Welcome to the Conversation Builder!
Ready to create your first bot? Let’s dive in. Conversation Builder is your toolkit for crafting engaging, interactive conversations with your customers. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or new to the world of bots, this guide will get you up and running.
What is Conversation Builder?
Conversation Builder is a visual interface that lets you design conversational flows without writing complex code. Imagine building your bot with drag-and-drop components. That's Conversation Builder.
Key Building Blocks
To create a bot, you'll primarily work with these elements:
- Intents: What does the user want? For example, "order pizza," "check order status."
- Entities: Specific details within an intent, like pizza size, order number.
- Dialogs: The conversation flow based on user input and intents.
- Responses: What your bot says, from simple text to rich media like images.
Let’s Build a Bot!
1. Define Your Bot’s Purpose:
- What problem does it solve?
- Who are you talking to?
- What kind of conversation do you want to have?
2. Create Basic Intents and Entities:Start simple. Let’s say you’re building a pizza order bot.
- Intents: "order pizza," "check order status."
- Entities: "pizza size," "pizza toppings."
3. Design a Simple Dialog:
- Create a dialog for the "order pizza" intent.
- Start with a welcome message.
- Ask for pizza size.
- Offer topping choices.
- Confirm the order.
4. Create Engaging Responses:
- Write clear, concise responses.
- Use a friendly, conversational tone.
- Consider adding images or buttons for a richer experience.
5. Test Your Bot:
- Try different user inputs.
- Check if your bot understands and responds correctly.
- Identify areas for improvement.
Tips for Success
a. Start small: Build on your bot gradually.
b. Use natural language: Make your bot sound human.
c. Handle errors gracefully: Provide helpful responses for unexpected input.
d. Test relentlessly: User feedback is gold.
Next Steps
Now let's use this knowledge to build a basic bot. This guide will walk you through the steps to create a simple bot that responds with "Hello World".
To build the bot:
Log in to your Conversational Cloud account and navigate to Automate > Conversation Builder.
The Conversation Builder appears.
Click New Bot. The Choose a Bot Template window appears.
Select Custom > Custom Bot. The Bot details page appears.
Provide the following information:
1. Name: Input the name for your bot into the field.
2. Description: Input information describing your bot.
3. Channel Type: Select the messaging option.
4. Small Talk: Select to turn on/off the small talk option.
Small Talk provides a human-like experience by providing chitchat, pleasantries, and other trivial conversation.
5. Bot Language: Select the language you require the bot to use from the dropdown menu.
6. Bot Group: Select a bot group if required, from the dropdown menu.
Bot Group is a collection of bots that can be grouped together for easier management and organization on the Bots dashboard.
Once done click Create Bot. The Bot Dialog page appears.
Under the text_message window the Bot's first message is displayed.
Replace the text here to "Hello World". Once done click the tick mark to save the interaction.
Once the interaction is saved, click Preview. The bot appears.
Congratulations, you've taken your first steps! You have successfully created a Hello World Bot using Conversational Builder.
You can now further customize and enhance your bot's functionality to suit your specific needs.
Ready to move on to operations consideration? Click here to proceed further.
