How to launch your Customer Agent

You will learn

You will learn how to launch your Customer Agent successfully across every channel you want the Customer Agent active on. Correctly launching the agent allows you to automate responses to common customer questions, reducing support volume and boosting conversion by providing instant answers to your shoppers 24/7.

Before you begin

• Prerequisites: You must have access to the Customer Agent. To launch on SMS, you need an active two-way sending number. To launch on Web Chat, you must have Klaviyo Web Chat visible on your site.
• Availability: This feature is available to Owners, Admins, and Managers.
• Time to complete: ~5 minutes (assuming channel settings are pre-configured).
• Important: The agent will begin responding to incoming messages on the selected channel once turned on. Ensure your "Handoff to support" path is monitored.

Overview

The Customer Agent launch checklist is the final step before you go live. This guided flow consolidates all critical decision points—such as which channel the agent responds to and where it sends complex queries it cannot answer—into a single review screen. This ensures you can launch with confidence.

Set it up

Use the launch checklist to review your configuration, test the agent in preview, and activate it for your customers.

1. Navigate to Service > Customer Agent > Launch.
2. Select the tab for the channel you want to configure: Web Chat or Text Messaging.
3. For Web Chat: update how the agent will introduce itself.
   1. This will appear as an 'intro message' that your site visitors will see both when visiting your site and opening the web chat.
4. Review the Skills section.
   • We show the skills that are enabled by default for this channel (e.g., "Order Tracking," "Product Recommendations"). This determines what questions the agent is capable of answering.
5. Configure the Handoff section.
   • Action: Select the Helpdesk where the agent should create a ticket if it cannot resolve an inquiry, or select 'Do not hand off' if you prefer the Agent to send a static response telling shoppers where they can follow up.
   • Action: Review and customize the Handoff message the agent will send to the consumer when an escalation occurs.
   • Action: You can Test the handoff in your selected helpdesk by hitting the 'Test handoff' button. This will create a test ticket from a test user in your selected helpdesk. Note you will need to ensure the integration with your helpdesk is configured before testing.
6. Test the agent: Use the Preview panel on the right side of the screen to simulate a conversation.
   • Tip: Ask test questions to verify the agent's tone, accuracy, and that the handoff message triggers correctly before going live.
7. Click Turn on to activate the agent for the selected channel.

Tip: You can return to this page at any time to toggle the agent off or adjust settings by navigating back to Conversations > Customer Agent.

Troubleshooting

Symptom: The "Turn on" button is grayed out and not clickable.

Likely cause: A required setting, such as the channel setup or a handoff integration, is missing.

Fix: Click into the card at the top of the launch screen to setup the channel before trying to launch Customer Agent or the "Handoff" cards to ensure you have the relevant helpdesk integration set up.

FAQ

Q: Can I use the agent on both SMS and Chat simultaneously?

A: Yes. You can configure both channels within the launch checklist. However, we recommend reviewing settings for each channel individually to ensure the tone matches the medium.

Q: Does the agent reply to messages sent before I clicked "Turn on"?

A: No. The agent only responds to new incoming messages received after activation.

Q: How do I turn the agent off?

A: Return to Conversations > Customer Agent and toggle the status to Off.

Additional resources

• Getting started with the Customer Agent
• How to test and train your Customer Agent
• How to configure your Agent handoff settings