Attribution context

Source, Channel, UTM parameters, Referring page, Knock Link, Campaign

This means the AI does not need to ask the buyer questions Knock can already answer from enrichment, CRM data, or relationship history.

Learn more about Contact Enrichment, Company Enrichment, and real-time enrichment from chats.

2. Filter bots and spam

Not every inbound interaction deserves SDR attention.

Knock can identify spam and bot activity before sending the conversation into your normal sales workflow, regardless of the interface where the interaction began.

Spam is also supported as an Intent Type, allowing Knock to keep irrelevant conversations away from your sales team and CRM.

This means your reps do not need to manually sort real buying conversations from junk before they can start selling.

3. Detect the lead's intent

The first job of the AI is not to sell.

It is to understand why the person is here.

Knock can classify inbound conversations into intent types such as:

• Buying
• Support
• Partnership
• Job Seeker
• Spam

Knock combines the conversation with first-party intent signals, including website activity, Knock Link engagement, previous interactions, relationship history, and messages from connected interfaces.

Knock also provides:

• Knock: Intent Type
• Knock: Intent Score

Intent detection happens before the appropriate routing flow is applied.

This is important because a support request and a buying conversation should not enter the same SDR queue, even if they arrive through the same interface.

Each intent gets its own Intent Agent

Knock can activate a specialized agent based on what the person needs:

Buying Agent

Qualifies buyers, answers approved questions, routes qualified conversations to Sales, and can book meetings.

Support Agent

Handles support questions using approved sources and can route the conversation to your Support team.

Partnership Agent

Handles partnership requests, routes relevant conversations to your Partnerships team, and can suggest actions such as registering for a partner program or webinar.

Hiring Agent

Handles career conversations, answers approved recruiting questions, routes relevant requests to your hiring team, and can suggest actions such as viewing open roles.

Read Configure Intent Agents in Knock AI to configure each agent separately.

4. Qualify against data you already know

Once Knock understands the intent, it evaluates the person against your qualification and routing rules.

You can build advanced Chat Routing

5. Ask only the qualification questions that are still missing

Sometimes enrichment, relationship history, engagement data, and CRM data are not enough to make a routing decision.

Knock lets you create custom qualification fields inside your routing rules.

For each custom field, define:

• The qualification field.
• The question the AI should ask.
• The expected answer format or possible answers.

For example:

Field: Budget Range

Question: “What budget range are you considering?”

Or:

Field: Sales Motion

Question: “Is your sales motion primarily B2B, B2C, or B2G?”

The key difference is that the question is asked only when Knock needs the answer to determine the correct routing outcome.

The agent does not turn the conversation into another form.

It uses the person’s existing context first, then asks only for information that is genuinely missing.

Read Set Up Advanced Chat Routing in Knock AI for custom qualification fields and AI-led qualification.

6. Decide whether AI or a human should handle the conversation

Qualification does not only decide which rep should receive a lead.

It can decide whether a human should be involved at all.

For every segment, you can determine the experience.

Human Rep

Route high-value conversations directly to:

• A specific rep.
• A team of reps.
• A round-robin group.
• An existing CRM Owner.

The Intent Agent can engage the buyer while the rep is joining so the conversation does not sit unanswered.

AI Agent

Assign the AI Agent when the conversation does not require immediate human involvement.

The AI can continue engaging, qualifying, answering approved questions, and moving the relationship forward across the connected interface.

A human can still join at any time.

Disqualify

For conversations that should not consume human resources, Knock can keep the experience with AI and mark the chat as rejected.

Your team can still review the conversation and join later if needed.

Read Route Chats to AI Agents or Human Reps.

Preserve existing CRM relationships

If a buyer already has an owner in Salesforce or HubSpot, you can route the chat to the CRM Owner or notify that owner so an existing relationship is not accidentally reassigned.

7. Answer questions within your guardrails

Your AI Inbound SDR does not need permission to answer everything.

You control its knowledge.

Knock Intent Agents can answer using:

• Your Knock FAQ source.
• Approved domains.
• Approved individual pages.

Agents do not answer outside the sources you configure.

Use the FAQ source when you want the highest level of control.

You can:

• Review AI-generated FAQs.
• Add your own questions.
• Edit any answer.
• Replace an AI answer with your exact wording.
• Add questions based on what real buyers are asking.
• Mark sensitive questions as Human-only.
• Disable AI answers entirely for a specific Intent Agent.

For example, you may allow the Buying Agent to answer product and security questions but require a human to answer detailed pricing or contract questions.

Read Manage Intent Agent Sources for Answers.

8. Suggest the right next action

Not every conversation should end in “Book a demo.”

Each Intent Agent can be configured with a conversion action that fits the conversation and interface.

Depending on the intent, you can configure actions such as:

• Book a meeting.
• Start a free trial.
• Sign up for the product.
• Register for a webinar.
• Apply to a partner program.
• View open roles.
• Visit documentation.
• Open another relevant URL.

For a custom action, configure the action name, destination URL, and context explaining when the agent should suggest it.

This lets the AI move each conversation toward the next logical step instead of applying one generic CTA to every person.

Configure actions for each segment

9. Book qualified buyers automatically

Connect your Buying Agent to Knock Scheduling when booking a meeting is the appropriate next step.

