Saphen Lead Agent · Getting started guide

Getting started with Saphen

Saphen replies to every new lead within seconds by text or email, answers their questions from answers you approve, asks the questions you'd ask, and books the appointment on your calendar. This guide takes you from sign-up to your first booked lead. Setup takes about 15 minutes.

Before you start

Have these to hand:

Set up in 7 steps

  1. Create your business

    Sign up at the sign-in page, then fill in the short setup form: business name, kind of business, website, time zone, the email where you want lead alerts, your service area and what leads book (for example "Free estimate, 60 minutes, at your home"). Saphen sets up a booking calendar for Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, and starts reading your website.

  2. Start your free trial

    Pick a plan in Billing. Card required, no charge for 14 days. You can change plans later; the price difference is prorated.

  3. Review your answers

    Open Knowledge. The answers Saphen drafted from your website are waiting under "Needs your review". Fix anything that's wrong, then approve. Saphen only ever answers from approved answers. Anything else, it hands to you rather than guess.

    Approve at least 5, and add your own for the questions you get most: price ranges, how estimates work, areas you serve, financing, warranty, how soon you can start. If Saphen couldn't read your site (some site builders hide their text), add them by hand.

  4. Check your service area and questions

    In Business settings:

    • Service area: ZIP codes, or the first 3 or 4 digits with a * (951* covers every ZIP starting 951). Leads outside it get a polite message and aren't booked. Leave it empty to serve everywhere.
    • Appointment: what leads book, how long it is and where.
    • Questions Saphen asks: what it needs to know before booking. Fewer is better; every extra question is one more reason to stop replying.
    • Topics Saphen never advises on: for example exact quotes or insurance coverage. These go to you.
    • Time zone and mailing address (printed at the bottom of Saphen's emails, as US email law expects).

    Press Save. The step ticks itself once you've saved.

  5. Set your booking hours

    In Booking settings, tick the days you take appointments and set the hours. Tick Lunch break to block a lunch hour on every working day. Under Booking rules, set the minimum notice, how far ahead people can book, the gap between appointments (travel time) and how often start times are offered. Press Save.

    Connect Google Calendar (optional, recommended): Saphen sees only when you're busy, never the details, and won't offer those times. New bookings are added to your calendar. More than one person doing appointments? Add a calendar for each; Saphen offers a time when anyone is free.

  6. We switch messaging on

    Once your trial starts, the Saphen team takes a quick look (a real business, sensible answers, a working booking page) and switches texting and email on, usually within one business day. We email you when it's done. You can carry on with the next step in the meantime; any lead that arrives is saved and waits for you.

  7. Add the lead form and chat to your website

    In Lead form & chat you'll find three things. Use any or all of them:

    • Your form link: paste it anywhere you can put a link: your Google Business Profile, Facebook page, Instagram bio, or behind a "Get a quote" button.
    • The form on your website: copy the code into a page (WordPress: a Custom HTML block; Squarespace: a Code block; GoDaddy: an HTML section). On Wix, use the iframe version under Add > Embed Code.
    • The chat button: paste the one-line code into your site's footer (WordPress: a plugin like Insert Headers and Footers; Squarespace: Settings > Advanced > Code Injection; Wix: Settings > Custom Code). A "Chat with us" button appears on every page.

    This step ticks itself the first time a lead arrives from your site.

Test it yourself

Once messaging is on, be your own first lead:

  1. Open your form link on your phone and send a request with your own name, mobile number and email. Tick the box to get texts.
  2. Within seconds you'll get a text (or an email). Reply the way a customer would: ask a price question, answer its questions, pick a time.
  3. Watch it appear on your dashboard, then open the lead to see the whole conversation and the appointment.
  4. Try Take over on the lead page, then Return to AI, so you know how to step in.

Ask something you haven't written an answer for, too: you'll see Saphen hand it to you under "Needs you" instead of guessing.

Get more leads in

Your Saphen number: texting and missed-call text-back

Saphen texts leads from your own local Saphen number, so until you have one it replies by email. In Calls & reviews, ask for your own local Saphen number. We buy it and register it with the phone carriers for you (texting approval usually takes 1 to 3 weeks; we keep you posted on that page). Then forward the calls you can't answer to it: when you miss a call, Saphen texts the caller right away so they don't call the next company, and carries on the conversation if they reply. You get an email for every missed call.

Angi, Thumbtack and other lead sites

Your Saphen email address is on the same page. Set up a rule in Gmail or Outlook that forwards lead-site emails to it (or add it as a notification email in each lead site's settings), and those leads get a fast reply too, even at night.

Review requests

Paste your Google review link and switch on review requests. A few hours after each appointment, Saphen sends the customer one friendly message asking for a review. Never for cancelled appointments, no-shows, people who opted out, or anyone asked in the last 90 days.

Your booking page

Every business gets a booking page where anyone can pick a time directly. Add it to your website or email signature.

How Saphen handles a lead

  1. Seconds after they reach out, Saphen replies: by text if they gave a mobile number and agreed to texts (once your Saphen number is set up for texting), otherwise by email. It says it's your virtual assistant.
  2. It answers their questions from your approved answers, and asks your questions one at a time.
  3. It offers times from your booking hours (minus anything booked, or busy on Google Calendar) and books the one they pick. They get a confirmation, and reminders 24 hours and 2 hours before.
  4. If they go quiet, it follows up a few times over the next two weeks, then stops. Leads who aren't ready get an occasional check-in by email.
  5. Whenever it shouldn't handle something alone (a question with no approved answer, a request for a person, an upset customer, a big job you asked to hear about), it tells the lead someone will be in touch, emails you, and puts the lead under "Needs you".

