What is Merlin Engage?
Merlin Engage is an AI-powered agent that has real conversations with your leads, working toward whatever goal you set for it. Engage has a few different agent types:
Collect and Qualify agents gather the information your firm needs to make a confident decision on a case, stepping in when a lead hasn't given enough detail through a web form, live chat, or another integration.
Booking agents schedule appointments with a lead directly, following your firm's existing booking form.
How Collect and Qualify Agents work with Merlin Qualify
Engage works together with Merlin Qualify. Every Collect and Qualify agent is connected to a Qualify profile, which tells it what information to look for.
If Qualify doesn't have enough information to make a confident recommendation, a Collect and Qualify agent automatically follows up with the lead to get it.
Engage and Qualify can work together in two seamless ways:
When Qualify identifies an Inconclusive or low-confidence outcome, it automatically activates an Engage agent.
When Engage is triggered on a matter, it automatically uses Qualify to score the lead and identify information gaps.
Once Engage has the information it needs, Engage updates the matter with whatever it collects. Then, Qualify re-evaluates the lead to give you a clear recommendation like Chase Hard, Refer Out, or Reject. From there, your existing automations take over, or you can hand the lead straight to a Booking Agent instead.
Reaching leads by text or email
Engage agents can reach leads by SMS, email, or both. Choose one as primary and enable a second as a fallback, in case a lead replies on the other channel or it fits the conversation better.
Connecting Agents together
Once a lead qualifies, it doesn't have to stop there. You can hand it off directly to a Booking Agent to start scheduling, or to another Collect and Qualify agent — for example, one built for a specific practice area. See Merlin: Booking Agents and Merlin Handovers for details.
Will leads know they're talking to AI?
If a lead asks whether they're talking to AI, you choose how it responds. Engage will never claim to be human:
Acknowledge & Confirm: The agent confirms it's AI and asks if the lead wants to keep going.
Escalate to a Human: The agent confirms it's AI and hands the conversation to your team.
You'll give your agent its own name when you set it up, and that's what it will introduce itself as to your leads.
For pricing details, see Merlin Pricing.
Getting started
To set up your first Merlin Engage agent, see Setting Up a Collect and Qualify Agent or Setting Up a Booking Agent.
Coming Soon
Collect Data Only agents: A lighter-weight agent that gathers answers to a specific form without running them through Qualify at all.