What is Journey Sales Assistant?
Journey Sales Assistant is an AI sales agent that replies when a shopper answers your journey's marketing template in their own words. It answers cart questions, shares product details and nudges the shopper to checkout.
Marketing journeys like abandoned cart, browse abandonment, back in stock and festive offers often get replies such as "Is this true to size?" or "Can I pay COD?". Without the assistant, these replies sit in the inbox until an agent picks them up, often hours later, and the shopper has moved on.
Why turn it on:
Reply to high-intent shoppers in seconds. A shopper asking about COD or sizing is close to buying. They get an answer straight away, 24x7.
Sell with full context. The assistant knows the journey, the product or cart, the offer in your template and your store policies (shipping, returns, COD).
Get more from journeys you already run. More orders from messages you already pay to send, with no new journeys to build.
Stay in control. It follows your agent instructions, guardrails and discounts, never invents an offer, and hands over to your team when needed.
How it works
A typed or quote-reply goes to the assistant, while a button tap follows the path you built. The assistant then guides the shopper to checkout or hands the chat to your team using your smart agent handover settings.
When it replies (and when it doesn't)
The assistant replies only when a shopper types a reply, or quote-replies, to a marketing template sent by a journey where the assistant is turned on. Everything else follows your journey as you built it.
What happens after your template is sent | Who responds |
Shopper types or quote-replies, like "please share my cart info" | Journey Sales Assistant |
Shopper taps a quick reply or CTA button | Your journey continues as built |
A next-step block is connected to the template | That next block runs |
The reply comes in on a fallback branch | Your fallback path runs |
The template is from a non-marketing journey (order updates, shipping) | Not eligible; your usual reply handling applies |
The assistant is turned off for that template | Your usual reply handling applies |
Before you start
WhatsApp connected in BIK. The assistant runs only on channels enabled on the sales agent.
An abandoned cart (or other marketing) journey you want it on, with an approved WhatsApp marketing template.
Store policies added: shipping, delivery times, COD, returns and exchanges. These are what shoppers ask most before buying.
Text Credits or BIK Wallet balance: AI message charges apply to each reply.
How to set it up
Setup takes about 5 minutes: add the agent from the library, then turn it on in your journey's marketing template.
Step 1: Add Journey sales assistant from the library
Go to AI Agents > Agent builder.
Under Start with a template, click Journey sales assistant.
Review the instructions. Under Where it runs, it is set to run when users reply to marketing templates and on inbound DMs with a pre-sales intent.
Under Channel, check that WhatsApp is selected.
Click Save & go live. You'll see a confirmation that Journey sales assistant is live.
Step 2: Check it in My Journeys
Go to Journeys > My Journeys.
Journey sales assistant now shows in your list with an Agents tag and Active status.
Click it to review or edit its settings:
About this agent: the agent's name, what it handles and the channels it's active on.
When it steps in: the replies it picks up.
How it responds: instructions, tools (product details, product search, ask about a product) and guardrails.
Handover rules: when it passes the chat to your team.
Step 3: Build the journey
In My Journeys, click Create journey.
Enter a Journey name and select Marketing as the Journey Type. Click Start building.
Click the Starting Point, then Add trigger. Search for and select Abandoned cart, then click Create.
Add a Delay block, for example Wait for 2 mins.
Add a WhatsApp template block and pick your marketing template.
Step 4: Turn on the sales agent on the template
Click the marketing template block.
Turn on Journey sales assistant. The agent now responds to customers when they reply to this template.
Optional: click it to review the agent's instructions, or Edit in agent builder to change them.
Click Save. The block now shows Journey sales assistant under the template.
Click Save Journey to publish. BIK checks the journey for errors before it goes live.
To stop the assistant on a template, open the block and turn Journey sales assistant off. Replies then go to your usual reply handling.
Step 5: Abandon a cart
To test, open your store, add a product (in the demo, a Blue Cotton Woven Nehru Jacket), click Buy it now, fill in delivery details and leave without paying. This fires the Abandoned cart trigger.
Step 6: The shopper replies on WhatsApp
After the delay, the marketing template arrives on WhatsApp.
The shopper quote-replies to the template: "please share my cart info".
The assistant replies with the cart and a checkout link: "Your cart has 1 Blue Cotton Woven Nehru Jacket (Medium) for ₹2,899. Cart total ₹2,899. Tap to check out."
The shopper asks about the product: "share description of this product".
The assistant answers from the product details: the fabric, cut and fit, care, dispatch time and that Medium suits them.
Step 7: Track it in Helpdesk
Go to Helpdesk > All bot tickets and open the shopper's ticket. You'll see the shopper's quote reply, an activity note that Journey Sales Assistant was triggered, and every reply the agent sent. Your team can step in from here at any time.
Track results
Open the journey's analytics and click the marketing template block. Node-level analytics show the assistant's replies, CTR and orders for that template. Compare templates to see where shoppers ask the most questions, then tune those templates' offers or the agent's instructions.
FAQs
Do I need to build new journeys?
No. You can turn it on for the marketing templates in journeys you already run.
Will it give discounts on its own?
No. It only offers discounts you've configured. Without one, it sells on product fit, reassurance and urgency.
Does it reply when a shopper taps a button?
No. Quick reply and CTA taps follow your journey as built. It replies only to typed or quote-replied messages.
What happens if a shopper wants a person?
It hands the chat to your team using your existing smart agent handover settings.
Which channels does it work on?
Only channels enabled on the sales agent, such as WhatsApp.
Can I turn it off for one template?
Yes. Open the template block in the journey and turn Journey sales assistant off.
Is it charged?
Yes. AI message charges apply to each reply.
For further assistance or to raise feature requests, please contact [email protected]