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Overview

Chatbase’s Email integration enables your AI agent to automatically respond to customer emails, providing instant support directly through your company’s email system. Setup takes a few minutes and gives you AI-powered email automation across your organization.

What you can do:

Have routine email support answered the moment it arrives, in your brand’s voice, with your team notified the instant delivery goes wrong.

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Before you start

  1. Create a Chatbase account and build your AI agent
  2. Configure your email domain in Email settings with proper authentication (DKIM, SPF, forwarding)
  3. Have an active Chatbase AI agent ready for deployment
Domain configuration required. Email integration will not function until your email domain is properly configured with forwarding, DKIM, and SPF records. Complete domain setup in Settings → Email before deploying. You must also use a company email.

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How Email integration works

The integration lets your AI agent monitor and respond to incoming emails through your configured addresses:
  1. Email reception: Incoming emails are forwarded to your Chatbase AI agent
  2. AI processing: The AI agent analyzes the email content and determines the appropriate response
  3. Automated reply: The AI agent generates and sends a contextually appropriate response
  4. Delivery monitoring: The system tracks delivery and alerts you of any issues
This loop pauses when your AI agent escalates by creating a Zendesk ticket. The AI agent stops replying to the email thread, your team answers from Zendesk, and the AI agent resumes once the ticket is Solved or Closed. See Email handover with Zendesk.

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How to connect Email

1

Open your Chatbase AI agent

Navigate to your Chatbase dashboard and select the AI agent you want to integrate with email.
If you haven’t created an AI agent yet, follow Your first AI agent to get started.
2

Configure your email domain

Navigate to Settings → Email and follow the domain configuration process. See Email settings for detailed instructions.
Verify all configuration steps are complete before proceeding. Email addresses with configuration issues will display warnings.
3

Enable the Email channel

  1. Navigate to Channels → Email.
Email integration navigation
  1. Click Manage to access email deployment settings.
Email manage button
  1. Click Deploy and toggle the channel to Enabled.
Email deployment interface
4

Customize email settings

Configure your AI agent’s email behavior and appearance from Channels → Email → Manage. See Settings below.
Email configuration options
Send an email to your configured address and confirm your AI agent replies, with the display name and signature you set.

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Settings

Customize how your AI agent sends and formats emails to match your brand and communication standards.

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Reply Address

Select which configured email address appears as the reply-to address for AI-generated emails.

Configuration

Choose from your verified email addresses. Addresses with configuration issues (forwarding, DKIM, or SPF not enabled) display warnings, and you won’t be able to select them.

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Deliverability Alert Contact

Designate a team member to receive notifications about email delivery failures and issues.

Monitoring

Select from your account members, or choose “None” to disable delivery alerts.
Recommended: Assign this to your technical or support team lead so delivery issues get resolved quickly.

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Blocked senders

Add email addresses that should never receive an AI reply. Emails from blocked senders are still saved to your conversations.

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Email Display Name

Set the sender name recipients see when they receive emails from your AI agent.

Branding

This name appears in the “From” field and represents your brand identity in customer communications.
Examples: “CustomerSupport at [Company Name]”, “[Company Name] AI Assistant”, “Helpdesk”.

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Spam detection

Enable Spam detection to use AI to identify suspected spam. Suspected spam is saved to your conversation logs but doesn’t receive an automatic AI reply. You can still reply to these conversations manually.

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Whitelisted senders

Add email addresses that should always receive an AI reply and bypass Spam detection.

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Reply Delay

Hold each AI-generated reply for a set time before it’s sent. An instant response can feel automated; a short delay makes replies read like they came from a person, and gives your team a window to step in before an email goes out.

Pacing

Enter a duration and choose seconds or minutes. The maximum delay is 1 hour. Set it to 0, or leave it empty, to send replies immediately.
Reply delay configuration
How it works:
  • The AI agent composes its reply as soon as the customer’s email arrives, but the send is held for the configured time.
  • While a reply is waiting, it appears in your conversation logs as a pending message with a countdown.
  • Taking over the conversation cancels any waiting replies. You’re warned first, and if you proceed the customer never receives them and the unsent drafts are removed.
Warning shown when taking over a conversation with a waiting delayed reply
The delay applies only to automatic AI replies. Replies your team sends from the Helpdesk, and spam conversations you release manually with Reply anyway, are always sent immediately.
If a delayed reply fails to send, it’s retried automatically. If it still can’t be delivered, your Deliverability Alert Contact is notified and the reply is discarded.

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AI Composition Disclaimer

Add transparency by including a disclaimer that identifies AI-generated content.

Transparency

When enabled, adds a customizable disclaimer at the end of emails. The default is “This message is composed by AI.”
Use cases: regulatory compliance requirements, company transparency policies, building customer trust.

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Email Signature

Create a signature that appears at the bottom of all AI-generated emails.

Customization

Supports rich text formatting including multiple lines, links, styling, and contact information.
Signature elements: company contact information, social media links, legal disclaimers, unsubscribe options.
Remove Powered by Chatbase branding from your emails by purchasing the white-label add-on. See Pricing for details.

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Common use cases

  • Customer support automation: Handle common inquiries and FAQs automatically
  • Employee self-service: Answer HR, IT, or administrative questions instantly
  • Lead qualification: Screen and respond to sales inquiries with relevant information
  • Appointment scheduling: Assist with booking and calendar management
  • Order status updates: Provide shipping and order information on demand
Getting started: Begin with a focused use case like FAQ responses or status inquiries, then expand your AI agent’s capabilities as you refine its performance.

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Limitations

  • A configured company domain is required. Email won’t function until forwarding, DKIM, and SPF are set up, and a personal email address can’t be used.
  • The reply delay caps at 1 hour.
  • Taking over a conversation cancels queued replies. Anything waiting to send is discarded.

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Next steps

Email settings

Configure your domain, authentication records, and verified sending addresses.