How auto-routing works
How Autopilot picks a category and team for each email, what confidence means, when an email is rerouted or needs review, and how to correct a route.
Last updated
Open in MailnitioEvery new email that reaches a connected mailbox goes through the same steps. Mailnitio logs the email first, so nothing is lost even if a later step fails. Then Mailnitio Autopilot reads it and suggests a category, and fixed rules decide where it goes. Autopilot advises; the rules you set decide.
What Autopilot looks at
Before any text reaches a language model, personal details such as account numbers, card numbers and phone numbers are replaced with placeholders. Autopilot then reads the masked email and returns:
- a category, chosen from your workspace's categories
- a confidence from 0 to 100%: how sure it is about the category
- a priority and a one-line reason
- whether the email looks like an escalation, for example a regulator, legal or media matter
Each category routes to one team, so the category decides the team. You set both in Settings then Autopilot then Categories; see Categories and teams.
How the route is decided
The rules run in this order, and the first one that applies wins:
- Escalation. If the email contains one of your escalation terms, or Autopilot flags it as an escalation, it goes to the escalation team as Urgent and is marked Needs review, whatever its category.
- No usable answer. If Autopilot could not classify the email, or returned a category your workspace does not have, the email goes to the receiving mailbox's default category and needs review.
- Spam. Emails Autopilot is confident are spam are skipped. No ticket is created; they stay visible in the Inbox log.
- Confidence. At or above the auto-route threshold, the email goes straight to its category's team. Between the two thresholds, it goes to that team and is flagged for review. Below the review threshold, it goes to the mailbox's default category and needs review.
An email is also flagged for review when the sender needs confirming, for example when it cannot be matched to a customer or someone writes on a customer's behalf.
A reply to an existing conversation is added to that ticket instead of opening a new one.
Confidence thresholds
You set two thresholds, as percentages:
| Setting | What happens |
|---|---|
| Auto-route at or above | The email goes straight to its team. Only these emails can be answered automatically. |
| Between the two | The email goes to its team and is flagged for review. |
| Needs review below | The email goes to the mailbox's default category and team, and needs review. |
Change them in Settings then Teams and routing then Routing and escalation, under Confidence thresholds. The same two values appear in Settings then Autopilot then Replies, with a preview. The review threshold cannot be above the auto-route threshold. Only owners and admins can change routing.
Start strict while a mailbox is in shadow mode, look at the confidence of real emails in the Inbox log, then adjust.
Default category and escalation
On the same Routing and escalation tab:
- Default category is used when Autopilot fails or is not confident. Each mailbox can also have its own default category in Settings then Mailboxes; the mailbox's setting is used for email that arrives there.
- Escalation lists terms such as "ombudsman". Any email containing one is escalated and routed to the Escalation team, whatever its category.
Select Save rules to apply changes. Each save creates a new configuration version, shown under the form.
Rerouted
Each mailbox would normally send its email to the team of its default category. When Autopilot's category points to a different team, the email is Rerouted. For example, a question about minimum investments sent to complaints@ is routed to the Enquiries team instead of Complaints.
Rerouted emails carry a Rerouted chip in the Inbox log, and the ticket's Autopilot details say "New ticket, rerouted".
When an email goes to Needs review
An email lands in Needs review when:
- it is an escalation
- Autopilot's confidence is below the auto-route threshold
- Autopilot failed or returned an unknown category
- the sender needs confirming
The email still becomes a ticket and still reaches a team. Needs review is where a person checks the decision, escalations first and then the least confident. See Needs review.
See every decision in the Inbox log
Inbox log in the Helpdesk menu lists every email Mailnitio has read, with its category, confidence and the team it was routed to. Filter by status: Processed, Rerouted, Needs Review, Escalated, Shadow, Skipped or Failed. Open an email to see its Email and decision trail: each step, when it happened and why.
Correct a route
Reviewers, supervisors, admins and owners can correct a decision.
- Open Needs review and select the email. Its Autopilot suggestion shows the category, confidence and reason.
- If the decision is right, select Approve decision (a). The ticket stays where it is.
- Otherwise, under Correct the decision, change the Category (c) or Team (t). You can also link the email to an existing ticket, split it into a new ticket, or set the customer.
- Add a Note for the audit log if it helps, then select Save correction.
Corrections update the ticket and are recorded in the audit log. You can also move a ticket at any time by changing its Team in the ticket's details panel.
Still stuck? Contact us and tell us what you are trying to do. We reply within one working day.