How Retrieval Works

Understand how your agent searches its sources and chooses the best content to answer customer questions

How Retrieval Works#

When a customer asks a question, your agent searches everything you have added to its knowledge base, picks the most relevant content, and uses it to write an answer. This happens automatically -- there is nothing to configure.

What Happens on Each Question#

  1. Search -- the agent searches across all of your sources for content related to the question
  2. Rank -- matching content is ranked by how relevant it is to what the customer asked
  3. Select -- the best matches are chosen, drawing from the source types that fit the question
  4. Answer -- the agent uses that content to compose its response

The agent automatically balances different kinds of knowledge -- documents and website content, Q&A pairs, structured data, and your communication style -- so the right information surfaces for each question.

How to Improve Answers#

Because retrieval is automatic, the best way to shape answers is to improve what your agent has to work with:

  • Add Q&A pairs for your most important or most frequently asked questions. These give precise, controlled answers. See Q&A Sources.
  • Keep sources focused and current. Remove outdated documents and duplicates so the agent is not choosing between conflicting content.
  • Use Structured Data for exact details like prices, products, and availability so the agent looks up facts instead of inferring them.
  • Mark pricing content as price information so the agent prioritizes it for pricing questions.
  • Test in the playground. If the agent misses something, check that the relevant source is added and trained, then add clearer content or Q&A variations.

Common Situations#

The agent says "I don't know" too often#

Add more relevant content, and create Q&A pairs (with several phrasings) for the questions customers actually ask.

The agent pulls in unrelated information#

Remove off-topic or duplicate sources, and add focused Q&A pairs for the topics that matter most.

The agent ignores a Q&A pair#

Add more alternative phrasings to the Q&A so it matches how customers really ask, then retrain.

Next Steps#