Build a chatbot

This example builds a bot for Sunrise Interiors: a customer writes "hi", gets three buttons, and each button leads to its own answer.

Start a chatbot

1. Open Chatbots and click New chatbot.
2. Type a name in the box at the top, such as "Welcome menu".

The canvas opens with the On message block. Blocks to add are on the left; the selected block's settings are on the right.

Choose when it starts and where

Click On message:

1. Under Start when a customer sends, choose A message with one of these keywords or Any message.
2. Type each keyword and press Enter, such as hi, hello, menu. Turn on Forgive typos if you like.
3. Under Answer on these numbers, tick the numbers the bot answers on.
4. Turn on Only when nobody is assigned and Not while a person is chatting to keep the bot out of chats your team is handling.
5. Forget an unfinished chat after (minutes) decides when a customer who stopped half-way starts afresh.

Add the conversation

1. Click Send buttons in the list on the left (or drag it onto the canvas).
2. On the right, write the Message, such as "Welcome to Sunrise Interiors. How can we help?", and give the buttons titles: "Prices", "Book a visit", "Talk to us".
3. Drag from the dot under On message to the new block to connect them.
4. Add a Send media block with your price list, and connect the Prices dot to it.
5. Add Ask a question: "Which day suits you?", with Keep the answer as day. Connect Book a visit to it.
6. Add Hand to a person, and connect Talk to us to it. Under Then, choose Assign whoever has the fewest open chats, Assign a particular person or Just stop the bot.

A block with nothing after it ends the bot. To remove a block or a line, select it and press Delete.

Use an answer you kept in later messages by typing it in double braces, such as {{day}}.

Switch it on

1. Click Save to keep a draft.
2. Turn on Live. The bot answers on the chosen numbers straight away.

If something is missing, such as an empty message or a block not connected to anything, the app says how many things to fix and selects the first one. Changes to a live bot reach customers when you click Save.

Automations still run alongside a bot, so avoid giving both the same keywords. See Who answers first.