Creating a conversation bot for your web and mobile channels

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You can offer more complex, automated conversations through your Web Widget or mobile messaging configurations, beyond the basic response setup, by creating a conversation bot to interact with customers before handing them off to an agent.

Note: This article applies to messaging bots for web and mobile messaging channels. If you're using a social messaging channel, See Using bot builder to create a social messaging bot.

This article includes the following topics:

• About conversation bots
• Upgrading to a conversation bot
• Creating a new bot
• Publishing a bot to a channel
• Cloning a bot
• Deleting a bot
• Updating general bot settings
• Managing bot language settings

About conversation bots

Creating a conversation bot means you can use advanced automation and customization options in your messaging configuration. The bot is comprised of answers. Answers are sequences of steps or actions the bot uses to respond to questions your customers may have. Answers are created in the bot builder, a click-to-configure tool for customizing more complex bots. See Building a conversation bot using answers for more information.

The conversation bots you create are listed on the Bots page in Admin Center, along with basic information about them. This information includes the bot name, status (live or draft), and the channel(s) connected to it.

From the Bots page, you can add a bot, configure the bot settings, and open a bot to view, edit, or add to its answers and greeting behavior.

Upgrading to a conversation bot

When you initially create a web or mobile messaging channel, you can choose to upgrade to a conversation bot as part of configuring the default messaging response. Alternatively, you can return to the widget’s Responses section to activate it at a later time. In this section, we'll describe the latter.

To upgrade from the default messaging response to a conversation bot

1. In Admin Center, click Channels in the sidebar, then select Messaging and social > Messaging.
2. Click the name of the channel you want to edit. The widget’s edit page opens.
3. Expand the Responses section, and click Add a bot.

Note that upgrading to a bot as described here does not immediately replace the default messaging response. It simply makes it possible for you to create a conversation bot and add it to your messaging configuration. The default messaging response remains active until you publish the bot.

Creating a conversation bot

Creating a conversation bot means you’re adding the ability to use the bot in a channel’s messaging configuration. Until you add a bot to a specific messaging channel and publish it, the default messaging response remains active for that channel.

Note: These instructions assume you have already created a web or mobile messaging channel.

To add a messaging bot

1. In Admin Center, click Channels in the sidebar, then select Bots and automations > Bots.
2. Click Manage bots.
3. Click Create bot at the top of the page.
4. Enter a name for the bot. This name is displayed at the top of the widget where the bot is deployed.
5. If you’re using multiple brands, use the drop-down to select a brand to apply to the bot.
6. Use the Language drop-down to indicate the language your bot is created in.
7. Click Create bot at the bottom of the page.

A basic bot with a standard response is created with the Answers tab open. After you’ve created a conversation bot, you can begin adding answers to define its behavior. This bot remains in draft mode until it is published and connected to a messaging channel.

Publishing a bot to a channel

Whether you are using the standard bot response or building a new bot with custom answers, you’ll need to publish that bot before it appears in any of your messaging channels.

Publishing a bot to a channel means that any other messaging response – either the default messaging response or another bot – is removed from that channel and replaced with the newly published bot.

Until you publish a bot:

• If you have not yet published a bot, the default messaging response remains active.
• If you have published a bot, the last published version of that bot remains active.
• Any unpublished answers remain until they’re published or altered.

Both out-of-the-box and customized bots are published through the bot builder.

To publish a bot to a channel

1. In Admin Center, click Channels in the sidebar, then select Bots and automations > Bots.
2. Click Manage bots.
3. Click the bot you want to publish.
   Note: If you are adding a bot, as described above, the bot automatically opens in the bot builder.
4. Make any changes necessary to the flow, then click Publish bot.
   • If the bot is not currently published to a channel, the channel selection screen opens. Select one or more channels to connect to your bot and click Publish to selected channels.
   • If the bot is already live on a channel, it is updated in that channel with any changes made to it.

Cloning a bot

You can clone an existing bot, then use it as the starting point for building a new bot.

To clone an existing bot

1. In Admin Center, click Channels in the sidebar, then select Bots and automations > Bots.
2. Click Manage bots.
3. Click the bot's Options icon () and select Clone.

The bot is copied and added to the end of your bot list, given the same name as the original bot and appended with (copy).

After you’ve cloned the bot, you can build it by adding, editing, or deleting its answers as needed.

Deleting a bot

If you are no longer using a bot, and do not plan on using it in the future, you can delete it.

Note: When you delete a bot, any connected channels will revert to their default response settings.

To delete a bot

1. In Admin Center, click Channels in the sidebar, then select Bots and automations > Bots.
2. Click Manage bots.
3. Click the bot's Options icon (), then select Delete.

   The bot is removed from the bot list. This action cannot be undone.

Updating general bot settings

You can update the following general settings for a bot:

• Name
• Brand (if multiple brands are enabled on your account)
• Show title and preview for restricted articles
• Channel connection

To update a bot’s name and brand settings

1. In Admin Center, click Channels in the sidebar, then select Bots and automations > Bots.
2. Click Manage bots.
3. Hover over the bot you want to update and click Settings.
4. In the General tab, update the Name and Brand as needed.
5. Click Save.

The process for connecting a bot to a channel varies slightly, depending on whether the bot is Live (already connected to a channel), or still a Draft (not connected to a channel).

A bot must be connected to one or more messaging channels before it can be published and made available to your end users, and each channel can only be connected to a single bot.

To connect a bot to a channel

1. In Admin Center, click Channels in the sidebar, then select Bots and automations > Bots.
2. Click Manage bots.
3. Hover over the bot you want to update and click Settings.
4. In the General tab, scroll down to the Channels section.
   • If the bot is a Draft, you’ll see the channels available for connection:

     

     Click the checkbox to select the channel(s) you want to connect to the bot.

   • If the bot is currently Live in a channel, you’ll see the currently-connected channel(s), as well as any other channels available for connection:

     

     Update the channels selections as needed, using the checkboxes.

     Note: If the selected channel already has a bot connected to it, that bot will be disconnected from the channel and replaced with this new bot.
5. Click Save.

Managing bot language settings

You can select a single language for a bot, or configure it to speak in multiple languages for an improved customer experience.

For more information, see Managing languages for a bot.