Chatbot Fundamentals

Design and customize your chatbot using the AiInbox Chatbot Builder.

AiInbox Chatbot Interface

The Chatbot Builder is the core of our app, allowing you to design and personalize your chatbot to elevate conversations. Let’s explore the interface in detail.

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1. ‘+’ (Zoom In): Zoom in to focus on specific details or elements within the content. Ideal for situations requiring a closer look at on-screen content.

2. ‘-’ (Zoom Out): Zoom out to gain a broader view of the content. Perfect for getting an overview of the entire canvas or larger sections of information.

3. ‘[ ]’ (Fit to Screen View): Adjust the view to fit the entire content on the screen. Convenient for quickly viewing the entire canvas or content without manually changing the zoom level.

Start Block

The Start Block is the starting point of a bot, initiating the process. It triggers various actions or events within the bot. You can connect the cards in two ways:

1- Select a Chatbot Card from the drawer, configure it, and then link the Start Block to the card.

2- Click the ’+’ on the Start Block to open the bot drawer, then search for or select the desired card. Once selected, it will be connected, and you can proceed to configure the bot card.

Chatbot Card Library

It holds all the blocks available for building your bot. To toggle the visibility of the Side panel, simply click on this arrow: >>

The Side panel features 3 categories: Send Text, Ask Questions, and Connections. To quickly select a card or node, just start typing its name, and it will appear:

How to Rename a Node

This feature allows you to rename your bot cards or nodes, helping to make the bot more organized and easier to manage. You can assign custom names up to 32 characters by using the familiar edit icon. These names will be displayed in the Canvas, node editing mode, and bot session logs.

What Does a Variable Mean?

In AiInbox, a variable is like a digital container where we store your customers’ responses to your questions. Think of it as a labeled box used to hold various types of information.

For instance, when you ask a question in the bot and someone provides an answer, that response is stored in a variable.

Here are a few examples of how you can utilize variables in your AiInbox chatbot:

• Save the customer’s name to address them personally.
• Store the customer’s email address to send a confirmation email after the conversation.
• Keep track of the customer’s interests to recommend products or services they may like.

Available Variable Formats in AiInbox

Variables come in various formats, depending on the type of information they store. Here are some of the formats:

• String (Text): The most versatile type, used for storing text, numbers, emojis, hyperlinks, and more.

• Number: Designed specifically for numerical values, without symbols or letters.

• Date: Perfect for storing date information within variables.

• Array: A more advanced feature for developers, allowing the storage of multiple elements of the same data type, such as strings or numbers.

• Object: A complex container used to hold structured data with multiple pieces of information.

• Boolean: This type can’t store variables but is used in Condition blocks to determine if agents are online.

How to Create Variables

The value of a variable changes depending on the responses provided by users or the choices made within the bot.

To create a variable within a card in AiInbox:

1. Select a card and scroll down to the “Store response in the variable” section.

2. Give the variable a name of your choice, keeping in mind it should start with a letter and can only contain underscores (_) as special characters.

3. Click on “Create” to save it.

Example

If you’ve asked your customer for their name, you can save it in a variable called “name.”

In the Ask Text Card, scroll to the “Store response in the variable” field, enter the variable name, and click “Create.”

How to Delete Variables

To delete a variable within a card in AiInbox:

1. Select a card and scroll down to the “Store response in the variable” field.

2. Hover over the delete button next to the variable you want to remove.

3. Confirm your choice by clicking “Delete” in the pop-up message.

Card Validation Settings

Validation settings are essential for maintaining the accuracy of data collected in a Chatbot. They define how the AiInbox Chatbot processes user input and handles different scenarios during interactions.

Essential Validation Settings

1. Attempts: Defines the number of tries a user has to provide valid input.

2. Validation Error Message: An optional field for adding a custom error message to be shown when user input does not meet the validation criteria.

Extra Validation Settings

1. Minimum Range: Defines the lowest numeric value that is considered valid.

2. Maximum Range: Defines the highest numeric value that is considered valid.

3. Regex (Regular Expression): Regex is a method for defining text patterns using special characters to match specific sequences in text.

For instance, the regular expression \d{10} matches any phone number consisting of 10 digits.

The \d character matches any digit, while the {10} indicates that the preceding character should be matched exactly 10 times.

Below are some examples of regex patterns:

1. \d{3}-\d{3}-\d{4} matches any phone number in the format ###-###-####.

2. [a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-z]{2,} matches any email address in the format @.

3. ^https?:// matches any URL that starts with the http or https protocol.