Working with response headers

Overview

Response headers help you organize and structure content within a Q&A pair by grouping related responses under labeled sections. You can use response headers to improve readability, separate different response variations, or categorize information for easier review and reuse.

For example, you can create response headers for:

• Product overview

• Security details

• Pricing information

• Regional responses

• Internal notes

• AI-generated content summaries
  Note: AI-powered capabilities associated with response headers are available only to organizations that have purchased Responsive AI.

The default response headers are Response, Response 1, Response 2, and so on.

You can create them when you import a file for a project by changing the Answer Header field when marking answers. When questions in the project are answered and saved to the Content Library, the response headers will be included in the Q&A pairs.

Permissions

Only users who can edit a Q&A pair can create, edit, or delete response headers for that Q&A pair.

Use cases

You can use response headers in several scenarios, including:

• Organize responses by topic: Separate answers into sections such as functionality, integrations, compliance, and implementation details to make responses easier to review.

• Create regional or customer-specific variations of your answers.

• Add different response headers for region-specific messaging, customer segments, or business units.

• Flag AI-generated responses: Use response headers to distinguish content generated by AI Assistant from manually written responses.

Editing response headers

You can edit your response headers to make them more useful. You must have permission to edit the Q&A pairs to change the response headers.

You can edit the response headers in your Content Library individually:

1. Click the edit icon (pencil) on the Q&A pair’s header to edit the pair.

2. Click the edit icon (pencil) for the existing response header and begin entering the new one. As you type, existing response headers will be suggested to you. You can choose one of them or enter your own.
   

3. When you have finished making your changes, click Save. The Q&A pair will be sent to moderation. After the changes have been approved, the pair will be updated in your Content Library.

Editing response headers in bulk

1. Select the checkboxes for the pairs you want to change. Select the More menu, and then click Other Bulk Options.
   

2. Scroll down the list of options in the left pane. Click Answer to expand the heading, and then click Response Headings.
   

3. On the right pane, click the down arrow for Response Headers to see the available headers. Select the ones you want to change.
   

4. Specify the new name for the response header, and then click Review Changes.
   

5. Review the changes you want to make, and then click Save Changes. Your changes will be made and the pairs will be sent to moderation.
   

Using response headers with Responsive AI

How Response Headers Work with Responsive AI

Responsive AI uses a two-stage process to find and generate answers. First, it retrieves the most relevant content from your knowledge library; second, it uses that content as context to generate a final response.

Response headers are the only custom fields that serve a dual purpose in this workflow. They act as both additional context for Responsive AI and as a functional filter with the ability to limit the scope of your search. Because they play an active role in both stages, the name and structure of your response headers directly affect the quality and accuracy of AI output.

At the retrieval stage

Response headers are a core part of the retrieval process, as Responsive AI uses a combination of semantic understanding and keyword matching to find the most relevant Q&A pairs from your Content Library.

They can also be applied as filters to limit AI search capabilities, allowing you to restrict the system to specific parts of your Q&A pairs. This ensures the best responses are intelligently selected based on both the core content and the specific response header constraints you have set.

At the generation stage

During answer generation, Responsive AI considers the user's intent alongside the retrieved content, response headers, and metadata* (e.g., document name, section, and page number)

Response headers provide additional context for your Q&A pairs giving a stronger signal to work with when crafting the final response. Responsive AI will always look for the most contextually appropriate response based on the question’s intent. A well-named response header ensures Responsive AI has the relevant context to generate a precise result.

*Metadata will be available and considered for all customers following the semantic chunking rollout by the end of March. This applies to PDF, Word, and Excel documents. For Excel specifically, the header row and header column will be considered.

What this means for your Content Library

When response headers are vague, inconsistently named, or don’t reflect the content they pertain to, there is less for Responsive AI to work with during both the retrieval and generation processes. This affects accuracy and confidence at scale.

As best practices, we recommend the following to get the most out of Responsive AI:

• Use descriptive, consistent response header names that reflect the type or nature of the answer (such as, Product A Response, Product B Response, Executive Summary Response, Technical Response, or Compliance Response) to provide clear signals to Responsive AI when deciding among multiple response options.

• Ensure response header names clearly reflect how your team categorizes different types of questions. Headers should signal both the subject of the content and the expected answer format. For example, if a response is intended for a Yes/No question, the header name should make that explicit. This provides clarity to both Responsive AI and your users, while reinforcing consistency in how responses are structured.

  • Examples:

    • Compliance Status (Yes/No)

    • Feature Availability (Yes/No/NA)

• Avoid generic or numbered headers like Response 1 and Response 2 where possible; these offer little contextual signal and may be treated as a prioritized list.

• Review entries with multiple response headers to ensure each header is meaningfully differentiated. If two headers hold similar content, consider consolidating them or making the distinction explicit in the response header name.

Using response headers with Responsive AI

When using Ask to generate content, you can specify where Ask will get its source material from:

1. Click the Filter icon to display the filters.
   

2. Select the Response Headers menu to see a list of the available response headers, and choose the ones you want. When you are finished, click Apply. Now Ask will only pull Q&A content from your library that has the specified response header.
   

You can use response headers with agents provided by Responsive and created in Agent Studio.