Customer Support and Voice AI
AI receptionist for small business: calls, bookings and handoffs
What an AI receptionist does on a real call, the rules that apply, a sample greeting and a pass/fail checklist to launch one safely.
Front Line
AI Customer Support Agent for Help Scout
Help Scout mailbox emails answered from your Docs articles, so your small team opens the inbox to the conversations that need them.
Small support teams choose Help Scout to stay personal, then spend half the day on emails their Docs already answer. This edition replies to routine conversations in your mailbox from your Docs articles and policies, checks the customer's profile and past conversations, and assigns anything that needs a person to the right teammate with a note. Your inbox opens to real work.
- Routine mailbox emails answered from your Docs articles
- Customer history checked before every reply
- Other conversations assigned to a teammate with a note
$6,900
20–30 working days
Optional maintenance $345/mo
What it is
AI Customer Support Agent for Help Scout replies to conversations in your Help Scout mailbox using your Docs articles and policies, checks the customer's profile and past conversations, and sets status or assigns to a teammate with a note when a person is needed. It acts only within your approval rules. Your team keeps the final say.
Why businesses buy it
A small team cannot hire every time volume grows, and repetitive emails crowd out the conversations that build loyalty. Customers wait longer and your best people spend their time copying links to help articles. This edition answers the routine emails with your own Docs content and tone, and leaves the personal conversations to your team, with notes that save time. The scope names the mailboxes, policies and handoff rules before you order, and it runs inside your own Help Scout account under rules you set.
Problems this solves
Your Help Scout mailbox fills with questions your Docs already answer
The agent replies to conversations in your Help Scout mailbox using your Docs articles and policies. Customers get the right article in a plain reply, without waiting for a teammate.
Teammates read the full history before every reply
The agent checks the customer's profile and past conversations before answering. When a person is needed, it assigns the conversation with a note summarizing what it found.
Conversations sit in the wrong status and get missed
Within your approval rules, the agent sets status or assigns to a teammate as it works. The documented field mapping makes clear which changes it can make.
A good fit if
Support runs through a Help Scout shared mailbox, and a small team spends mornings answering emails your Docs site already covers.
You want replies to read like your own team wrote them, with the customer's history taken into account.
You want simple questions closed and harder ones left active and assigned, so the mailbox reflects what is really outstanding.
A Help Scout admin can authorize an OAuth app and join a 30-minute setup call.
Not the right fit if
You would rather it draft replies in Help Scout for a person to send. See AI Support Copilot for Help Scout.
You only need answers to website FAQs, with no mailbox replies or actions. See AI FAQ Agent.
Most of your customers write in several languages. See AI Multilingual Support, or add the Additional Language Pack.
Your team works in Intercom chat rather than a Help Scout mailbox. See AI Customer Support Agent for Intercom.
How it works
- A 30-minute call with your Help Scout admin fixes the field mapping: which mailbox, conversation fields and customer details it may read and update.
- Your Docs articles, FAQs and policies form its knowledge, up to 100 documents, approved before go-live.
- New conversations in the chosen mailbox are read along with the customer's profile and earlier conversations, then routine questions get a reply grounded in your Docs.
- Within up to six workflows it sets conversation status, adds a note and closes what is resolved, following your approval rules.
- Anything it should not answer stays active and is assigned to the teammate your escalation rules name, with a note, during your support hours.
- Fifty scenarios drawn from your past Help Scout emails are tested on test records and reported back before launch.
What you provide within 72 hours
Your portal lists these the moment you order. Delivery starts the working day after everything is in and your access is checked.
- A Help Scout OAuth app authorized by your admin.
- A Help Scout admin for a 30-minute setup call.
- Your Docs articles, FAQs and policies.
- Escalation rules: which teammate handles which type of email, and your support hours.
- Ten real email conversations that show your customers' typical questions.
- The approver for actions that need a person, plus access to any second system.
- One decision-maker for sign-off; credentials are never emailed.
- A rough count of your current help articles, FAQs and saved replies, so we can check there is enough source content to answer from.
- An API key for your own AI model account (for example OpenAI or Google Gemini), created for this build with a spending limit.
The 72-hour rule. Send everything on your checklist, including access, within 72 hours of ordering so your build starts on time.
Timeline
Start
Intake verified, OAuth app authorized, mailbox mapping agreed.
Weeks 1–2
Docs knowledge loaded; email reply workflows built.
Week 3
Status, notes and teammate assignment connected.
Weeks 3–4
50 email scenarios tested on test records and reviewed.
Week 4
Your review and two rounds of changes.
