You can build a bot without requiring custom development with the bot builder. It is as easy as connecting a few dots with numbers. We’ll walk you through the process of configuring your first bot in the following steps:


The bot creation includes the following steps:

  1. Creating a bot
  2. To create a new bot:
  3. Creating Flows
  4. Setting up conditions
  5. Trigger Actions
  6. Previewing the bot
  7. Deploying the bot
  8. Analyzing the bot behavior

Creating a bot

To create a new bot:

  1. Log in to your account and click on the Chatbots icon. 
  2. Click New Bot.
  3. Enter the bot name and choose the primary language.
  4. Choose the channel on the channels where you want to deploy your bot and click save.

    • Check out this article to learn more about the different supported channels.
  5. You will be redirected to the Flows tab, where you can start building flows for your bot. 
  6. Alternatively, you can create bots by cloning an existing published bot. To clone a bot, click on the three dots next to the bot name, and click clone.

Creating Flows

A flow is a series of connected dialogs that make up a bot. You can have any number of flows in the bot that get executed sequentially when the bot is triggered. 


When you create a new bot, you will be automatically redirected to the Flows tab, where you can see sample flows created to help you get started. 


To create new flows:

  1. Click on the plus icon next to the search bar and click New Flow.


    You can also create a new flow by cloning an existing flow. To clone a flow, hover over the flow and select Clone.


  2. Start adding dialogs to the flow. You can add any number of dialogs as required to a single flow and include either a message or an action. For more details, check Configuring dialogs in the bot builder.
Note: You can delete a dialog if it's no longer required. However, you can only archive a flow and not delete it.


Setting up conditions

  • All the dialogs created are executed subsequently unless a condition in one dialog redirects the customer to a different dialog or if there is a break in the flow. If you’re using the button input type or carousel input type, you can trigger actions corresponding to received responses.

  • Similarly, you can redirect customers to a particular dialog in a different flow based on their choices. You can also use the nested AND/OR operators for these evaluations.

 

For example, a travel agency can choose to display destinations to plan trips for their customers. In another example, a bank evaluates the customer’s age and then accordingly shows interest rates.

Trigger Actions

You can also execute actions with the bot. The Actions feature in the flow allows you to execute events based on your requirements.  
For example, you can trigger an API as part of a dialog to create a ticket in Freshdesk and store the ticket ID as part of the API. In that case, you can use the Trigger API action to fetch the ticket ID from the API parameters and show it to the customer while they are interacting with the bot.


To add an action in a dialog, click on the plus icon within a dialog and choose New Action, and then choose the action type



 The different action types you can add are:

  • Dynamic actions: Trigger API, Set property, Transfer to Answers

  • Agent handover: Transfer to Agent

  • Conversation actions: Start a new conversation, Stop the conversation, Resolve the conversation

  • Widget actions: Trigger actions on widget, like triggering an event when the widget opens.

    For more details on triggering actions, check Configuring Actions in the bot builder.

Previewing the bot

Once you complete the bot configuration, click on the Preview button on the top right to preview the bot. The preview option lets you visualize the connections between the different flows with the Holistic view button on the bottom left.



Note: When previewing a bot, you can use the show logs button to switch to the activity logs to understand your bot performance, such as the conversation ID, API calls, and where the flow breaks, for example.


Deploying the bot

Once you've finished setting up the bot, you can publish and deploy your bot. When you deploy your bot, you will be automatically redirected to the Topics page, where you can choose the topic on which you want to deploy the bot.

Analyzing the bot behavior

In some situations, a bot may face an error, such as when an API fails, or a function is incorrectly executed because of an improper input. These errors usually arise at a dialog level. Admins must quickly identify where the error appears to identify, troubleshoot, and fix the issue to offer a customer service experience free of technical issues and glitches. For more details check, Troubleshoot bot errors with the new dashboard