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You can build a bot without requiring custom development using 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:


TABLE OF CONTENTS


Creating a new bot

  • When you log in to your Freshchat account and click on the Chatbots icon in the menu, you’ll see a list of all your bots configured in your account. If this is the first time you're creating a bot, click New Bot > Give your bot a name > Choose the primary language > Choose the messaging channels on which you want to deploy your bot 

  • You can also create a new bot by cloning an existing, published bot by clicking on the clone option that appears when you click on the three dots of any published bot.


  • The bot gets created, and you will be redirected to the Answers module (if you picked Answers) or the default Hello flow (if you selected Flows). In this article, let’s look at setting up your first bot with Flows. Learn more about setting up Answers.


Creating new flows

  • You can create new flows by clicking on the New flow button from the menu. You can also create a new flow from an existing flow using the Insert icon > Dialogs > New flow. You can also create a new flow by cloning a flow using the clone button that appears when you hover over an existing flow. Learn more about setting up dialogs here. 




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 the carousel input type, you can trigger actions corresponding to received responses. Please note that you will only find elements that are compatible with the messaging channel you choose in step 1.




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.


  • You can also execute actions with the bot. The Actions feature in the flow will allow you to execute some events based on your requirements. We have divided them into groups based on their behavior:
    • Dynamic actions: Trigger API, Trigger JS function, Set property, Transfer to Answers
    • Agent handover: Transfer to Agent
    • Conversation actions: Start new conversation, Stop conversation, Resolve conversation
    • Widget actions: Open URL, Auto-open chat widget, Show proactive message, Event on widget open, Add a delay in response, Hide widget, Minimize widget, Send private customer message

      Learn more about the Actions here.


Previewing the bot

  • Upon completing your bot’s configuration, you can click on the Preview button on the top right to preview the bot you’ve built. You can also visualize the connections between the different flows with the Holistic view button on the bottom left.


Quick actions

  • Under Flows > Configure > Quick actions, you can provide an option to redirect customers to any dialog (previous or next), bypassing the intermediary dialogs. Learn more about quick actions here.

    This can be
    • A button: which you can enable in individual dialogs, or
    • A widget menu: available anywhere in a flow, and
    • Slash commands: only with text fields



Deploying the bot


Analyzing the bot behavior

  • Creating your bot doesn't stop with getting your bot out to meet your customers. It also means you should be able to get feedback on your bot's performance and tweak it to achieve optimal customer service. You can use a variety of reports we offer out of the box, or you can create your own reports as well. Learn more about bot analytics here.