Overview
The Fullpath Lead Handling Agent is an AI-powered agent that intakes, engages, and qualifies incoming leads on behalf of your dealership — with the goal of setting appointments and getting immediate, quality follow-up started the moment a lead comes in. The agent reaches shoppers in two ways:
- SMS outreach to internet and incoming phone leads
- Email campaigns when no phone number is available
The Conversations page is where your team views every SMS and email interaction the agent is having with shoppers, and where any team member with the right permissions can step into a conversation that needs a human touch.
Note: Any communication sent from the Lead Handling conversation screen (whether from AI or Human) is sent to the shopper via the same phone number.
How It Works
Engaging & Qualifying Leads
By default, when a lead replies, the agent engages to qualify them and attempt to set an appointment. Conversations can happen any time during the configured follow-up window (13 days by default). A conversation is considered concluded after 10 minutes with no response from the lead — once that happens, the agent writes and sends a summary note to your CRM automatically.
Appointment Confirmations
When the agent books an appointment, the lead receives a confirmation message by SMS or email — whichever channel was used for the booking. That message includes an auto-generated Add to Calendar link, supporting Google, Apple, and Outlook calendars.
Existing Appointment Awareness
The agent checks for an upcoming appointment before it engages a shopper. If a shopper already has an appointment on file in the CRM — whether it was booked by a salesperson, a rep, or the agent itself — the agent will not schedule a second one or prompt the shopper to book again. This applies in two situations:
Follow-ups: Before sending a follow-up, the agent checks for an existing appointment. If one is found, the follow-up isn't sent — the conversation moves to the Appointment Set category, the lead is no longer actively worked, and nothing new is written to the CRM.
Live conversations: If the shopper replies, the agent responds with the awareness that an appointment already exists — it won't create a second CRM appointment or send a duplicate confirmation. For example:
Once a conversation is in the Appointment Set category, the agent treats the shopper as booked and won't re-engage them with new outreach.
Where to Find It
Dashboard > Activation > Lead Handling > Conversations
https://dashboard.fullpath.com/lead-handling/conversations
Who Has Access
- Dashboard users with Edit or Admin permissions can view the Conversations page and engage with shoppers directly.
- Users without Edit or Admin permissions can view the page but can't take any actions from it.
Page-Level Controls
- Channels — view all conversations together, or filter to a single channel (SMS or Email).
- Date Range — view conversations within a specific date range. Defaults to the last 30 days.
- Search — searches by name or term.
- Views & Status — choose a view (Needs you, AI active, or All) and refine it by status. See Conversation Views below.
Conversation Views
The Conversations list opens on the Needs you view, which shows only the conversations waiting on a person. Three views sit one click apart, and each one presets the status filter:
| View | Statuses Included |
|---|---|
| Needs you (default) | Needs a Human, Appointment Set, Human Took Over |
| AI active | AI Active, AI Awaiting First Reply |
| All | Every conversation, every status |
How views work:
- Inside any view, you can add or remove statuses from the filter.
- The dropdown shows a conversation count for each status, so you can see how much is in each one.
- The date range stays the same when you switch views.
- Switching views resets the status filter to that view's preset, so custom selections don't carry over.
Page Sections
Conversation List
The left-hand column lists the shopper conversations in the selected view, each with a timestamp. Click any name to open the full conversation in the center panel.
Expanded Conversation View
Selecting a conversation opens the full thread between the agent and the shopper in the center pane, along with action controls and conversation metadata.
Website Engagement Chat History
When a lead originated from a Website Engagement chat, that chat's messages are merged directly into the same conversation timeline as the agent's SMS/email thread — sorted chronologically alongside everything else, not shown as a separate panel. Messages from the WE chat are labeled as sent by the Website Engagement Agent so your team can tell at a glance which part of the conversation happened on the site versus over SMS/email. This gives full context on how the customer came in and what they discussed before becoming a lead, without leaving the Conversations page.
Reply Settings
- Replies can be sent by SMS or Email.
- If a shopper has more than one email or phone number on file, and their communication preferences allow multiple contact details, a dropdown lets you choose which one the reply goes to.
- Photos and videos can be attached to replies. See Sending Photos and Videos below.
Sending Photos and Videos
You can attach photos and videos to outbound replies right from the conversation screen, so your team can share a photo of the actual vehicle on the lot or a quick walkaround video without leaving Lead Handling. Attachments can be sent with a text message or on their own, and sent media appears inline in the conversation thread.
Supported files:
- Up to 10 files per message
- Photos: JPG, PNG, GIF
- Videos: MP4, WEBM, MOV
- Maximum file size: 2MB per file
What you can send depends on the reply channel:
| Channel | What You Can Send | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Photos and videos | Delivered to the shopper as attachments. | |
| SMS | Photos and GIFs only | Video isn't supported over SMS due to carrier size limits. Total attachments per SMS are capped at 5MB. |
Note:
- If you add a video to an SMS reply, you'll see "SMS supports photos and GIFs only" and the file won't attach. To send a video, reply by Email instead.
