Building a conversation bot using answers

Tip: Zendesk has renamed our bot capabilities. Answer Bot is now Zendesk bots, Flow Builder is bot builder, and Article Recommendations are autoreplies. Some older features still use the old terminology, which is reflected in the documentation. For more information on this change, see this announcement.

After you’ve created a conversation bot, you can begin adding answers to define its behavior.

Answers tell a conversation bot how to best respond to customer questions through the Web Widget or mobile SDK. Each answer addresses a single question your customers might ask about, and your bot can be trained to understand customer questions when phrased in different ways. You can build your own answer from scratch, or use a pre-built answer template.

This article shows you how to create an answer, configure your bot’s initial message to an end user, and edit existing answers when your communication needs to change.

This article includes the following topics:

• Creating an answer for a conversation bot
• Updating the standard responses
• Training your conversation bot
• Updating an existing answer
• Deleting and deactivating answers
• Publishing answers

Creating an answer for a conversation bot

Answers are added to your conversation bot from the Answers tab on the bot’s edit page. The order answers are listed does not impact how they are received by your customers.

A conversation bot can include up to 2,000 steps. These steps can be distributed among multiple answers or included in a single answer.

This section describes two ways to create an answer:

• Creating your own answer
• Creating an answer from a template

Creating your own answer

You can build your own answer from scratch, starting with an empty answer flow.

To create an answer for your conversation bot

1. On the Answers tab of the bot’s edit page, click Create answer.
2. Click Build your own answer, then click Next.

   

3. Enter the Answer name. This should be a brief, clear description of the issue addressed by the answer, such as “Password reset”, “Request a refund”, or “Talk to a human”. Then click Next.
4. Enter Training phrases. These phrases train your bot to evaluate and understand what information customers are looking for. See Training your bot below.

   You can add up to 100 additional questions by clicking Add question at the bottom of the list.

   If you have the Advanced AI add-on, you can use intents in place of training phrases. See Using AI-powered intents with conversation bots for more information.

5. Click Next. The answer opens in the bot builder where you can build out the bot’s response.
6. Click Add step and create the first step in the answer. See Understanding answer step types for information on the steps you can add to an answer.
7. Add additional steps to the answer as needed. You need to add at least one step to the answer.
8. Click Preview to see how the answer will appear to your end users.
9. Click Done when you’re satisfied with the answer.

At this point, you’re taken back to the bot’s edit page, where you can add another answer, edit an existing one, configure the standard response, or publish the bot.

Creating an answer from a template

On the Create answer page, there are a number of templates available that can help you get started building an answer. These templates provide examples of common answer topics and construction, and can be used as a starting point for creating your own answers. Note that while each template has a complete answer framework, most will require you to add information (a business hours schedule or API details, for example) before they can be published.

To use an answer template

1. On the Answers tab of the bot’s edit page, click Create answer.
2. Click the answer template you want to view or use as the starting point for your answer.
3. Click Next. The answer opens in the bot builder.
4. Update the answer as needed. We recommend checking each step in the answer to make sure it is complete and has been personalized to suit your business tone.
5. Click Done to add it to your answer list. If you are just viewing the answer structure without making any changes, click your browser's Back button to return to the Create answer page.

Updating the standard responses

The Standard responses tab has a number of expandable sections where you can define some default bot responses.

These responses can be activated or deactivated as needed and, in some cases, customized.

These settings are automatically saved, but will not be presented to customers until you publish or re-publish the bot.

The page includes the following response options:

• Start of the conversation, the bot’s initial response when a messaging conversation is started.
• If the bot can't understand a question, the bot’s default response when it cannot determine an answer that matches a customer’s comment.
• If a question matches more than one intent, the bot's response to a comment that matches more than one answer.
• If there's no relevant answer, the bot's response when the customer's comment does not match any answer.

Start of the conversation

When your customers first open a messaging conversation in the Web Widget or your mobile app, they’re met with an initial welcome message. There are two types of welcome messages:

• A single answer welcome message
• A custom welcome message

This section is required, and must be configured before you can publish your bot.