Configure:

• Meeting name.
• Meeting duration.
• Meeting Routing.
• Which rep or calendar should receive the meeting.

The AI can then offer availability and let a qualified buyer book from inside the same conversation.

The buyer does not need to leave the conversation, complete another form, or wait for an SDR to send a scheduling link.

If your rep is unavailable, the Intent Agent can still move the qualified buyer toward a meeting.

Read Book Sales Meetings During Knock Chat and How Knock Scheduling Works.

10. Hand off to a human without restarting the relationship

The AI Inbound SDR is not designed to create an isolated AI conversation.

It works in the same relationship your reps use, with the person’s existing context and engagement history available to the team.

When a human rep joins the conversation:

1. The rep receives the existing conversation and lead context.
2. The first human who responds becomes the Knock: Chat Owner.
3. The AI Agent stops responding.
4. The buyer continues in the same conversation and interface.

There is no “AI handoff form” and no need for the buyer to repeat everything they already shared.

This is especially important for inbound sales.

AI handles the repetitive work around the relationship. Humans join when expertise, trust, judgment, or commercial conversation becomes valuable.

When is your AI Inbound SDR ready to go live?

Confirm that:

• Your Knock Chat Links and other entry points are configured.
• Your Intent Agents are enabled for the intents you want to support.
• Each agent has the correct knowledge policy.
• Your FAQ and approved sources are reviewed.
• Sensitive questions are marked Human-only where needed.
• Buying, Support, Partnership, and Hiring have the correct routing.
• Your ICP criteria are reflected in Chat Routing.
• Custom qualification questions are configured where data cannot be determined automatically.
• High-value segments are assigned to the correct human reps.
• CRM Owner routing is enabled where relevant.
• Fallback routing is configured.
• Each routing configuration has the correct Monitoring Slack channel.
• Conversion actions are configured for each Intent Agent.
• Knock Scheduling is configured if AI should book meetings.
• Your CRM integration and field mappings are configured.
• You have tested ICP, non-ICP, support, partnership, hiring, spam, fallback, and cross-interface scenarios before launch.

FAQ

Is Knock AI Inbound SDR the same as a chatbot?

No. Knock combines AI conversation across connected interfaces with real-time enrichment, relationship and engagement context, intent detection, qualification, CRM context, routing, scheduling, Slack collaboration, and human handoff. The agent is one part of the inbound workflow.

Does the AI replace my inbound SDR team?

It can automate much of the repetitive inbound SDR work, including research, intent detection, qualification, routing, answering approved questions, and scheduling. You decide which conversations should still reach human reps.

Can Knock handle inbound conversations in any language?

Knock AI Inbound SDR is designed to support inbound use cases in any language across supported interfaces. Configure each Intent Agent’s knowledge, routing, and handoff rules for the experience you want to provide.

Can Knock support more than website chat?

Yes. Knock AI Inbound SDR can support inbound conversations across WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, email, LinkedIn chat, and other connected interfaces. The exact experience depends on the interface and configuration you use.

Can Knock use a person’s previous relationship with my company?

Yes. Knock can use available relationship history, engagement signals, CRM context, and previous interactions to bring more context into the conversation and determine the appropriate next step.

Can Knock qualify a buyer without asking questions?

Yes. Knock first uses enrichment, first-party intent, relationship and engagement context, CRM data, attribution, and other available information. The AI only needs to ask when a qualification field required for routing is still unknown.

Can the AI ask custom qualification questions?

Yes. Create custom qualification fields in Chat Routing and define the question the AI should ask when the information is missing.

Can different intents have different routing?

Yes. Buying, Support, Partnership, and Hiring can use different routing configurations, different Intent Agents, and different teams.

Can the AI answer any question?

Only according to the permissions you configure. When answers are enabled, Intent Agents use your approved FAQ and Data Sources. You can also mark specific topics as Human-only.

Can the AI book meetings?

Yes. Connect the relevant Intent Agent to Knock Scheduling. The agent can offer availability and book qualified buyers using your Meeting Routing.

What happens when a human joins?

The human takes ownership of the existing conversation. Knock: Chat Owner updates to the responding human and the AI Agent stops replying.

Can I see conversations handled entirely by AI?

Yes. AI conversations remain visible through your Monitoring Slack channel and Knock Dashboard, including conversations that began in another connected interface.

Next steps

AI Agent setup

• Use Knock AI Agents to Chat with Leads
• Configure Intent Agents in Knock AI
• Manage Intent Agent Sources for Answers

Qualification and routing

• Qualify Leads Automatically with Enrichment, Intent, and AI
• Set Up Advanced Chat Routing
• Route Chats to AI Agents or Human Reps
• Route Chats to the CRM Owner
• Understand Knock Routing

Enrichment and intent

• Get Lead Info From Chats with Real-Time Enrichment
• Contact Enrichment in Knock
• Company Enrichment
• First-Party Intent Signals

Conversion and meetings

• Book Sales Meetings During Knock Chat
• How Knock Scheduling Works
• How Meeting Routing Works

Monitoring and CRM

• Set a Monitoring Slack Channel
• Monitor SDR Performance and Speed to Lead
• Map Knock Data to Your CRM
• Monitor CRM Sync Activity
• Integrate Knock with Salesforce
• Integrate Knock with HubSpot
• Integrate Knock with Marketo