By creating a flow for your Digital Engagement channels, you will be able to make and configure all your routing rules, from a single location.
- Creating Incoming Message Studio Flows
- Bringing Context Variables to Flows
- Creating your Studio Flow
- Studio Section
- Available Studio Components
- Autopilot Integration
- Preferences Tab
- Exits Tab
- Use Cases of Connecting Studio with Channel Touchpoints: Chat, Email and SMS
- Troubleshooting
- Additional Resources
Creating Incoming Message Studio Flows
The new “Incoming Message” trigger allows you to create flows that begin when the contact sends a new message through one of the following channels:
- SMS.
- Email.
- Chat.
- Social Messaging.
- Digital Connect channels.
The same Studio flow can be used by all messaging channels.
Decide the recipient of the conversation and what should happen if there are no Agents available at that time so that no message goes unanswered.
Bringing Context Variables to Flows
The “Incoming Message” trigger type allows you to bring context coming from Chat, SMS, and Email.
- For Chat, you can import information about the website URL, the visitor’s name, Email address, and the issue for the contact, among others.
- For Email, you can route based on subject, CC emails, or FROM and destination emails.
- SMS allows you to route based on the phone number selected.
Note: The following features are not available, at this time:
- Send attachments and/or images in Automated Messages.
- Change the text format for Automated Messages.
- More flexibility in Studio:
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- Bring connections and functions.
- Automated Message naming.
- Ability to show the estimated waiting time on the chat.
- Routing to specific Agents or attributes.
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Creating your Studio Flow
Studio Section
After Talkdesk Digital Engagement is activated in your account, you will be able to create “Incoming Message” studio flows. All created “Incoming Message” flows will be listed on the Studio page. There is no maximum limit for how many Studio flows you can create.
For detailed steps on how to create your Studio flow, please visit this section of our Knowledge Base.
Studio Arguments
Studio arguments are composed of the information that can be brought from the initial screen on the chat widget. If you request the visitors’ phone number on the initial screen, that argument can be added to the Studio flow and map it to a variable. That variable can then be used during the flow.
Argument Name
In the argument’s “Name” [1] field, copy the value that shows up on the Studio Argument’s “Appearance” tab.
Variables’ Name
On the variable name, the following naming should be applied:
- field_name1 > contact_name
- field_number1 > contact_number
- field_email1 > contact_email
For any other argument, any other variable name can be applied.
Manage Context
Here, you can define the context that appears to Agents. By selecting “contact name” [1], Agents will see the visitor’s selected name, instead of the number. By selecting “contact number” [2], the Agent can directly call the visitor (by using the Click-to-Call feature) if the contact number is provided.
Available Studio Components
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Component Name |
Description |
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Incoming message (Initial Step) |
The first step for any “Incoming message” Studio flow. It will feature:
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Direct a messaging conversation to one of several exits. Each exit has its own condition(s). |
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You can define holidays, route calls accordingly, and also select a specific routing for the days when the expected number of calls differs significantly (e.g., Black Friday). |
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Define the time-based rules to allow routing according to time ranges or to any day(s) of the week. |
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This component enables you to split your incoming message conversation into routes of your choice |
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Choose how to assign Agents or ring groups to a given interaction and how the dialing process should take place. |
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Write a message to be automatically displayed to the website visitor on the widget |
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Send the conversation directly to the Inbox of the selected Queues. “Send to Inbox” can be used to guarantee that no conversation gets lost if no Agents are available at that time. |
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The function of this component is to terminate the flow execution. |
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Define which Queue(s) should be considered in Reporting |
“Assign Agents to Message” Component
Similar to the “Assign and dial” component, on “Assign agents to message” you can decide how to assign Agents or ring groups to a given conversation.
Preferences Tab
In the “Offer type” section, you can select if the conversation is to be auto accepted [1] (goes directly to the Agent’s “Assigned to you” tab, if the Agent is available) or manually accepted [2] (Agent sees an offer screen and decides to accept or reject the conversation).
In “Assignment Parameters” you can choose the list of ring groups/queues [3] to offer the conversation to or search/select ring groups [4] through variables.
Below, select the statuses of the Agents, which can be:
- “Only available” [5].
- “Consider any status” [6].
In “Priority” [7], define the priority of this component, when compared to the other “Assign agents to message” components you have already configured.
You can also set the “Maximum waiting time” (in seconds) [8] for the system to offer the incoming message to an Agent.
Note: If the threshold is reached, the conversation will need to be routed to another component.
