Response Modes

Every Response Workflow uses one of three response modes. You don't choose the mode explicitly — it's determined by the type of content you create. If you write a template, it's template mode. If you write strategy instructions, it's guided mode. If you write both, it's hybrid mode.

Template mode

Best for: Standardized responses where the exact wording matters — legal replies, compliance acknowledgments, shipping confirmations with specific formatting.

In template mode, you design the exact structure of the response using a visual editor. You control the greeting, the paragraphs, the sign-off — everything. The AI only fills in specific gaps that you mark with placeholders.

How it works:

• You build a response template with a mix of static text and dynamic placeholders
• Placeholders pull in ticket data (customer name, ticket subject), external data (order number, tracking info), or AI-generated text (a paragraph explaining your refund policy for this specific situation)
• The structure of the response is always the same — only the placeholder values change per ticket

Example template:

Hi {{customer first name}},

Thanks for reaching out about your order {{order number}}.

{{AI: Explain the current order status and next steps based on the fulfillment data}}

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Best, {{agent name}}

Guided mode

Best for: Adaptive responses where the AI needs to reason about the situation — refund requests that depend on order age, troubleshooting that varies by product, any scenario where a single template can't cover all the variations.

In guided mode, you write strategy instructions that tell the AI how to think about the response — what data to check, what decisions to make, what tone to use. The AI generates the entire response from scratch, guided by your instructions.

How it works:

• You write strategy instructions — a set of guidelines the AI follows when crafting the response
• The AI receives your instructions along with the full ticket context, any external data (orders, subscriptions), and relevant knowledge base articles
• The AI generates a complete response that follows your strategy while adapting to the specific situation
• The response format adjusts automatically based on the channel — longer and more formal for email, brief and conversational for chat, very concise for social messaging

Example strategy instructions:

1. Look up the customer's most recent order using their email
2. Check the fulfillment status and financial status
3. If the order was delivered less than 30 days ago, explain the refund process and let them know we'll initiate it
4. If the order was delivered more than 30 days ago, explain the policy but offer store credit as an alternative
5. If the order shows as disputed, do not respond — this will be escalated to a human agent
6. Always include the order number and current status in your response
7. Use a warm, empathetic tone

The same workflow handles multiple scenarios because the AI adapts based on what it finds. You don't need separate templates for "refund within policy" and "refund outside policy" — one set of instructions covers both.

Hybrid mode

Best for: Structured responses where you want consistent formatting but with AI-powered sections that follow a strategy — like an order status email where the greeting and sign-off are fixed, but the middle section adapts based on order data.

Hybrid mode combines both approaches. You build a template that controls the overall structure, and the AI sections within that template use your strategy instructions as additional context for how to generate their content.

How it works:

• You create a template (like template mode) AND write strategy instructions (like guided mode)
• The template controls the overall structure — greeting, sections, sign-off
• AI placeholder blocks within the template receive your strategy instructions as context, making them smarter about how to fill in their sections
• You get the structural consistency of a template with the adaptive intelligence of guided mode

Choosing the right mode

You can change modes at any time by adding or removing content. Add strategy instructions to a template and it becomes hybrid. Remove the template from a hybrid workflow and it becomes guided.

Related

• Creating a Workflow
• Strategy Instructions