- The 2MB per-file limit is tight for video. Most phone recordings need to be short or compressed before they'll upload.
Message Feedback (Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down)
Every agent message in a conversation has a thumbs up/thumbs down control. Selecting thumbs down opens a text box — up to 5,000 characters — where you can leave feedback directly on that message, with the full conversation already attached for context.
Note:
- Feedback is collected for review only right now — it doesn't change how the agent replies yet.
- Ratings are per user. Each dashboard user sees only their own rating on a message; if one person thumbs it down, it still shows as unrated to everyone else.
- The controls appear on agent messages only — not on inbound shopper messages.
- Switching a message from thumbs down to thumbs up clears the note you wrote.
Available to Edit and Admin dashboard users; read-only users don't see the controls.
AI Conversation Preferences
Click the preferences icon in the reply section to set conversation-level AI behavior. Two toggles control it:
-
AI Follow-up — when ON, the agent proactively reaches out to the shopper per the rules set in Design Your Agent.
- AI Reply — when ON, the agent replies to all incoming shopper messages per the rules set in Design Your Agent.
3 supported states:
- Both ON
- Both OFF
- Follow-up OFF, Reply ON
Conversation Statuses & AI Settings
Every shopper has a status based on their latest lead and conversation, and each status comes with a matching AI setting. The AI setting controls what the agent does in that conversation, so your team can see at a glance how every conversation is being handled, change it in a click, and take over any conversation. Statuses are also what the Conversation Views group together.
AI Settings
| AI Setting | What the Agent Does |
|---|---|
| Active | Replies to the shopper and sends follow-ups. |
| Reactive | Doesn't send follow-ups, but replies if the shopper writes in. |
| Off | Stays quiet. This is usually because a human has taken over the conversation. |
Statuses and Their AI Setting
| Status | What It Means | AI Setting |
|---|---|---|
| AI Active Conversation | The agent is engaging with the lead and the interaction isn't complete. | Active |
| AI Awaiting First Reply | The lead hasn't responded yet. | Active |
| Requires Human Attention | The conversation touched on a topic the agent is configured to escalate. We err on the side of escalating so your dealership doesn't miss an opportunity — common triggers include the shopper's needs not being fully met, the agent saying "someone will be in touch," or a phone call being discussed. A lead is also flagged this way when it has no valid phone number and no valid email address (or when a phone/email on file turns out to be invalid after initial contact) — on clients where this behavior is enabled. When it fires, a CRM activity note is logged for the lead, an in-app/mobile notification is sent ("Marked lead as Needs Human"), and the contact is added to the Needs Human Attention section of the dealer notification email, so the store team has a clear action item instead of the lead quietly falling through. | Reactive |
| Appointment Set | An appointment has been set for the shopper through the CRM. Supported only by VinSolutions CRM. | Reactive |
| Unresponsive | A conversation is considered concluded after the configured Follow-Up Timeframe (Design My Agent) has had no response from the lead. | Reactive |
| Not In Market | The shopper indicated they purchased elsewhere or bought within the last 60 days. | Reactive |
| DNC | The shopper has requested the dealership not contact them. | Reactive |
| Human Took Over | A rep has taken over the conversation. Reps can use this status to see exactly which conversations are theirs. | Off |
Changing a Status or AI Setting
Dashboard users with Edit or Admin access can change a conversation's status or its AI setting. Change either one and the other updates to match.
When a status is updated, the change as well as the timestamp and actor are visible inline.
Turning the Agent Back On
When you turn the agent back on for a conversation:
- Follow-up days are left: the agent picks the conversation back up and shows you how long it will continue.
- No follow-up days are left: a popup explains that the agent can't re-engage the shopper.
How to Enable or Disable the Agent
Per Conversation
By default, conversations are handled by the agent unless marked "Requires Human Attention."
To toggle AI on or off for a single conversation:
- Click Conversations in the left-side navigation menu.
- Open the conversation you want to adjust.
- At the bottom of the expanded conversation, click AI Conversation Preferences to open the preferences window.
- Toggle AI Agent Reply off to pause agent replies immediately, and/or toggle AI Agent Follow Up off to stop further follow-up cadence.
With AI Reply off, the agent won't auto-reply to incoming messages on that thread:
Per Account
By default, all SMS and Email conversations are handled by the agent.
To turn the agent off for the whole account:
- Click Design Your Agent in the left-side navigation menu.
- Scroll to the Channel settings section.
- Toggle off SMS or Email to pause Lead Handling entirely for that channel.
Follow-up cadence and reply behavior when channels are enabled are configured in the Response Behavior section of Design Your Agent.
Important to Note
Note: By default, the agent will not send follow-ups to leads on:
- New Year's Day
- Memorial Day
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving
- Christmas Day
On any of these days, the agent will still:
- Reply to leads who proactively reach out.
- Initiate a conversation with leads newly submitted that day.