Updated . Built against the tool’s current screens and checked step by step. How we check this lesson
Event inquiries arrive as one line: "Is October 17 open?" Build a Mixdesk AI agent that collects the event type, date, guest count, budget and contact, so your team follows up with everything it needs.
At a glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What you build | Event inquiries arrive as one line: "Is October 17 open?" Build a Mixdesk AI agent that collects the event type, date, guest count, budget and contact, so your team follows up with everything it needs. |
| Tools | Mixdesk |
| Time | About 7 minutes, 15 steps in 3 parts |
| Level | Intermediate |
| Cost | Free |
| Ways to learn it | Practice it step by step |
The 3 parts, in short
- Build the AI agent: Create an AI agent, Add an avatar and a name, Write the persona.
- Test it in Test preview: Send a typical inquiry, Send it, Answer the first question, Give two details at once, and 3 more steps.
- Make it the first responder: Go to Automation, Open the automation, Add an Assign AI agent node, Open the node, and 1 more step.
Start here first: AI Receipt Extractor: Receipts to Google Sheets with n8n (module 1 of Business Automations)
In the course: Part 9 · n8n Automation Toolkit (Module 105 of the full course)
Part of: AI Apps Worth Knowing (step 101 of 104). Next up: DigiParser: Turn Scanned Customer POs Into a Reviewed Sales Order File
What you'll build
Cedar Hall is a made-up private event venue. Most inquiries are one line, "Is October 17 open?", and the sales team spends days emailing back and forth for the guest count and budget before it can quote. In this lesson you build a Mixdesk AI agent that collects those details first, without quoting a price or promising a date, test it in Test preview, and set it as the first responder in an automation. Every screen is a real Mixdesk screen; the venue and the guest are made up.
You built an AI agent with one job: collect five details, never quote or promise, and hand over a summary. You tested it in Test preview and set it as the first responder in an automation. What it saves: the days of back-and-forth before your team can even quote. Before going live, connect a channel, connect the nodes, save, and try it yourself. AI Agents need a paid Mixdesk plan after the trial, and the free inbox plan does not include them; check mixdesk.com/pricing.
- Tools: Mixdesk
- Time: about 7 minutes, 15 steps in 3 chapters
- Level: intermediate
- Price: free
Practice first, then build it for real
Practice copy built from real Mixdesk screens (app.mixdesk.com), captured 30 October 2026 on a trial account. Nothing here touches a Mixdesk account. The venue, the guest and the answers are made up; the AI replies are what Mixdesk produced in Test preview. We did not save the automation or connect a live channel. To build it for real you need your own Mixdesk account, and some services charge once you use them for real work, so check each tool's current pricing.
Try it yourself, free
Reading the steps is a start. Doing them is how it sticks. The interactive module walks you through every click in a practice copy of Mixdesk, checks each step, and never touches your real accounts.
Start “Mixdesk: An AI Agent That Collects Inquiry Details Before You Follow Up”Step by step: Mixdesk: An AI Agent That Collects Inquiry Details Before You Follow Up
All 15 steps of the interactive module, in order. In the module you watch each one, then do it yourself in a practice copy that checks your work.
1. Build the AI agent
- Create an AI agent. You run sales for Cedar Hall, a made-up event venue. Most inquiries are one line, so your team spends days asking for the basics. In Mixdesk, open AI, then AI agents, and click Create AI agent. AI Agents are on the trial and paid plans; the free inbox plan does not include them.
Your inquiries are one line long, and your team spends days asking for the basics. In Mixdesk, open AI, and click Create AI agent.
- Add an avatar and a name. An Avatar is required, so click Upload photo and pick your logo (JPG, GIF or PNG, up to 5 MB). Then give the agent a Name.
An avatar is required, so upload your logo. Then give it a name.
- Write the persona. The Persona is its job description, in plain language: the five details to collect, one question at a time, and what it must never do. Since it answers customers in your name, do not quote prices, confirm availability, or promise a date is the most important line.
The persona is its job description: the five details to collect, and what it must never do. No prices, and no promises.
You are the first reply for Cedar Hall, a private event venue. Most people ask about a date and leave out what our sales team needs. Before a person follows up, politely collect these five details, asking one question at a time: event type, preferred date, guest count, budget range, and the best email or phone number. Skip anything they already told you. Do not quote prices, confirm availability, or promise a date. When you have all five, repeat them back as a short list and say a member of our team will follow up within one business day.
2. Test it in Test preview
- Send a typical inquiry. Test preview on the right lets you chat with the agent before it talks to anyone. Type the kind of one-liner you really get.
Test preview lets you chat with it before it talks to anyone.
- Send it. Press Enter to send. Click the box to continue.
- Answer the first question. It did not confirm the date, as the persona told it, and it asks one question: the event type. AI wording changes each run, so yours may differ. Answer, and press Enter.
It did not confirm the date, and it asks one question. The wording can differ for you. Answer it.
- Give two details at once. It asks which year. Real customers do not always answer the question asked, so test that: give the guest count and budget instead.
It asks which year. Real customers do not always answer the question, so give it the guest count and budget instead.
- Give the contact and the date. It moved on to the contact, and did not ask for the year again. That is why you test: details can get skipped. Send the email and the date together.
It moved on, and did not ask for the year again. That is why you test. Send the email and the date together.
- Read the summary. All five details as a list, plus the one-business-day promise from the persona. This is what your team reads. The stars around the labels are raw formatting in Test preview, so check how it looks on your live channel. Click the summary.
All five details, in one list. This is what your team reads. Check how the formatting looks on your live channel.
- Save the agent. Further down are Linked knowledge bases, Tools, Reply delay and Combine replies. Leave them for now. Click Confirm to save.
You can add a knowledge base and tools later.
3. Make it the first responder
- Go to Automation. The agent is saved, but it does not answer anyone yet. Something has to send conversations to it. Click Automation.
It is saved, but it answers nobody yet.
- Open the automation. Default Automation decides who gets each new message. Click Edit.
The default automation decides who gets each new message.
- Add an Assign AI agent node. Today, every message goes to a person. Drag Assign AI agent onto the canvas. Click it in this practice.
Today every message goes to a person.
- Open the node. Click the new node to set it up.
- Choose the agent and a way to a person. Choose Cedar Hall inquiry assistant under Select an AI agent, and tick Show a "Talk to an agent" button so a customer can always reach a person. In your real workspace, click Save, connect the trigger to this node, and Save the automation. We stopped here without saving, so our inbox stayed as it was. Test with a live channel before you rely on it.
Then connect it, save it, and test it on a live channel.
Screenshots
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Terms in this lesson
Plain-English definitions, each with an example from a free lesson.