In both chatbot configurations Welcome Message and Interaction is where you define and manage how the chatbot communicates with users. It encompasses various elements designed to simulate a conversation, guide users through processes, or provide information. Key components often found in the Interactions section include:

User Prompts: Questions or statements that the chatbot presents to users, prompting them to provide information or make selections.

Bot Responses: The set of replies the chatbot can give in response to user inputs. These can range from predefined answers based on the user's previous inputs.**

Keywords: Specific words or phrases that, when typed by the user, trigger particular responses or actions from the chatbot.

Dialogue Flow: The logical structure that outlines how conversations progress based on different user responses or actions. This can include branching paths that lead to different outcomes depending on what the user says or selects.

Action Triggers: Configurations that specify actions the chatbot should take under certain conditions, like sending a welcome message when a conversation starts or transferring a user to a human agent if their query cannot be resolved by the bot.

Both sections are critical for defining the effectiveness and efficiency of a chatbot, shaping how it assists, engages with, and satisfies the needs of its users.

Let’s start with an explanation of the Welcome Message and how to configure it.

The Welcome Message is a friendly greeting that users first receive when they initiate a conversation with the chatbot. This message is crucial because it sets the tone for the interaction, provides a brief introduction to the services or assistance the chatbot can offer, and guides users on how to proceed. Effective welcome messages are concise, informative, and engaging, often encouraging users to select from a menu of options to get started.

The Welcome Message consists of:

• Setting the welcome message to initiate the conversation with the chatbot.

• Setting the available options that users can pick from.

  • Configure the selection menu through the "Menu Pre-fix" option.
  • Specify where the user will be redirected once they select the desired option from the menu.

Define Welcome Message

Enter the greeting message aligned to the chosen channel type, each with its own characteristics; SMS using the standard 160-character cap, WhatsApp with 1024 including emoji capability that you select from the smiley face on the right end of the message box, and RCS with 1024 characters.

For WhatsApp, to include multimedia files in your message, switch on the toggle. After enabling it, you can upload files by dragging and dropping them into the designated box.

You can attach up to four types of multimedia files to a message on WhatsApp, each with a maximum size of 5 MB:

The file will be sent as a separate message, either before or after the chatbot interaction message, as delivery order is not guaranteed.

Setting Pre-fix Menu

In this section we are going to set the available options that users can pick from.

The first step is to configure the selection menu through the Menu Pre-fix option.

A Menu Pre-fix scheme with an option for numbers or letters through radio buttons. Each prefix adds 4 characters to the message length which is a consideration for the SMS case, given its 160 maximum character length. These single-character keyword prefixes will be what the end user texts back as a response to each step in the chatbot flow. Each number or letter represents a response to the particular interaction that the user finds herself/himself in.

The next step is to specify where the user will be redirected once they select the desired option from the menu. Additionally, the user responses in the form of a single character allow the chatbot to redirect the user to the next action.

For SMS, you can include from 1 to 4 response options.

For WhatsApp and RCS, you can include from 1 to 20 response options

Each configured Response Option will be displayed in the table.

The Response Option is segmented into three boxes: Menu Text, Redirect Type, and Redirect To.

Menu Text

The Menu text box is where you enter the name of the options that the user will choose from. For consideration in the SMS case, is the length of the name since it will be added to the overall character count of the message. WhatsApp affords much more leeway given that it does not have this type of restriction and it also includes emoji capability.

Redirect Type

The Redirect type specifies the next step in the chatbot's sequence. The platform provides five options to choose from.

• Campaign: defines if the next item in the flow corresponds to a Live platform campaign with content associated with the chatbot’s intended purpose, an out-of-flow action.

• Integration: defines if the next item in the flow corresponds to a third-party solutions that can be added to the interaction flows with your customers using the chatbot as the communication vehicle.

  There are three types of integrations: Bright Pattern, OpenAPI and Custom Webhook.

  By selecting the Integration as Redirect Type, an interaction timeout will be displayed.

  This interaction timeout will help you to close the interaction (communication) between the end user and the chatbot. That is, sets the total number of minutes that must elapse due to inactivity. For example, if a session has started but the end user hasn't responded to or interacted with the campaign, the session will end after a certain amount of time has elapsed.

  

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  NOTE

  The max time the session can wait before closing is 120 minutes.

• Interaction: defines if the next item in the flow corresponds to another interaction step within the chatbot flow, an in-flow interaction.

