Email Channel

The email channel allows your AI agent to receive and respond to emails. Customers can email your support address, and your agent responds using your knowledge base—just like the chat widget but over email.

How It Works

Email arrives at your agent’s inbound address
Agent processes the email using your knowledge base
Response sent back to the customer
Conversation tracked in your dashboard

All email conversations appear alongside widget chats, so you have a unified view of all customer interactions.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

A Ansa account (Starter plan or higher)
An agent with knowledge base content
Access to configure email forwarding (for custom domains)

Step 1: Enable Email Channel

Go to Channels → Email
Select an agent
Toggle Enabled on
Note your inbound address (e.g., [email protected])

Step 2: Forward Emails

Set up email forwarding from your support address to your agent’s inbound address. Common providers:

Gmail

Settings → Forwarding → Add address

Outlook

Settings → Mail → Forwarding

Zendesk

Admin → Channels → Email → Forwarding

Other

Check your email provider’s forwarding docs

Step 3: Configure Settings

Customize how your agent handles emails:

Go to Channels → Email
Configure display name, signature, etc.
Save settings

Configuration Options

Basic Settings

Setting	Description
Display Name	Name shown in “From” field (e.g., “Acme Support”)
Reply Address	Where replies go (optional, defaults to inbound)
Signature	Text appended to every email
Subject Prefix	Text prepended to subject lines

Email Content

Setting	Description
Disclaimer Enabled	Add a disclaimer to emails
Disclaimer Text	The disclaimer content
Include Original	Quote the original message in replies

Security & Filtering

Setting	Description
Allowed Domains	Only accept emails from these domains
Blocked Senders	Reject emails from these addresses
CC Address	Copy all responses to this address
Alert Contact	Email for system alerts

Confidence-Based Routing

Route emails based on how confident your agent is in its response.

How It Works

Agent receives email
Searches knowledge base for relevant content
Calculates confidence score
Takes action based on threshold

Configuration

Go to Channels → Email
Set Confidence Threshold (e.g., 70%)
Choose Low Confidence Action:
- Forward — Send to a human for review
- Draft — Save response but don’t send
- Send Anyway — Send with disclaimer

Forward to Human

For low-confidence responses:

Set Forward To Email (your support team)
The agent forwards:
- Original customer email
- Drafted response
- Confidence score
- Conversation link

Your team reviews and sends manually if appropriate.

Custom Domain

Use your own domain instead of mail.ansa.so.

Setup

Go to Channels → Email → Domain
Click Add Domain
Enter your domain (e.g., support.yourcompany.com)
Add the DNS records shown:
- SPF record
- DKIM record
- MX record (optional)
Click Verify

DNS Records Example

Type: TXT
Name: @
Value: v=spf1 include:amazonses.com ~all

Type: CNAME
Name: ansa._domainkey
Value: dkim.resend.com

Type: MX (optional)
Name: support
Value: mail.ansa.so
Priority: 10

DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate. You can still use the default inbound address while waiting.

Threading & Conversations

Emails are automatically threaded into conversations.

How Threading Works

Replies to existing threads continue the conversation
New subjects start new conversations
Thread ID tracked via email headers

Viewing Conversations

Go to Conversations
Filter by Email channel
Click to view full thread

Each message shows:

Sender
Timestamp
Confidence score
Original email content

Auto-Learn

Improve your agent automatically from email interactions.

How It Works

When enabled:

Agent analyzes incoming questions
Identifies knowledge gaps
Suggests additions to knowledge base
You approve or reject suggestions

Configuration

Go to Channels → Email
Toggle Auto-Learn Enabled
Review suggestions in Knowledge Base

Email Formatting

Outgoing Emails

Agent responses are formatted as clean HTML emails:

Markdown converted to HTML
Mobile-friendly styling
Plain text fallback included

Incoming Emails

The agent processes:

Plain text emails
HTML emails (converted to text)
Email threads (extracts latest message)

Best Practices

Start Conservative

Set high confidence threshold initially

Monitor Closely

Review email conversations daily at first

Build Knowledge

Add content based on common questions

Human Backup

Always have a forward address for edge cases

Gradual Rollout

Week 1: Forward only, review all drafts
Week 2: Auto-send high confidence (90%+)
Week 3: Lower threshold to 80%
Ongoing: Adjust based on feedback

Quality Checks

Review low-confidence forwards weekly
Check for patterns in forwarded emails
Update knowledge base with missing info
Monitor customer satisfaction

Troubleshooting

Emails Not Arriving

Check:

Forwarding is configured correctly
Inbound address is correct
Email isn’t in spam/junk
Sender isn’t in blocked list

Test: Send a test email to your inbound address.

Responses Not Sending

Check:

Email channel is enabled
Agent has content in knowledge base
Confidence threshold isn’t too high
Low confidence action is set correctly

Wrong Response Format

Check:

Signature is configured
Display name is set
Subject prefix is correct

Threading Issues

Check:

Email client preserves thread headers
Subject line isn’t modified
Reply is to the same thread

API Access

Get Email Settings

curl "https://api.ansa.so/email/settings/{agentId}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ANSA_API_KEY"

Update Email Settings

curl -X POST "https://api.ansa.so/email/settings/{agentId}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ANSA_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "displayName": "Acme Support",
    "enabled": true,
    "confidenceThreshold": 70,
    "lowConfidenceAction": "forward",
    "forwardToEmail": "[email protected]"
  }'

Verify Domain

curl -X POST "https://api.ansa.so/email/verify-domain" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ANSA_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"domain": "support.example.com"}'

Limits & Quotas

Limit	Value
Email size	25 MB max
Attachments	Not processed (text extracted)
Rate limit	100 emails/minute
Thread depth	50 messages max

Getting Started

User Guides

Use Cases

Developer Guides

Tools & Forms

Integrations

API Reference

Support

​How It Works

​Getting Started

​Prerequisites

​Step 1: Enable Email Channel

​Step 2: Forward Emails

Gmail

Outlook

Zendesk

Other

​Step 3: Configure Settings

​Configuration Options

​Basic Settings

​Email Content

​Security & Filtering

​Confidence-Based Routing

​How It Works

​Configuration

​Forward to Human

​Custom Domain

​Setup

​DNS Records Example

​Threading & Conversations

​How Threading Works

​Viewing Conversations

​Auto-Learn

​How It Works

​Configuration

​Email Formatting

​Outgoing Emails

​Incoming Emails

​Best Practices

Start Conservative

Monitor Closely

Build Knowledge

Human Backup

​Gradual Rollout

​Quality Checks

​Troubleshooting

​Emails Not Arriving

​Responses Not Sending

​Wrong Response Format

​Threading Issues

​API Access

​Get Email Settings

​Update Email Settings

​Verify Domain

​Limits & Quotas

​Next Steps

Confidence Scores

Knowledge Base

How It Works

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Step 1: Enable Email Channel

Step 2: Forward Emails

Step 3: Configure Settings

Configuration Options

Basic Settings

Email Content

Security & Filtering

Confidence-Based Routing

How It Works

Configuration

Forward to Human

Custom Domain

Setup

DNS Records Example

Threading & Conversations

How Threading Works

Viewing Conversations

Auto-Learn

How It Works

Configuration

Email Formatting

Outgoing Emails

Incoming Emails

Best Practices

Gradual Rollout

Quality Checks

Troubleshooting

Emails Not Arriving

Responses Not Sending

Wrong Response Format

Threading Issues

API Access

Get Email Settings

Update Email Settings

Verify Domain

Limits & Quotas

Next Steps