Answer comments by meaning, not just keywords

People rarely ask a question the same way twice. One writes “price?”, another “how much for 2”, another “what does shipping cost to Pune”. A recipe that looks for the word “price” catches only the first. A recipe that matches by meaning catches all three, because an AI reads each comment and decides whether it’s the kind of comment you described.

This guide shows when to use meaning instead of words, how to describe what you want, and what it costs. Matching by meaning is on every paid plan, from Starter.

An example

Say you sell cushions, and people keep asking the price in their own words. A recipe looks for “People who ask about the price or cost”. Alex comments “how much for 2?”, without the word “price”. The recipe still knows what Alex means, replies under the comment, and sends the prices:

Words or meaning

Every recipe starts with When someone comments, and you choose how it matches comments:

• Words: a comment matches when it contains any of your words, in capitals or not. It’s exact, instant and free. “link” matches “Link please!” and also “linked”, but not “can you send it?“.
• Meaning: you describe the comments in plain words, like “People who ask about the price”. An AI reads each new comment and answers only the ones that fit.

Use Words when you tell people what to type, as in “Comment GUIDE to get it”. The comment to DM guide works this way.

Use Meaning when people ask in their own words, and a list of words would miss some of them or catch the wrong ones. Good examples:

• People who ask about the price or cost
• People who ask where to buy, or whether it’s in stock
• People who ask for delivery or shipping details
• People who want to book an appointment
• People who complain about an order

Set it up

Open Recipes and choose New recipe. The quickest start is Answer price questions under Start from: it already matches by meaning. Or start empty:

1. Under When someone comments, choose Meaning.
2. Finish the sentence that starts People who. Describe the comment, not your reply: “ask where to buy this” rather than “should get the shop link”.
3. Under For example, it answers, add comments the recipe should answer. You need at least one. Press Enter after each.
4. Under But not, add comments it should leave alone, like “Love this!” or “Where was this taken?“.
5. Choose the posts (On) and accounts (In), and write the reply under Then reply, as for any recipe.

You can add up to ten examples on each side. Copy real comments from your posts when you can: the AI learns your idea best from the way your followers actually write.

Your examples are checked

When you choose Turn on, then Check recipe, Exoconnect asks the AI about each of your examples. If it reads one differently from what you said, the check fails and tells you which one:

“The AI didn’t read “…” the way you said. Reword what the comments should mean, or move that example.”

Then you can:

• Make the description clearer. “ask about the price” might miss “is it expensive?“. “ask about the price, cost or how expensive it is” won’t.
• Move or remove the example if it was a borderline case you don’t mind either way.

Once the check passes, type your own comments under Try a comment. You see whether the recipe would answer and what it would send. Nothing is sent. When a comment doesn’t match, it says why: “It only answers people who ask about the price, and it wasn’t sure enough this one does.”

How it decides

For each new comment, the AI gives an answer from “no” to “yes”. The recipe answers only when the AI is fairly sure the comment fits. When it’s unsure, it stays quiet. This is on purpose: a missed comment is easy to answer by hand, but a wrong reply in public is hard to take back.

A few things help the AI:

• Keep one idea per recipe. For prices and for shipping, make two recipes, each with its own reply.
• Expect English to work best. The AI is weaker with other languages, and with numbers, dates and comments meant to mislead. Add examples in the languages your followers use, and test them.
• Don’t ask it to check facts. It reads what the comment says. It can’t tell whether an order number is real.

Combine it with the rest of a recipe

Meaning works with every other part of a recipe:

• On a few posts: match by meaning only on chosen videos, tagged videos, or posts with a hashtag.
• After a wait: turn on Give your team time first, and the recipe answers only if nobody on your team replied in the meantime.
• Any reply: a public reply, a private message with up to three buttons, or both.

What it costs

Matching by meaning is included on every paid plan: Starter ($5 a month), Pro and Team. On the Free plan, recipes match by words. See the plans.

The AI reads every new comment on the accounts the recipe watches, whether or not it then matches. It also checks your examples when you turn the recipe on, and answers your tries under Try a comment.

Separately, a recipe counts as one automation run each time it sends a reply or message, as every recipe does. A comment the AI decides not to answer doesn’t count as a run.

On a team, the person who turns the recipe on needs permission to use AI in the workspace.

Check how it’s doing

Open the recipe and switch to Runs. Each comment it picked up is listed with what it did. No reply needed means it read the comment and decided not to answer. Activity shows each comment and the reply sent.

If it misses comments you wanted, or answers ones you didn’t, add them as examples, and choose Save changes. The recipe is checked again, and the running version keeps working until the new one is on.

When you need more

A recipe asks one question about a comment. If you want different answers for different kinds of comments, such as a price list for price questions and a support link for complaints in one automation, describe it to Exi or your own AI agent. It builds the automation for you. Build automations with AI shows how.

For the other ready-made recipes, read Four ready-made recipes, and when to use each.