Creating a single answer welcome message

By default, you’re prompted to select an existing answer as the initial message. When the end user first interacts with the bot, the selected answer is sent and does not include a custom message. This option can be used to immediately transfer your customer to an agent, for example.

To use an existing answer as your starting answer

1. On the Standard responses tab, expand the Start of the conversation section.
2. Make sure the Respond with a message option is deselected.
3. Use the Starting answer dropdown to select the answer that will welcome your customers when they initiate a conversation.

Creating a custom welcome message

You can also choose to write your own welcome message, followed by one or more of your previously created answers presented to your customers as options.

To configure a custom welcome message

1. On the Standard responses tab, expand the Start of the conversation section.
2. Make sure the Respond with a message option is selected.
3. Enter your initial message or leave the default message.
4. Use the Starting answers dropdown to select up to 10 answers to present to customers as preconfigured options.

If the bot can't understand a question

You can set up an automatic response to an end user, asking for more information. This response is triggered any time during a conversation if the bot does not understand the end user's comment.

This response is optional, and can be activated or deactivated as needed.

To request clarification

1. On the Standard responses tab, expand the If the bot can't understand a question section.
2. Select Ask customer to provide more info or rephrase question.
3. Enter your message, or use the default message provided.

If a question matches more than one intent

Note: This setting is only available if you have intents activated on your account.

If an end user's comment could match multiple intents, the bot can offer up to three intents to help accurately interpret the comment. When choosing a match, the bot looks at all possible intents, including those that are not associated with an answer.

If an intent that is not associated with an answer is frequently matched to end users' comments, it may be included in the list of intent suggestions.

After the initial customizable message, the matching intents will be presented to the end user as preconfigured options.

To suggest intents to end users

1. On the Standard responses tab, expand the If a question matches more than one intent section.
2. Select Suggest matching intents.
3. Enter your message or use the default message provided.

If there's no relevant answer

This response, also known as the fallback response, is triggered when:

• There is no answer that matches the end user's question or comment.
• An intent selected by the end user, as part of the If a question answers more than one intent response, does not have an associated answer.

You can configure this response as a request for more information.

This section is required, and must be configured before you can publish your bot.

To configure the fallback response

1. On the Standard responses tab, expand the If the bot can't understand a question section.
2. Choose whether you want to Recommend help center articles before the fallback message.
   Note: This option only appears if you have an active, publicly available help center.
3. Enter an initial message, the information offered by the bot if no help center articles are found, or if you do not have an active help center. By default, the bot is configured to say I didn't get that. Try rephrasing your question.
4. Use the Answers drop-down to select up to 10 of your already-created answers to present to the customer. This step is optional.

Training your conversation bot

You can teach the bot how to interpret questions asked by the customer during the messaging conversation so they can match and deliver the most relevant answer for a particular question.

When you create or open an answer in the bot builder, you'll see the Configuration panel as usual, but now it will contain two sections:

• Name, a short description of the answer.
• Training phrases, different ways the customer may phrase the question.

In the Training phrases section, you can add up to 100 variations of the question a customer might ask that should result in that answer being offered by the bot.

To create good training questions, keep the following points in mind:

• Questions don’t need to exactly match what the customer types. For example, a customer could spell something wrong, or phrase it a little differently and still get a match.
• Avoid the use of generic phrases like “I want to” or "How do I", which can dilute the question's core meaning. For example, instead of using "I want to get a refund", use “Get a refund."
• Do make sure you use necessary basic details. For instance, instead of "Renew", say "Renew membership."
• Do not use unnecessary words, such as "Hi", in a question.

You do not need to add training phrases in multiple languages.

Updating an existing answer

You may find you need to edit an existing answer in the following ways:

• Updating the name or training phrases
• Editing a step in an answer
• Inserting new steps to an answer
• Copying and pasting steps into an answer
• Removing steps from an answer

Updating the name or training phrases

You can edit an answer’s name, or add, remove, or edit training phrases.

