Individualize your chatbot in Bot Settings

Settings

This is where you will adjust your chatbot's main setup. We'll explore each section below:

• Bot Avatar
• Greeting text
• Session Expiration
• Answer Retry Count
• Connection Evaluation
• Default Fallback
• Global Webhooks
• Go To Previous
• Bot Admin Users
• Data Deletion
• Multi-language Translation

Bot Avatar

Give your bot a face! The image you upload here will be displayed next to the bot’s replies and appear at the top of the conversation window.

Greeting text

The greeting text will appear at the top of the conversation under the bot's logo. This text is standardized and permanent, and it will persist throughout the chat with the bot.

 
This can be used, for example, to remind the user that they are chatting with a bot. It may also be used for GDPR purposes. The greeting text can be up to 160 characters.

Session Expiration

Set up how many minutes of inactivity can pass before the session is terminated. After the designated amount of time passes, the chat will be reset.

 
It's tricky to anticipate the best timing for your bot. We recommend taking into account any existing information you have about your visitors. Here are some examples to consider:

• If your information indicates many returning visitors, it can be valuable to have a session expiration of, for instance, two days (2880 min). Website users might find it useful if the chatbot remembers their previous conversation to avoid starting from scratch.
• On the other hand, if you have many first-time visitors, we recommend setting the session expiration to approximately 10 hrs (600 min).

Answer Retry Count

Here, you can specify your bot's Fallback tolerance. Define when the bot will be redirected to a Fallback Module depending on the number of times the bot has misunderstood a user's intent.

 
This functionality is relevant for both Multiple Choice Collector Modules and any Statement Module without Module Connections or a fallback.

Connection Evaluation

In Connection Evaluation, you define the general order of evaluation for your chatbot. What should the chatbot analyze first: Module Connections or Global Connections?

 
Global Connections are conditions defined for your entire chatbot. You may understand Global Connections as an instruction book that stores your bot's overall responses and connections. 

In comparison, Module Connections only hold for the Module you're working on. Here, the bot's actions and/or responses for the next step within the conversational flow are defined.

Our recommended setup of Module Connections first ensures that Suggested Replies won't be analyzed by the Global Connection first, e.g., by a herein-defined AI connection. This way, the flow matches the specific connection you've defined for a Suggested Reply in a given Module.

Imagine that in a Module about pricing, you have a Suggested Reply of "More information". Within this Module's Connections, you connect this reply with a Module containing more pricing info. By evaluating Module Connections first, you ensure the bot follows this link.

Now, let's consider that your setup asks the bot to consider Global Connections first.

"More information" might be interpreted by your AI as "More information about company XYZ" instead of more info about prices. Consequently, the chat will be led to the next Module defined in Global Connections, and the user will find info about the company, not the prices.

Default Fallback

Fallback messages occur whenever the bot does not understand the input it receives from the end user. Establishing a Default Fallback allows you to define this message for your entire bot.

Global Webhooks

A Global Webhook allows you to set up your chatbot to be more flexible. This feature does not impact how your chatbot's Webhooks are configured in other places because it is an add-on. 

 
A Global Webhook can be triggered through four different actions: 

1. "Every user reply"
2. "The conversation starts"
3. "The conversation ends (leaf module)"
4. "The conversation expires"

Keep in mind that the "Every user reply" Trigger only works with an unmarked "Don’t wait for the user’s input, just evaluate the Connections." checkbox inside a Module's Connections tab. 

Note that a "leaf module", mentioned in the third action listed above, is a Module with no connections and no way of proceeding any further. In this Module, the "Don’t wait for the user’s input, just evaluate the Connections." checkbox is unmarked, and the "Skip Global Connection" checkbox is marked.

Go To Previous

In this section, you can add one or more tags that will take the end user to the last Module within the conversation flow that required end user input.

This is especially useful if you intend to collect end user information such as email addresses. If the user inputs the keywords as defined in the Go To Previous feature, the information collection can start again, enabling the end user to type in the correct content. 

To provide you with an example, here is one possible setup of the Go To Previous feature and a conversation that could follow:

Bot Admin Users

Here, you can adjust who can access the chatbot and remove admin users if needed.

Data Deletion

You can set a specific number of days after which point all conversational and end user data is deleted from the Certainly Platform.

 
All you have to do is check the "Delete users data after"-box and insert the number of days you want to pass before this action is taken. After the data is deleted, the outdated data will no longer be visible in the Inbox, the Message Insights Report, and Message Reports.

Multi-language Translation

With the Multi-language Translation feature, your bot can chat with customers in any language supported by your chosen translation provider.

Enable by connecting to your provider's translation API, then define the source language.

Within the Channels tab, you can choose which channel(s) you want to integrate your chatbot on and go live from. The following image shows how the Channels tab looks when your bot is not yet connected to the available channels:

Certainly Widget

Choosing the Certainly Widget allows you to take advantage of several Certainly features, such as conversational websites, using an avatar for your chatbot, and integrating a pop-up message to promote your chatbot's existence on your website(s). 

You can use the tabs below "Default Styling" to adjust:

• the widget (more on this just below);
• the colors of the buttons, the widget itself, and the messages;
• the font options and properties; and
• autoloading (after how much time or scroll the chatbot will load).

Widget

Adjust the Widget Size (width and height) and Widget Position (right, bottom, z-index).

Within the Widget tab, you can also choose to display a close button, a maximize button (disabled by default but can be useful to show the chatbot conversation in a larger window), and rich link previews. Additionally, you can decide whether to show previous conversations (when disabled, previous conversations will be reset upon any page reload).

Want to check your changes? Use the Preview button to see your latest setup. Not satisfied and want to start over? Select Reset Styling to revert.

Other available channels

You can also integrate your chatbot with the following channels:

• Facebook Messenger
• Zendesk
• Sunshine Conversations
• Microsoft Azure
• WhatsApp
• Instagram

Global Connections is the tool to use if you want to create a communication flow where the user can freely type an answer.

A connection consists of two things: condition(s) and action(s). Based on a condition, you will decide where the end user should be taken to (action).

Persistent Menu

The Persistent Menu is visible to the end user at all times during the conversation in the chat window.

This enables the user to go to specific places at any point in the chat, such as a page with customer support information.

Bot Takeover

Bot Takeover can be used in a flow where you need a human takeover, meaning that someone from your staff takes over the conversation with your customer from the chatbot.

After the human takes over and chats with the user, you might want to hand the conversation back to the chatbot. This is where the Bot Takeover comes in handy.

An example could be to ask whether or not your customer is satisfied with the help they have received. If your customer says yes, they are sent to a certain chatbot reply, and if the customer says no, then the chatbot will send them to a different reply.

Certainly Widget Alt Text

In this tab, you can see the default alt texts written so screen readers can recognize the various features of the Certainly Widget. 

If you'd like to adjust these, simply click in the text field you'd like to change and edit as desired. Please note that these will only apply in the Certainly Widget.