Go-live
Answering in Help Scout, recorded handoff, support starts.
| Option | Delivery time | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 20–30 working days | $6,900 |
| Express | 15–25 working days | $7,950 |
| Rush | 10–20 working days | $8,950 |
What you receive at handover
- The support agent working in your Help Scout mailbox on one agreed channel
- Help Scout two-way connection with documented field mapping, plus up to one more system
- Up to six workflows following your approval rules
- Access set up via invites or keys you control, with nothing sent by email
- Test report from 50 documented scenarios on test records
- Admin guide, recorded 60-minute handoff session and 30 days of post-launch support
Expected benefits and how to measure them
- Your team can keep a personal touch on the conversations that need it.
- Customers can get Docs-based answers without a queue.
- Helps keep mailbox status accurate so fewer conversations slip.
- Conversations closed without a teammate
- Use Help Scout reports filtered by the agent's user to count closed conversations each week.
- Response time
- Compare Help Scout's response time report for four weeks before launch and four weeks after.
- Customer happiness score
- Compare Help Scout happiness ratings for the month before launch with the month after.
Before you start: Save Help Scout reports on volume, response time and happiness score for the month before work begins.
These are things to track, not promised results. Outcomes depend on your data, your team and your market.
Running costs
The build price is paid once. Running costs are roughly $50 to $250 a month for AI model usage and hosting, billed to your own accounts, plus your current Help Scout plan. Help Scout plan or user changes are outside this build.
AI usage during the build and testing is billed to you directly too.
Ask about running costsCustom requirements
A second mailbox, data outside the agreed mapping, a chat channel alongside email or a third connected system go through a Change Quote. Add a note at checkout for a written quote. Larger or bespoke projects go through the Custom AI request form instead.
Request a custom versionKeep it running
After launch, monthly maintenance keeps the agent current as your help content changes. It covers monitoring, fixes, updates, a health report and change hours for things such as new Docs articles, revised policies or new escalation paths. It starts after the post-launch support period, bills monthly and can be cancelled any month. Unused hours do not roll over.
$345/mo (5% of the build price a month, includes 3 change hours)
Optional. Starts after the post-launch support period. Cancel any month.
How maintenance worksHow this compares
| Do it yourself with a SaaS tool | Hire a custom agency | Upmark Labs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | An inbox AI feature bills per resolution on top of your plan | A virtual assistant service bills by the hour | Ours is one fixed price, shown on this page before you buy |
| Customer history | May reply without reading past emails | Depends on who picks it up | Ours reads the customer's earlier conversations first |
| Mailbox state | Leaves status and assignment to you | An agency build depends on what was agreed | Ours closes, assigns and notes inside your rules |
| Delivery | On quickly, tuned over weeks | An agency usually takes several weeks, set per project | Ours has a fixed delivery time shown before you buy, with faster options |
Questions about this product
Does the Help Scout agent answer from our Docs site?
Yes. Your Help Scout Docs articles, plus any FAQs and policies you approve are its only knowledge, up to 100 documents. When an email asks about something those do not cover, it leaves the conversation active and assigns it to a teammate rather than guessing.
Will replies sound like our small team?
They are written from your own Docs and checked against ten real emails you provide, so tone and terms match how you already reply. You review the 50 test scenarios before launch and can adjust wording during the two rounds of changes. Custom Persona and Brand Voice Tuning is available as an add-on.
Which mailbox does it work in?
One Help Scout mailbox, chosen at intake, as the build's one channel. If you run separate mailboxes, for example for sales and support, a second mailbox is quoted through a Change Quote so each gets its own rules and knowledge.
What does AI Customer Support Agent for Help Scout cost?
The build price, with the express and rush options, is shown in the price and delivery panels on this page, so the full figure is clear before you buy. Running costs of roughly $50 to $250 a month are billed in your own accounts, separate from your Help Scout plan, and we charge nothing per email.
What does our Help Scout admin need to set up?
An OAuth app authorized for your Help Scout account, and 30 minutes for a call to agree which conversations, customer details and Docs articles are read or updated. Access stays within that mapping is never handed over by email, and your Help Scout plan and users stay exactly as they are.
Can it close conversations in Help Scout on its own?
Yes, when your rules allow. If a question is answered from approved Docs and meets your criteria, it can set the conversation to closed with a note. Uncertain or sensitive emails stay active and are assigned to the right teammate.
Guides on this topic
All guides Open the mailbox to the emails that need you.
Order the AI Customer Support Agent for Help Scout and open your mailbox to the emails that need you. Mailboxes and handoff rules are agreed in writing before you pay.
Works well with
Support Operations
AI Support Knowledge Agent
Finds gaps in your help center and drafts new articles from resolved tickets.
Front Line
AI FAQ Agent
Answers frequently asked questions on your website from an approved FAQ set.
Front Line
AI Multilingual Support
Provides support in multiple languages from a single knowledge base.