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The email channel lets members and prospects interact with your AI assistant by sending an email. Instead of chatting through the portal widget, they write a regular email and receive a reply — with all the same AI capabilities running behind the scenes. This guide walks through the full setup process: enabling the channel in Nexudus, configuring your inbox to forward messages, and verifying everything works.

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Before you start

Make sure the AI assistant is already enabled for your space. The email channel is an extension of the existing AI assistant — it will not work unless the base AI assistant is active.
You need:
  • Administrator access to your Nexudus account.
  • Access to your email provider’s settings (Gmail, Outlook, or any provider that supports automatic forwarding).
No third-party accounts or additional subscriptions are required.

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How the email channel works

When you enable the email channel, Nexudus generates a dedicated AI inbox address for your space. Any email sent to this address (or forwarded to it) is processed by the AI assistant, which reads the message, runs the appropriate tools, and sends a reply email back to the sender. The reply comes from your space’s AI assistant, with your space name in the sender field, so members see a branded response rather than a generic system email.
Diagram showing the email flow: member sends email to your inbox, inbox auto-forwards to Nexudus AI inbox, AI processes the message, and replies directly to the member

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Step 1 — Enable the email channel in Nexudus

1

Open your AI settings

In the Nexudus administration panel, go to Settings and find the AI assistant section.
2

Switch on AI Email

Toggle the AI Email setting to on. This activates the email channel for your space.
3

Copy your AI inbox address

Once enabled, Nexudus displays your space’s AI inbox address. This is the address you will forward emails to. It looks like:
ai+{your-business-id}@mail.nexudus.com
Copy this address — you will need it in the next step.
AI settings in Nexudus showing the AI Email toggle and the generated AI inbox address

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Step 2 — Set up email forwarding

The email channel works by forwarding emails from an address you control — such as hello@yourspace.com or ai@yourspace.com — to the Nexudus AI inbox address. You can use any email address you like; it does not need to be a specific format.
We recommend creating a dedicated email address for AI interactions (for example, ai@yourspace.com or assistant@yourspace.com) rather than forwarding your main inbox. This keeps AI conversations separate from your regular email and makes it clear to members where to write.
Choose your email provider below for specific forwarding instructions:

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Set up forwarding in Gmail

You can either forward all incoming email to the Nexudus AI inbox, or use a filter to forward only messages sent to a specific address (recommended if you are using a shared inbox).
1

Open Gmail settings

In Gmail, click the gear icon in the top-right corner, then click See all settings.
2

Go to Forwarding and POP/IMAP

Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
3

Add a forwarding address

Click Add a forwarding address and paste your Nexudus AI inbox address (ai+{your-business-id}@mail.nexudus.com).
4

Confirm the forwarding address

Google sends a confirmation email to the Nexudus address. Nexudus processes this automatically — no action is required on your part. The forwarding address will be confirmed within a few minutes.
If the address does not confirm automatically, check back after 5 minutes and refresh the page. The confirmation is handled by Nexudus’s email infrastructure.
5

Enable forwarding

Select Forward a copy of incoming mail to and choose your Nexudus AI inbox address from the dropdown.Choose Keep Gmail’s copy in the Inbox so you retain a copy of every message.
6

Save changes

Scroll down and click Save Changes.
This approach forwards everything that arrives in the inbox to the AI. It works well when the inbox is dedicated to AI interactions (for example, ai@yourspace.com).
Gmail forwarding settings showing the Nexudus AI inbox address configured as the forwarding destination
For more detail, see Google’s guides: Automatically forward Gmail messages and Create rules to filter your emails.

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Step 3 — Verify the setup

Once forwarding is configured, test the full flow to make sure everything works.
1

Send a test email

From a personal email address (not your forwarding address), send an email to the address you configured for AI interactions — for example, ai@yourspace.com. Use a simple question like:
What are your opening hours?
2

Wait for the AI reply

Within a few minutes, you should receive a reply from the AI assistant. The reply comes from your space’s AI assistant address and includes your space name in the sender field.
3

Check the AI Conversations list

In the Nexudus administration panel, go to Operations > AI Conversations. You should see a new conversation with your test message. The Channel column will show Email.
AI Conversations list showing a test email conversation with the Email channel badge
If you do not receive a reply within 5 minutes, check that forwarding is active in your email provider’s settings and that you copied the Nexudus AI inbox address correctly. Also confirm that the AI Email setting is still enabled in Nexudus.

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Step 4 — Share the email address with your members

Once the channel is working, share the email address with your members and prospects. Common ways to do this:
  • Add it to your website contact page alongside your other contact methods.
  • Include it in your welcome email to new members.
  • Add it to your email signature or auto-reply messages.
  • Display it on physical signage in your space.
You can also mention the email address in your FAQ articles. When members ask the chat assistant how to contact you by email, the AI can point them to the right address.

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How replies and threading work

When the AI replies to an email, the reply includes a special Reply-To address that embeds the session ID. This means:
  • If the member replies to the AI’s email, the reply is automatically routed to the same conversation session.
  • The email thread in the member’s inbox looks like a normal back-and-forth email conversation.
  • After 48 hours of inactivity, the session expires and the next email starts a fresh conversation.
  • A new email with a different subject line also starts a new session.
The member does not need to know about any of this — threading is handled automatically.

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Frequently asked questions

Technically yes — any email forwarded to the Nexudus AI inbox address is processed by the AI. However, we recommend a dedicated address to keep AI conversations separate from your regular email.
The AI processes the text content of the email only. Attachments are noted in the conversation (the AI acknowledges they were sent) but cannot be read or processed. The AI will inform the sender that only text messages are supported.
The AI still replies — but capabilities that require an identified member (such as viewing or managing bookings) are unavailable. The AI will let the sender know what it can help with.
Yes. Switch off AI Email in your business settings. Forwarded emails will no longer be processed. You should also disable the forwarding rule in your email provider to avoid sending emails to an inactive inbox.
No. The email channel is included in the AI assistant feature. There are no additional charges for email-based conversations.