How AnswerTide works

Where do answers come from?

Only from content you approve: crawled public website pages, uploaded PDF, TXT, or DOCX files, and approved Q&A you write. Every answer cites the page it came from. If the content does not cover a question, the assistant says so and offers a person — it doesn't fill the gap from general knowledge, and every link in an answer is checked against the pages it indexed.

How do I install it?

Paste one script tag before </body>. The dashboard shows it under Assistant › Install, with a copy button. Add your website to the allowed list first; the widget only answers on origins you allow.

Copying the snippet is not proof of install. The Install page records what the server actually saw: the widget loading from an allowed website, a test question that got a sourced answer, and a handoff the provider accepted.

Sticky checkout bar on mobile? Add data-offset-bottom="72" to the tag so the launcher never covers it.

How do I verify my domain?

Installing the widget is the proof. When the script tag with your key loads on your site, we see it on your home page and mark the domain verified — there is nothing else to do.

If you cannot install yet, any one of these also works:

• A meta tag in your home page's <head>: <meta name="answertide-verification" content="your token">
• A file at /.well-known/answertide-verification.txt that contains your token.
• A DNS TXT record on the domain: answertide-verify=your token.

Your token is on the Install page under Domain verification, with a Check again button. A new domain keeps answering for a 7-day grace period while you verify. We re-check every verified domain daily; if the proof disappears, it keeps answering for another 7 days while you put it back.

What happens when it cannot answer?

The visitor gets a plain sentence saying the documentation does not cover it, and a “Talk to a person” path. Email handoff with the full transcript is on every plan, including the trial. Slack handoff is included on Growth and Scale. Scale also includes webhook actions. Each handoff includes the full transcript.

The dashboard shows each handoff as Queued, Accepted (the provider returned HTTP 2xx), or Failed with the reason. We never claim a message was read.

Send handoffs to your helpdesk

How it works. Set Handoff email in Settings to your helpdesk's inbound address. AnswerTide sends each handoff there as a normal email, on every plan including the trial. The helpdesk creates the ticket. The visitor's address is on Reply-To, so a reply from the ticket goes to the visitor.

Where to find the inbound address.

• Zendesk: The default support address is support@yoursubdomain.zendesk.com. Email settings are under Admin Center > Channels > Talk and email > Email.
• Help Scout: Copy the Help Scout inbox address (for example support@jg-clothing.helpscoutapp.com) under Manage > Inbox(es) > [Choose Your Inbox] > Connect Email & Social.
• Front: Create an SMTP channel and copy the forwarding address Front generates. It ends in in.frontapp.com.
• Intercom: Copy the workspace email address under Settings > Channels > Email > Domains & addresses when automatic forwarding is enabled.
• Freshdesk: The default address is support@yourcompany.freshdesk.com, shown under Admin Settings > Channels > Email.
• Groove: Copy the unique inbox address shown when you add an email channel under Settings > Channels > Add a channel > Email.

What the ticket contains. The subject starts with AnswerTide handoff and includes the visitor's first question. The message includes the full transcript, source links, and the visitor's email. When a booking link is saved in Settings, the message includes that link too.

What it will not do. AnswerTide does not sync the ticket back, does not update ticket status, and does not add account context. There is no helpdesk account to connect. After the helpdesk accepts the email, the ticket stays in the helpdesk.

How does browser voice work?

Browser voice (Talk in the widget) answers from the same approved docs as chat, with source links and human handoff when the docs do not cover it. Paid plans include monthly voice minutes. Turn voice on under Usage & billing when you are ready — visitors see Talk only when voice is enabled for your workspace.

Voice minutes count toward the same monthly allowance rules as chat. Extra minutes use prepaid voice packs after the included pool, with the same spending controls as conversation packs.

What languages does it answer in?

AnswerTide answers in English at launch. Other languages: tell us.

How do I invite a teammate?

Team members are unlimited on every plan. Owners and admins invite teammates from Settings › Team. The invite must be accepted with the same email it was sent to.

Invites are sent from Settings › Team. Pending invites count toward the member list until they expire or are revoked.

How do I fix an answer?

When the assistant answers from your content, a source link appears under the reply (page title and link — the same in chat and browser voice). Improve › Unanswered lists questions that had no cited source, ranked by how often they were asked. Write a correction in your own words, save it as a draft, test it against the original question, then publish. Drafts never reach visitors. Published corrections outrank crawled pages and can be rolled back at any time.

Improve › Saved checks keeps the questions your customers ask most and re-runs them on demand after you change content, so a fix stays fixed.

How is usage counted?

A conversation is counted when AnswerTide delivers its first substantive answer or performs a customer-requested tool action in a thread. Later messages in that thread stay included until 24 hours of inactivity. Greetings, widget opens, canned refusals, contact-form submissions, and handoffs without a substantive answer are not billable conversations.

Plans include a monthly conversation allowance — Free 50, Support 500, Growth 700, Scale 2,400 conversations. You set a monthly cap that starts at the included amount, so nothing beyond the plan fee is billed until you raise it. Past the included amount and inside your cap, each conversation is 12¢. At a cap, chat pauses and visitors can still reach your team. Handoffs are never billed. There is no per-resolution invoice.

Cancel any time. See Pricing for the full table.

What about my data and my customers’ data?

Your content is used only to answer your visitors. Each brand is isolated at the database, not just in the app. Conversations can be searched and exported from the dashboard. Uploaded files are deleted with their pages when you remove them. The crawler honors robots.txt. Details: Privacy, DPA, Subprocessors, Bot.

How do I reach a person at AnswerTide?

Email support from the address you signed up with, or use the assistant on this site — it hands off to us the same way yours hands off to you. Current service status is on Status.