Example messages and templates
Write the example messages an Agent learns from, and how the strict template switch changes first messages.
Last updated 2026-10-23
An Agent writes better when it has seen how you write. Example Messages is where you paste the messages that usually get replies. Separately, one switch can turn your example into a template that is followed word for word.
Example messages
Open an Agent and expand Example Messages. Each entry has a channel selector and a text box.
- The first entry is Your Best Message.
- Set the channel to Any channel, or to Email, LinkedIn or WhatsApp to keep a message for one channel only.
- Use Add another message to add more, and the trash icon to remove one.
Click a variable under Variables to insert it at the cursor. Details of every variable, and how empty values are handled, are in Template variables.
What the Agent takes from the examples:
- For a first message, it sees the examples written for that channel plus those marked Any channel.
- For every other message (follow-ups, replies, invitation notes), it only learns tone, length and structure. It never copies the facts from an example.
TIP
Paste real messages you already send, not a description of what you want. The Agent is told to learn the tone, length and structure of each example, never to copy its facts.
Strict template
Under the examples is the checkbox Strictly follow the template when generating outreach messages. Turn it on when the wording must be exactly yours.
When it is on:
- First messages on a channel are written from the example for that channel, then your variables are filled in.
- Fixed variables such as
{{firstName}}or{{companyName}}are filled by RenewSell directly. Any other variable in double braces, such as{{hook}}or{{company_product}}, is written by the AI from what RenewSell researched about the company. - A fixed variable with no value removes the whole line it sits on, so the message never shows a gap.
- If the template contains no AI variables at all, no AI is used and the text goes out exactly as written.
- In an email template, a first line starting with
Subject:becomes the subject line. Without one, a plain subject is added for you. - A placeholder that cannot be filled stops the message: a
{{…}}is never sent to a customer.
The switch applies to first messages only. Invitation notes, direct messages, follow-ups and replies are never sent from the template; the Agent writes them with the tone and structure of your examples.
WARNING
With the switch on, every first message on a channel uses the same wording, and only the variables differ. That is right for a fixed offer or a formal announcement. It is the wrong setting if you want each opening to mention something specific about the company.
Side-by-side example, the same template for two different companies, is in Template variables.
When a template is not used
- The Agent is an inbound Agent (Welcome and qualify customers): replies to customers are never written from the examples as a template.
- The chosen channel has no usable example and none marked Any channel; the switch then has nothing to apply to.
- The message is a follow-up, an invitation note, a direct message or a reply.
Check what the Agent wrote
Click Test it out. Under the drafted message RenewSell says whether it was Written from your instructions or modelled on one of your examples, and the draft's character count. See Preview and test.