Sunshine Conversations lets you define rich message templates and easily send them to users through the Sunshine Conversation shorthands. Creating templates enriches the conversation flow, this functionality can be leveraged to create a set of “canned messages” or “agent-saved replies”.
They are beneficial for messages that are hard to craft on the fly as they require external resources. This is achievable through the Sunshine Conversation templates endpoints, where users can create, update, delete, and view templates through API calls.
However, to simplify the creation of these templates to avoid the more technical aspects above, we have unlocked the possibility to create these templates within Ultimate.
In this article we will cover:
Introduction to Template Types
There are 3 template types we currently support within Ultimate:
- Form
- Webview
- Custom
What is a form?
Form messages allow you to capture user data in an ongoing conversation by displaying a form that can contain text and email inputs as well as select dropdowns. Forms are currently only available on the Web SDK.
What is a webview?
From the templates perspective, a web view is an action on the message level to open a URL within the chat window. The URL must allow loading in an iframe. Channels that do not support webviews will open the fallback URL instead.
What are custom template options?
Some options you can use in our custom setting types would be carousels, lists of content, NPS rating, or sending of location messages.
You can find an overview of all template message types and examples from Sunshine Conversations here.
Building a Template within Ultimate
Templates can only be created if you have finished integrating Sunshine Conversations.
Templates can be created from the CRM Integration area, by navigating to Settings > CRM Integration > Sunshine Templates. Here you will see all templates created for this Integration, including those which were created via Sunshine Conversations widget code. Integrations created directly via Sunshine can be identified as they will have no created by value - however, if these are edited within Ultimate, the created by field will be when the edit was first made within Ultimate.
The shorthand is easy to copy by clicking on the shorthand name - making adding them to dialogues simple.
A pop-up will appear when clicking the create template button on the far right-hand side and asking which type of template you would like to create; Forms, Webview, or Custom.
Creating a form
Fields to complete are listed below
| Field name | Description |
| Template type | This will be form, based on the selection you made during the creation phase. |
| Template name |
This is the name of the template and will form the shorthand you will use later to trigger them within dialogues. The name cannot support any space characters, so the use of CamelCase or -/_ are recommended for legibility. |
| Description | Optionally you can give the template a brief text overview to provide further information, such as where it will likely be used. This way others who may wish to use this template later know its purpose. |
| Block Chat Input | This will make the form a mandatory piece of the conversation flow, not allowing the user to continue the conversation unless this is complete. |
| Input Field |
This is where you define what you would like to collect. The options include email, text, and select, which can be chosen via the drop-down. Afterward, define the following: Name - which is what will the variable is called if you want to collect it. Label - this is what will show within the Widget for the visitor to know what to enter. Additional fields can be added using the add filed button. The limit for fields is 100 - however, would recommend keeping it under 5 fields for the best user experience. |
Creating a webview
| Field name | Description |
| Template type | This will be webview, based on the selection you made during the creation phase. |
| Template name |
This is the name of the template, and will form the shorthand you will use later to trigger them within dialogues. The name cannot support any space characters, so the use of CamelCase or -/_ are recommended for legibility. |
| Description | Optionally you can give the template a brief text overview to provide further information, such as where it will likely be used. This way others who may wish to use this template later know its purpose. |
| Message Text | This is what will be displayed as a message above the button. |
| Button Text | This is what will be written on the button that will trigger the webview to open. |
| URL | What is the web address for the URL you would like to open. |
| Fallback URL | In case there is some personalization in the URL and this is incomplete, what is a URL that can be sent as a back-up. |
Creating a custom template
This is where you can really play. Based on the template options within Sunshine conversations you can create a custom template. Examples of this could be NPS, location requests, cards, and quick replies.
Using Templates in Dialogues
To use these templates within a dialogue, just copy the shorthand - which is easy from the Sunshine Conversation Templates area, by just clicking the name in the shorthand column, and adding it to the end of the bot message you would like for it to be triggered with.
