AI Responses

How AI Responses Work

When a lead arrives (via form or inbox), Pounce runs the response pipeline:

1. Loads your business config — company description, tone, knowledge base entries
2. Checks conversation state — is AI allowed to respond? Has the lead opted out?
3. Builds a system prompt — business context + conversation history + tone instructions
4. Calls the LLM — generates a personalized response
5. Scans for escalation triggers — price questions, complaints, urgent keywords
6. Appends booking CTA — if timing is right and booking is configured
7. Sends the email — via your sending provider (Resend/SendGrid/Mailgun)
8. Logs and updates — lead status, daily send count, conversation history

AI Modes

Control how much autonomy the AI has:

Mode	Behavior
AI-only	AI responds to everything automatically. No human review.
AI-first	AI responds, but hot leads get flagged for human review.
Human-only	No AI responses. Leads arrive in the dashboard for manual follow-up.

Switch modes anytime from Settings → Agent Mode.

Tone Configuration

Choose a preset or write custom instructions:

• Professional — “Thank you for your inquiry. I’ll review your request and respond shortly.”
• Friendly — “Hey! Great to hear from you. Let me look into this for you.”
• Casual — “Hey there! Thanks for reaching out — give me a sec to check on this.”
• Custom — Full control. Write anything: “Use sailing metaphors. Never mention competitors. Always ask about their timeline.”

Knowledge Base

Add facts the AI should reference in responses:

• Business hours: “We’re open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm EST”
• Pricing: “Our basic plan starts at $299/month”
• Policies: “We offer a 30-day money-back guarantee”
• Team: “Our lead designer, Maria, handles all custom projects”

The AI incorporates these naturally — it doesn’t just paste them in.

Escalation Triggers

Keywords that flag a lead as “hot” and trigger human review:

• Urgency: “urgent”, “ASAP”, “emergency”
• Complaints: “unhappy”, “disappointed”, “cancel”
• Legal: “lawyer”, “sue”, “attorney”
• High value: “enterprise”, “contract”, “RFP”

Add custom triggers in Settings → Escalation Rules.

Limits

Setting	Default	Free Tier	Paid
AI messages per conversation	10	10	10
Daily send cap	100	100	100
Response time	~5 seconds	~5 seconds	~5 seconds

All limits are configurable in Settings.