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The email channel gives the agent an inbox of its own. Mail that arrives there is answered by email, with the same knowledge, instructions and actions the agent uses in chat and on the phone. Most businesses forward their existing support address to it, so customers keep writing to the address they already know.

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Turn it on and get the address

Go to Agents → your agent → Channels and switch on the Email card. The card then shows the agent’s address, with a copy button. The address is created the first time you switch email on and open the page, not before. The part before the @ comes from the agent’s name plus four random characters, for example acme-support-3f9a@…. It doesn’t change if you rename the agent later. You can hand the address out directly, on a contact page or in a signature, or forward your support mailbox to it.

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Forward your support mailbox

1

Copy the agent's address

From the Email card under Agents → your agent → Channels.
2

Add it as a forwarding address in your mail provider

The card has the path for the common ones:
  • Google Workspace: Settings → Forwarding → add this address.
  • Outlook: Settings → Mail → Forwarding → enable forwarding.
  • Zendesk: Admin → Email → add a forwarding address, then verify.
3

Confirm the forward

Gmail and Google Workspace send a confirmation code to the agent’s address before they forward anything. WireDesk emails that code and the confirmation link to the workspace owner, with the subject “Confirm Gmail forwarding to your agent”. Enter the code in Gmail, or open the link. This works even before you switch the email channel on.
4

Send yourself a test

Write to your support address from a personal account, and read the reply as a customer would.
Keep a copy of forwarded mail in your own inbox while you get used to it. Reading what came in next to what the agent said is the quickest way to find gaps in its knowledge.

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Reply as your business

By default the agent’s replies come from its own address, under the agent’s name. The email channel’s own page lets you make them read as your business. Open Agents → your agent → Channels → Email (or click Wording for email → on the card). Below the address are two fields: Under the fields, a preview line shows exactly what customers will see: the sender name and the agent’s address, and where their answers will go. Click Save. Owners and admins can change these. With a support address set, a customer’s answer goes to your support mailbox, so your team sees it. Your forwarding then brings it back to the agent, which files it in the same conversation. Only set it once that address forwards to the agent; otherwise answers stop in your mailbox and the agent never sees them. Leave it empty and answers come straight to the agent’s address. The support address can’t be an agent address. If you try, you’ll see “That’s an agent address. Use the support address your customers already write to.” Replies are always sent from the agent’s address. There’s no option to send from your own domain. Replies your team writes from the dashboard use the same sender name and support address.

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How the agent answers

  • Who it replies to: the address in the email’s Reply-To, if it has one, otherwise the sender. Never the mailbox that forwarded it. So a message from a website contact form that puts the visitor in Reply-To is answered to the visitor.
  • What it reads: the text of the email, up to 8,000 characters. HTML-only emails are converted to text. Attachments aren’t read.
  • What it sends: a plain-text reply with the subject prefixed Re:.
  • Threading: replies carry the standard threading headers, so they sit in the customer’s thread in their mail client. When the customer answers, the agent matches it to the same conversation and sees the recent history. A brand-new email, not a reply, starts a new conversation.
Every email conversation is in Conversations, with the subject shown.

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When the agent doesn’t reply

The agent doesn’t answer when:
  • It looks automated. Out-of-office replies, bulk mail, bounces, and mail from no-reply, mailer-daemon or postmaster addresses are ignored and not saved. This stops two machines answering each other.
  • A person has taken over. The email is saved, but once someone on your team joins the conversation, the agent stays quiet and your reply from the dashboard is the next message. See request a human.
  • The same sender is writing very fast. The agent sends at most 8 replies an hour to one sender. Later emails are saved but not answered until the hour has passed.
  • Your spend cap is reached. Emails are saved but not answered until the month rolls over or you raise the cap. See spend cap.
  • The same message arrives twice, for example through an alias and a group that both forward. The duplicate is ignored.

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Turn the channel off

Switch off the Email card. Mail to the address is ignored, and the address stays the agent’s. Switch it back on to start answering again. Remove the forward at your mail provider too, or forwarded mail will go unanswered.

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What it costs

Each agent reply by email counts as one reply of usage, the same as chat. Replies your team writes don’t count. See plans and limits.