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NextIntent says one short sentence, taken from your store’s facts, or it says nothing. This page explains where the sentence comes from, the checks it has to pass before a shopper sees it, and the phrases it will never use.

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Where the sentence comes from

Two sources, in this order:
  1. Composed from your facts. When the situation is plain (a cart under the free shipping line, a code that was declined, a size flip on a product with a note), the sentence is built directly from the facts sheet. “Add the Camp Mug ($18) and shipping is free.” “That code isn’t valid here. Shipping is free at $75 or more, $6 below that.” “Runs small. Most people take one size up.”
  2. Proposed and checked. For the other situations, NextIntent’s decision engine proposes a sentence from the same facts and the page the shopper is on. The proposal is then checked against the rules below. If it fails any rule, it is dropped and the app tries to compose from the facts instead. If that also yields nothing, the shopper hears nothing.
Silence is the default outcome. Roughly, a moment is found, the app decides whether to engage, and a sentence exists only if there is a true fact to state. A product page with no note, a store with no free shipping line, a country with no shipping zone: all of these end in silence, and the moment is recorded with that reason.

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The rules every sentence passes

  • Short. One line. A card is a sentence, not a paragraph.
  • Nothing about being watched. No “we noticed”, “you seem stuck”, “looks like you’ve been here a while”, “still deciding?”. A sentence that tells the shopper they were observed is dropped, every time. The shopper should read the card as the store being helpful, not as the store watching.
  • No offer unless you allowed it. “Discount”, “coupon”, “promo”, ”% off”, “save $”: none of these appear unless May a card mention an offer? is yes. See Discount codes.
  • No free-returns claim unless your policy says returns are free. The card says “Returns are accepted within 30 days.” It says “free” only when the store has said so.
  • No free-shipping claim unless there is a line and the cart is at or over it. A cart at $20 with free shipping at $75 is not told “your order ships free”.
  • Links only to your own pages, only from the sheet. A card can link to your size guide, shipping page, returns page or contact page, at the paths in your facts sheet, or to the product it names. Never to another site, never to a path the sheet does not list.
  • No made-up numbers. Prices and thresholds come from the sheet. If the sheet has no return window, no sentence mentions a return window.

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The three tiers

Each moment the app engages with is labelled by how specific the sentence was. You see the label on Moments:

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Examples by situation

A $58 cart, free shipping at $75, a $18 mug in the catalogue “Add the Camp Mug ($18) and shipping is free.” With a link to the mug. A $58 cart, free shipping at $75, nothing under $17 in the catalogue “Shipping is free at $75 or more, $6 below that.” A declined code, offers off “That code isn’t valid here. Shipping is free at $75 or more.” A declined code, offers on, WELCOME10 active for first orders “That code isn’t valid here. WELCOME10 takes 10% off a first order.” A hoodie page, size switched four times, note set to “Runs small. Most people take one size up.” “Runs small. Most people take one size up.” With a link to the size guide if you set the path. The same hoodie page, no note Nothing. The moment shows “no fact to state”.

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Why one sentence

Reviews of popup and chat apps are full of the same complaint: too much, too often, to everyone. A single sentence, once, only to a shopper who has stopped, is the amount of help a good shop assistant gives: they answer the question on your face and step back. It also keeps the rules checkable. Every sentence maps to a line on the facts sheet, and you can read every sentence the app ever said on Moments.