• Live Chat: Specifies whether the subsequent element in the workflow links to an agent from the Live Chat feature.

  To redirect the end user to the agent, click on the Live Chat option located in the Redirect Type dropdown. Then, set the total minutes that must elapse due to inactivity. For example, If the end user selects the links to the agent but the end user doesn't respond to the agent within 5 minutes, the connection will be finished.

  

  To create, build and deploy a chatbot that connects to the Live Chat feature, go to the Integrate Chatbot with Live Chat section.

• Webhook: defines a notification event to be sent and handled by your application, passing on the data that identifies the step in the flow to which webhook corresponds to the user has arrived, another out-of-flow action.

  To learn about setting up a webhook through a Chatbot, refer to the Setting Webhook section.

Redirect To

The Redirect To represents the identity of the destination to which the platform will go for its next action. It is the identity of an interaction, a platform-defined campaign, or webhook event notification, according to the redirect type chosen.

When Campaign is chosen as the Redirect Type, the Redirect To dropdown will list all Live status campaigns available with the next format: Campaign Name_Campaign Type.

When Integration is chosen as the Redirect Type, the Redirect To dropdown will list all integrations created and available with the next format: Alias_Integration Type.

Actually, we support the Bright Pattern, OpenAPI and Custom Webhook Integrations.

For more information, to create and enable each integration, go to the Integrations section.

When Interaction is chosen as the Redirect Type, the Redirect To dropdown will list all interactions created when setting the chatbot.

When Live Chat or Webhook is chosen as the Redirect Type, the Redirect To won't be available.

Once the Redirect type and the Redirect To were configured by selecting the Add button, you have the option to add a webhook.

For more information on incorporating a webhook into your chatbot, please refer to the Setting Webhook section.

Therefore, once the redirect type and redirect to configuration is complete, this results in the inclusion of the item in a menu item table that is displayed under the configuration section. Menu items will be placed in ascending order as they are entered, automatically advancing the keyword identifier at each menu entry.

The following screenshot shows a populated WhatsApp chatbot Welcome Message sample with all the possible options that can be configured into any given chatbot step in its flow with the table at the bottom.

The table includes the five possible ways in which a menu option can be configured.

Define Interaction

Once the Welcome Message has been configured, we proceed to define Interaction flow.

Here you are going to define how the chatbot will engage with users. It involves creating and organizing a series of automated responses, questions, or actions that the chatbot will execute based on user inputs or triggers. This step shapes the conversational flow, determining how the chatbot will understand and respond to various user inquiries, guide users through processes, or provide information. Essentially, it's about mapping out the dialogue structure the chatbot will use to interact with users as when setting the Welcome Message, making the chatbot's interactions more dynamic, personalized, and effective in achieving its intended purpose.

When configuring an Interaction, the steps are identical to those for setting up the Welcome Message. But, in this case, you have the additional choice to either mark the interaction as a concluding message or to redirect it to a different interaction.

To set up an Interaction, follow these steps:

1. Name the interaction in the provided field.

   By default, each interaction name is numbered in order (Interaction 1, Interaction 2, Interaction 3, ….).

2. Decide if this interaction will be redirected to a Final Message or will be redirected to another Interaction by enabling the appropriate toggle.

   

   The Redirect toggle switch will be enabled by default. However, at the end of a flow, whether there is only one or several within the service, there will be no action that follows this step and it is where the Redirect toggle switch will need to be placed in the disabled position.

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   NOTE

   When the Redirect toggle is disabled, the Final Message toggle will be automatically activated. Once activated, the interaction will be redirected to the final message that will be displayed when the user has finished interacting with the chatbot.

   

   If the Interaction has set up an options menu, but one or more options is redirected to another interaction or integration, a message will be displayed mentioning that the Final Message can only be sent if one or more options are redirected to interactive campaigns or webhooks.

   

   Therefore, the Final Message and Redirect toggles can be activated both if one or more options are redirected to interactive campaigns.

   For more information on setting the Final Message, please refer to the Final & Error Message section

3. To configure the available options that users can pick from , follow the same steps when setting up the Welcome Message: Setting Pre-fix Menu, Menu Text, Redirect Type, Redirect To.

   

Once defined the Invitation Message (For API Endpoint), Welcome Message, Interactions, Final Message, and Error Message, click on the Add button to proceed to the final review step before the chatbot goes Live.