Texts never go out between 8 PM and 8 AM in the lead's time zone; they wait until morning. Anyone who replies STOP or unsubscribes is never messaged on that channel again.

Your day-to-day

Check "Needs you"

The top of your dashboard. Each item says why Saphen handed it over. Open the lead, deal with it, and press Mark handled. You also get an email for each one, so you don't have to watch the dashboard.

Step in on any lead

Open the lead and press Take over. Saphen stops and its follow-ups are cancelled; reply from your own phone or email. Press Return to AI to hand it back.

Mark appointments

After an appointment, open the lead and mark Showed or No-show. It keeps your show rate accurate, and a no-show gets a friendly offer to rebook (and no review request). You can also cancel an appointment from there.

Keep your answers growing

Every time Saphen hands you a question, add the answer under Knowledge. Next time, it answers on its own.

Stages and fit labels

New
Just arrived; Saphen is about to reply.
Contacted
Saphen has sent its first message.
Replied
The lead wrote back.
Qualifying
Saphen is asking your questions.
Next step recommended
Saphen has suggested booking, and is waiting for a yes.
Next step offered
Appointment times have been offered.
Outcome reached
Booked.
Showed
You marked the appointment as kept.
No-show
You marked the appointment as missed; Saphen offers to rebook.
Nurture
Not ready yet; Saphen checks in by email every month or so.
No response
Never replied after all the follow-ups.
Disqualified
Outside your service area, or doesn't fit (for example, not the property owner).
Opted out
Asked not to be contacted. Saphen never messages them again on that channel.

Fit, from what the lead told Saphen. It helps you decide who to call first; it never stops Saphen from helping anyone.

High value
A strong lead: call them first.
Good fit
A solid lead.
Nurture
Interested, but not ready yet.
Low fit
Unlikely to become a job, from what they said.

"Handled by" shows who has the conversation: AI, Asked for you (the lead wants a person), Needs you (Saphen stopped and handed it over), or You (you took over).

Plan, usage and billing

Each plan includes engaged leads, text segments and emails each month; Usage shows where you are. An engaged lead is a real person Saphen contacted this month, counted once however many messages you exchange. We email you at 80% and at 100%. Past the limit, new leads are still captured and wait for you under "Needs you", and leads already talking keep getting replies. You're never charged extra without choosing to.

Change plan, update your card, see invoices or cancel in Billing.

Common questions

What happens when a lead comes in
Saphen replies within seconds: by text if they gave a mobile number and agreed to texts (once your Saphen number is set up for texting), otherwise by email. It answers their questions from your approved answers, asks your questions, and offers appointment times from your calendar. If they go quiet, it follows up a few times over the next two weeks, then stops.
When Saphen doesn't know an answer
It never makes one up. It tells the lead someone will get back to them and puts the lead under Needs you, with an email to you. Add the answer under Knowledge so it can answer next time.
Replying to a lead yourself
Open the lead and press Take over. The AI stops and its follow-ups are cancelled; reply from your own phone or email. Press Return to AI when you want Saphen to pick it back up.
Why messaging isn't on yet
Every new business gets a quick check by the Saphen team after the free trial starts, usually within one business day. Until then you can finish setup and add the form to your site; leads are captured and wait for you.
Appointments and reminders
Booked appointments appear on your dashboard and, if connected, your Google Calendar. Saphen reminds the customer 24 hours and 2 hours before. After the time passes, open the lead and mark Showed or No-show; a no-show gets a friendly offer to rebook.
Texts at night
Saphen doesn't text between 8 PM and 8 AM in the lead's time zone. A text that would land then waits until morning; emails go out right away.
What the fit label means
High value, Good fit, Nurture or Low fit, from the answers Saphen collected. Use it to decide who to call first; it never stops Saphen from helping a lead.
When a lead says stop
Replying STOP to a text, or unsubscribing from an email, stops all messages to them on that channel right away. Saphen never messages them there again.
Plan allowances
Each plan includes a number of engaged leads, text segments and emails a month (see Usage). We email you at 80% and 100%. New leads past the limit are still captured and wait under Needs you; you're never charged extra without choosing to.
Trial and billing
14 days free, card required, no charge until the trial ends. Change plans or cancel any time in Billing; cancelling before the trial ends means you're never charged.
More than one business
Use Add a business to set up another location or brand under the same login, then switch between them at the top of the dashboard.

Troubleshooting

Saphen couldn't read my website
Some site builders load their text in a way that can't be read. Add your answers by hand in Knowledge (5 to 10 good ones is plenty to start), or try the import again later.
The booking page shows no times
Check Booking settings: at least one day ticked with hours, the calendar set to "Taking bookings", and the minimum notice and "book up to" days not too tight. If Google Calendar is connected, busy events hide those times.
A lead got an email instead of a text
Saphen texts only people who gave a mobile number and agreed to texts, and only once texting is set up for your business. Otherwise it emails. Texts that would land between 8 PM and 8 AM wait until morning.
The form says it's a preview
Messaging isn't switched on yet (step 6). Requests are still saved. You'll get an email when it's on.
The chat button doesn't appear on my site
Make sure the code is in the site-wide footer (not one page), publish the site, and reload. If your builder doesn't allow scripts, link to your chat page instead (the link is under Lead form & chat).
I'm not getting alert emails
Check your spam folder and mark Saphen as not spam. To send alerts to a different address, email us.
Saphen said something it shouldn't have
Open the lead, press Take over, and email us the lead's name so we can look into it. Then check the approved answer it used under Knowledge.

Contact us

Email hello@saphen.ai. A person reads every message and replies, usually the same business day. Tell us your business name and, if it's about a lead, the lead's name.