viewer role see the page view only, and other roles see a note that only company admins can change the steps.
Turn Guiding On or Off
A Guide customers switch at the top of the page controls whether the AI uses your steps. The card also shows your customer's journey as numbered steps you can click to jump to one.
On
The AI works out which step the customer is at and follows up to match.
Off
The AI only answers what the customer asks, with at most one question when something is unclear. It doesn't suggest buying or ask for a phone number. Your steps are kept as they are.
Start From an Example
When you have no steps yet, you can start quickly from an example or start from scratch. Examples are a starting point: you can change every name, question and the order. The AI won't use them until you turn guiding on.
Shop or online store
Fashion, cosmetics, homeware…
Just asking → Choosing → Ready to buy
Appointments
Spas, clinics, salons, classes…
Asking about services → Weighing it up → Booking
Services and projects
Software, design, building work, travel…
Just asking → Understanding needs → Ready to start
What a Step Contains
Click Add a step (or Edit on an existing one) and fill in:
- Step name — named after what the customer is doing, for example Just asking, Choosing, Ready to buy. Up to 60 characters, and each name must be different
- At this step, how should the AI help? — a note to a new staff member. The AI reads it to spot this step and to know what to do. Up to 500 characters
- Opening message (first step only) — a true statement about your business that the AI may say to a brand-new customer whose first message has no question, for example after an ad click. The AI says it, then asks this step's question. Write only what is always true. Up to 500 characters
- What should the AI ask? (optional) — things to find out, such as Budget. The AI asks one at a time in this order and skips anything the customer already said. Up to 10 items
- After answering, the AI may also — the follow-ups the AI is allowed to use at this step, listed below
Ask one more question
Asks the next thing on your list, or one question to clarify.
Ask for a phone number, Zalo or email
So your team can follow up. At most twice per chat.
Invite them to book
Invites the customer to book a call or a visit.
At every step the AI may always answer the question, and pass the chat to your team when the customer wants a person. The step editor shows a preview, What the customer sees, with an example of the follow-up.
Managing Steps
- You can have up to 10 steps. The first step is where every new chat starts
- Click Reorder, then drag the steps or use the arrows, and click Save order
- Deleting a step moves any chat at that step to the closest matching step. If it is the only step, deleting it stops the AI guiding customers; you can turn guiding off instead to pause
- Under Extra notes on when customers move on you can add optional notes. Usually they are not needed, because the AI works out the step from each step's name and description
- If someone else changes the steps while you are editing, the page offers to save your change into the new version or discard it
Built-in steps: If your company uses the built-in "Automation consulting" steps set up by Fiko, they can't be edited. Click Make them editable to copy them as editable steps. After switching, the AI no longer scores how good a fit the customer is; only the built-in steps do that.
What Guiding Needs
- Auto reply must be on. If it is off, the page shows "Auto reply is off" with a button to open it
- The AI needs something to answer with. Without a taught answer or Knowledge Hub content, the page asks you to teach answers or add documents first
- The company must be on the current AI reply version. On the older version the page says the AI does not use these steps yet
Troubleshooting
The AI is not following up with questions?
- Check that guiding is On. Steps you add from an example are not used until you turn guiding on
- Check that the step allows a follow-up under "After answering, the AI may also". With nothing ticked, the AI only answers at that step
- If the question list on a step is filled in but "Ask one more question" is off, the AI won't ask the things on the list
- A taught answer set to Send word for word is sent as is with no follow-up, and one set to Always pass to your team goes straight to your team
- Check that Auto reply is on. If it is off, the page says so and the AI can't guide customers
The page says the AI has nothing to answer with yet?
- Steps only work once the AI can answer customers' questions
- Teach it a few answers, or add documents to the Knowledge Hub, first
The page says your company is on the older AI reply version?
- The AI does not use these steps yet on the older version
- Contact Fiko to switch to the new version
"Someone changed the steps while you were editing"?
- The saved steps changed after you opened the page
- Choose "Save my change into the new version" to keep both changes, or "Discard my change" to load the latest version
The real wording of each follow-up is written by the AI for each customer. It asks at most one question at a time and never asks again for something the customer already said.