To update an answer’s name

1. On the Answers tab of the bot’s edit page, hover over the answer you want to change and select Edit.
2. In the bot builder’s configuration panel, update the answer’s Name.
3. Click Done.

To update an answer’s training phrases

1. On the Answers tab of the bot’s edit page, hover over the answer you want to update and select Edit.
2. In the bot builder’s configuration panel, update the training phrases as needed.
   • To add a phrase, click Add phrase at the bottom of the list and enter the new one.
   • To remove a phrase, click the trash can icon next to it.
   • To edit a phrase, update the text in the question’s text entry box.
3. Click Done.

Editing a step in an answer

You can change an answer by editing the configuration details of an existing step. You cannot edit a step's type. For more information on the steps below, see Understanding bot step types.

To edit a step in an answer

1. On the Answers tab of the bot’s edit page, click the answer you want to edit.
2. Click the step you want to edit. Its details appear in the Configuration panel.
3. Edit the elements you want to change.
4. Click Done when you've finished making your changes.

Copying and pasting steps in an answer

You can copy a step, or a step and its subsequent steps, and use it elsewhere within the same answer. Steps cannot be copied from one answer and added to another.

Copied steps can only be pasted at the end of a branch in the answer, and that branch cannot currently end with a Transfer to agent step.

To copy a step (or multiple steps) and paste it elsewhere in an answer

1. Click the step you want to copy.
2. At the top of the step details in the Configuration panel, click the Options icon () to open the Options menu:

   

3. Select your option:
   • Select Copy this step to copy only the selected step
   • Select Copy this and following steps to copy the selected step and all subsequent steps
4. Click the Add new icon () at the end of the branch, or the Add a step icon () after an options step.
5. Click the Options icon () again, and select Paste step:

   

   The step is added to the answer's flow.

6. Continue editing the answer as needed and click Publish when your edits are complete.

Inserting new steps to an answer

In addition to copying and pasting steps into an answer, you can also insert a step between two existing steps in an answer.

When you add a branching step, such as a Present options or Add business hours conditions step, the subsequent, pre-existing steps will be included under the new step's initial branch.

• Present options: Existing steps are included under Option 1.
• Add business hours conditions: Existing steps are included under the When open branch.

The Transfer to agent step type cannot be added to an answer before another step. It can only be included as the final step in an answer.

To add a step into an answer

1. Hover over the line between two steps and click the Add new icon () .

   

2. In the Configuration panel, select the message type you want to insert into the answer, and configure the step as needed.
3. Repeat as needed, then Publish your updated answer.

Removing steps from an answer

Deleting a step removes all subsequent steps from the answer. If you want to delete a step but retain the subsequent steps, you can copy and paste the subsequent steps later in the answer.

To delete a step in an answer

1. On the Answers tab of the bot’s edit page, hover over the answer you want to update and select Edit.
2. At the top of the Configuration panel, click the Options icon ().
3. Select Delete this step. If there are subsequent steps, click Delete steps in the warning box.
4. Click Done when you've finished making your changes.

Deleting and deactivating answers

If an answer is no longer relevant or necessary, you have two options for removing it from your bot:

• Deleting, which permanently removes the answer from the Answers list.

• Deactivating, which removes the answer from the bot, but retains it for future use.

To delete or deactivate an answer

1. On the bot’s Answers tab, hover your cursor over the answer you want to remove.
2. Click the Row actions icon () and select your action: Delete or Make inactive.
3. Confirm your selection.
4. The answer is updated according to the selected action:
   • Delete removes the answer from the answer list.
   • Make inactive changes the answer’s status to Inactive. You can reactivate the answer from the Row actions icon by selecting Make active.

Publishing answers

Before your new or edited answers are available to your customers, you must publish the bot they’re attached to. This includes deactivating and deleting individual answers. See Publishing a bot for information and instructions.

Answers are not published individually. When you publish the bot, all answers in the Ready to publish state are published as well.