How specialist agents work together
The AI Shopping Assistant is a team of specialist agents behind one chat window. A router reads each message with the recent conversation and sends it to the one specialist agent best suited to it. Follow-up questions stay with the agent that answered before.
What is a specialist agent?
Section titled “What is a specialist agent?”A specialist agent is one part of the AI Shopping Assistant built for one kind of question. Product Discovery handles product searches. Product Q&A answers questions about a single product. Customer Support covers store policies and account help. Shoppers see one chat window and one voice, while each question goes to the specialist agent that does that job best.
Every specialist agent reads from the same data layer, the Commerce Context Engine. That shared layer is why one specialist agent can pick up where another left off without losing what the shopper already said or viewed.
How does the AI Shopping Assistant decide which specialist agent answers?
Section titled “How does the AI Shopping Assistant decide which specialist agent answers?”The AI Shopping Assistant uses a router that reads every message before any specialist agent sees it. The router looks at the message together with your business description, the specialist agents you have switched on and the last few turns of the conversation. It then sends the message to the one specialist agent best suited to it.
The router also rewrites short follow-ups into complete questions. A shopper who searched for running shoes and then types “something lighter” gets a full search for lighter running shoes. Product Discovery runs a new search that carries the earlier request forward.
The router checks the message types below in this order, starting with custom workflows.
| The message is | It goes to |
|---|---|
| A match for the trigger of a published custom workflow | That custom workflow |
| A question about store policies, shipping or account help | Customer Support |
| A request about an order or a return | Order & Returns Management, when it is on |
| A photo the shopper uploads | Visual Search |
| A request to compare products | Product Compare |
| A product search or a request to browse | Product Discovery |
| A question about one product | Product Q&A |
| A greeting, a question about the store or a vague message | General conversation |
Specialist agents lists every specialist agent, what it answers and what it needs to work.
What happens to follow-up questions?
Section titled “What happens to follow-up questions?”The AI Shopping Assistant keeps follow-up questions with the specialist agent that answered before. A short attribute question after a product answer, such as “does it come in blue?”, stays with Product Q&A. The shopper doesn’t have to name the product again.
A custom workflow in progress keeps the conversation until the workflow ends. A shopper who is partway through giving details for a request isn’t routed somewhere else by their next message.
What if a specialist agent is off or can’t answer?
Section titled “What if a specialist agent is off or can’t answer?”The AI Shopping Assistant falls back when the chosen specialist agent is switched off or can’t answer. The next best specialist agent that is on answers instead. When no specialist agent fits, general conversation answers. General conversation is always on and has no switch. If no specialist agent can answer, the AI Shopping Assistant asks the shopper to rephrase.
A few specialist agents have their own fallback. For example, questions for Order & Returns Management go to Customer Support when it is off. Advanced settings shows what each switch does.
What can you control?
Section titled “What can you control?”You decide which specialist agents run, what the AI Shopping Assistant knows and how it behaves. Each control lives in the console.
| Control | What it decides | Learn more |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced settings | Which specialist agents run and the settings of each one | Advanced settings |
| Trainings | What the AI Shopping Assistant knows beyond your catalog, such as policies and guides | Add training documents |
| Prompt instructions | How the AI Shopping Assistant behaves, such as brand voice and business rules | Write prompt instructions |
| Custom workflows | Which messages start a flow you built, such as an escalation | Custom workflows |
When does a conversation go to a person?
Section titled “When does a conversation go to a person?”The AI Shopping Assistant hands a conversation to a person through a custom workflow. The workflow can collect the shopper’s details, open a ticket in your helpdesk or pass the conversation to your team. Set up escalation to a person walks through it.
Key takeaways
Section titled “Key takeaways”- The AI Shopping Assistant is a team of specialist agents behind one chat window.
- A router sends each message to the one specialist agent best suited to it.
- Published custom workflows come first in routing. A workflow in progress keeps the conversation until it ends.
- Follow-up questions stay with the specialist agent that answered before.
- When a specialist agent is off or can’t answer, the next best one or general conversation answers.
- You control which specialist agents run, what the AI Shopping Assistant knows and how it behaves.
Frequently asked questions
- Does more than one specialist agent answer the same message?
- No. The router sends each message to one specialist agent. If that agent is switched off or can't answer, the next best agent that is on answers instead, or general conversation does.
- Can I choose which specialist agents run on my store?
- Yes. You switch each specialist agent on or off on the agent's Advanced settings tab. Which specialist agents appear depends on how Webscale set up your store.
- Why does a short follow-up like "in medium?" get the right answer?
- The router reads the last few turns of the conversation. It rewrites a short follow-up into a complete question and keeps it with the specialist agent that answered before, so the shopper doesn't have to repeat the product.
- Can a specialist agent hand a conversation to a person?
- A custom workflow can. It can collect the shopper's details, open a ticket in your helpdesk or pass the conversation to your team. You decide which messages start it.