What It Is

Smart Match takes whatever a customer names, or shows in a photo, and matches it to the right item in your own list. The item can be a part, a product, a SKU, a service, a plan, a policy, a course, or a menu item. The customer can type a number, describe it in their own words, name a competitor's version, or send a picture. Smart Match finds the closest item you actually sell, and when it cannot be sure, it says so and brings in a person.

You decide the order the lookup works in, how quickly the data is read, and what the bot says when nothing matches. In Smart Match settings you can also tell it what you call these things, such as part, product, service, plan, policy or course, so the page and the bot use your word.

Who Uses It

• Aftermarket parts: a shopper sends a competitor's part number and asks what fits. Smart Match answers with your own part number.
• Bearings and industrial supply: one of your bearings may replace the numbers of eight different competitors. List each competitor number once and every one leads to your item.
• A product line: a customer describes what they have, such as a filter from another brand, and gets your equivalent.
• Insurance or telecom: a customer describes their situation, or names the plan they have with another company, and the bot points to the plan of yours that fits.
• Services: a customer asks for "the deep clean" or a service you call something else, and Smart Match finds the service you list.
• Courses and menus: a customer names a class or a dish from an old catalog or a rival, and Smart Match finds the current one.

How the Lookup Works, and Why

Smart Match works down a list and stops at the first step that finds a confirmed match. The default order is the safest and fastest first.

1. Your list. Your cross-reference sheet of approved rows. This is your own answer, so it comes first.

2. Your business system. A live lookup in the system you have connected, such as SAP or NetSuite. It is skipped if none is connected.

3. Your catalog. An exact match on one of your own item numbers, names, or aliases.

4. Similar-looking candidates. Smart Match searches your manuals and catalog text. These results are always labeled as possible matches, never as a confirmed match, and the bot never promises one is right.

5. A person. If nothing is confirmed, the conversation is handed to a person.

You can change the order with the arrows and switch any step off. Keep at least one of your list or your catalog switched on. A sentence at the top of the page tells you what the bot will do with your current choices.

Photos

When a customer sends a photo, the bot reads the numbers and names on it, such as a label, a nameplate, or a serial number. Readings it is sure of are used to look the item up. Readings it is less sure of are only hints, and the bot asks the customer to confirm them. You choose how sure it has to be on the Order tab.

Preloaded or Live

Each source of data is either preloaded or live.

• Preloaded means Smart Match copies your rows into your account ahead of time, so a lookup is instant. It suits a spreadsheet that does not change many times a day.
• Live means Smart Match asks your system at the moment the customer asks. It suits a business system, a very large list, or data that changes all day.

The Sources tab shows a recommendation and the reason in one sentence. Files default to preloaded and business systems default to live.

Connect a SharePoint or OneDrive File

1. In SharePoint or OneDrive, open your Excel (.xlsx) or CSV file, choose Share, then Copy link. Link to the file itself, not to a folder, and use a link that people in your company can open.

2. Open the Sources tab, paste the link into the field called Link to the file in SharePoint or OneDrive, and choose Add source. If the link is not accepted, the page tells you why.

3. Choose Preview changes to see which rows would be added, changed, or removed. A preview applies nothing.

4. Choose Sync now, or let the schedule run.

Smart Match checks the file on a schedule and only reads it again when it has changed. When the file changes, only the differences are applied: new and changed rows are added or updated, and rows that disappeared from the file are switched off, not deleted, so nothing is lost by accident. You can also import a .csv or .xlsx file by hand on the Matrix tab. New rows are not approved unless the Approved column says yes, and only approved rows are ever recommended.

Review Suggestions and Misses

The Misses and suggestions tab lists each question that found nothing, how often it was asked, and when. Use it to add the missing items to your list. Choose Generate suggestions to get proposed matches from your own catalog text. A suggestion is never used until a person on your team approves it. You can approve or reject each one on the same tab.

When Nothing Matches

When no step is confirmed, the customer hears that you could not find an exact match, and the conversation is handed to a person. Choose what else happens on the Order tab:

• Hand the customer to a person.
• Show the kinds of things you offer.
• Both of the above. This is the default.
• Ask for the customer's name, email, and a description of what they need, then hand off to a person.

The question is also added to your misses list so you can fix the gap.

Safety Rules

• The bot never confirms a match from a look-alike. Similar items are always called possible matches.
• It never names a competitor brand you asked it to avoid.
• Only approved rows are recommended, and AI suggestions wait for a person.
• It never offers an item you do not sell.
• When nothing matches, a person takes over.

Default Workflow or Your Own

Smart Match comes with a ready-made smart default workflow: one AI step that can read a photo, run Smart Match, and transfer to a person, with a prompt already written for your business. Start from it on the Workflows page. If you prefer fixed steps with no AI deciding, use the deterministic workflow: a Smart Match action, then a condition on the result (confirmed, possible matches, or no result), then your reply messages, then a hand-off to a person. Both use the same lookup.

Turn It On

Smart Match is an add-on package. To add it, contact your Velaro account manager or email support@velaro.com. Limits depend on your plan; see your plan under Billing, Usage Overview.

Without the package, the Smart Match page shows what is missing and your cross-reference list keeps working if you have Product Match. Smart Match adds the ordered lookup, your connected business system, possible matches, and the no-result hand-off.

Test Before You Go Live

The Test tab runs the same lookup the bot uses and shows what each step did. Nothing is sent to a customer.