Exits Tab
The “Assign agents to message” component determines the assignment of Agents to specific message exits.
- “No match found”: Select the list of ring groups to offer the incoming conversation to.
- “Chat Started”: To determine what happens once the conversation is assigned to an agent.
- “Maximum waiting time reached”: Decide how important the component you are configuring is, in regard to other configured components.
- “No answer”: The time threshold to find at least one available Agent. If the threshold is reached, the incoming conversation needs to be routed to another component.
- “Error handling”: Decide what happens if the component experiences an unexpected failure.
Note: For more information on this section, please refer to the "Error handling" documentation.
“Automated Message” Component
This component allows you to leave an automated message for the Contact Person at any point of the Studio flow. You can send an automated message after checking if you are out of business hours, after trying to assign to an Agent, and checking the page where the visitor is, among other scenarios.
The “Compose message” field is where you can type the message to be shown in the conversation.
The image above is an example of how a message appears on the contact person’s side. Once the visitor sends a first message on the widget, the automated message appears.
Send to Inbox Component
This component will allow you to send the conversation directly to the Inbox of the selected Queues. “Send to Inbox” can be used in order to guarantee that no conversation gets lost, if no Agents are available to accept the conversation at that time.
Note: The “Send to Inbox” component was added to Studio, specifically to enable Agents to receive messages directly from Inbox and ensure that there are no lost or unanswered conversations.
Reporting Component
This component will allow you to define which Queue(s) should be considered in Reporting.
Note: This component was only available for the Voice channel and is now also available for Digital channels.
Autopilot Integration
The Autopilot component allows Administrators to make use of an Autopilot to assist and fully handle customer interactions via Chat. This component needs to be selected and configured like other components.
Note: This component can only be used for Chat, SMS, Whatsapp and Digital Connect. It is still not available for other digital channels. For more information, please refer to the Studio Guide.
Preferences Tab
- “Profiles”: Here you can select the specific Autopilot that you would like to use.
- “Are Agents Available”: You can pass contextual business hours' information to the Autopilot and establish whether an escalation to an Agent is available or not.
- “Variables”: Studio can receive information from the Autopilot once an escalation is made. You can define this information in the “Variables“ section.
Exits Tab
- “Successful Exit”: Define where the Studio flow continues, after Autopilot successfully interacts with the visitor.
- “Escalation Exit”: If the Autopilot cannot solve the customer's issue, it can escalate the conversation to an Agent.
- “Error”: In the case of an error within the Autopilot itself, an error exit can be defined.
- “Error handling”: If there is an error related to the Studio component, an exit option can be defined. By default, it uses the one selected in the “Error” section. But another exit can be defined.
The image below is an example of the Autopilot interacting with a customer in the Chat widget
Use Cases of Connecting Studio with Channel Touchpoints: Chat, Email and SMS
For Chat
Within the Chat channel’s page, click the Edit button to access the “Edit Mode” tab.
Here, you can configure the chat touchpoint and are able to switch the Studio flow as many times as you want, without having to change the website’s snippet.
Note: When changing the “Domain” [1] field, we recommend copying the chat snippet onto your website again.
You’ll also find the link to Configure a Studio flow [2]. Follow this link to open Studio and create a Message Studio flow. The “Studio flow” [3] dropdown features all the published Incoming Message studio flows on your account. Select the one that you want to associate with the defined touchpoint.
For Email
On the Channels app, click Email channel > Edit to connect the Studio flow to an email touchpoint. Here you can configure your Email touchpoint and define the “Routing type” [1].
The “Connect Studio flow” [2] dropdown features all the published incoming Message studio flows on your account. Select the one that you want to associate with the defined touchpoint. Below is the link to create a Studio flow [3]. Follow this link to open Studio and create a Message Studio flow.
For SMS
On the Channels app, click SMS > Edit. Here is where you can configure your Email touchpoint and define the “Routing type” [1], in the dropdown menu.
The “Connected Studio flow” [2] dropdown features all the published incoming Message studio flows on your account. Select the one that you want to associate with the defined touchpoint.
Below is the link to create a Studio flow. Follow this link to open Studio and create a Message Studio flow.
Agent Capacity
All conversations that come through the Incoming Message Studio flows will have a certain cost associated with them. At this time, all Agents have a Capacity of 100 points. Each incoming message that the Agent accepts, or that is directly assigned from the Incoming Message flows, will reduce this total Capacity.
Each channel will have different costs by default (which can be configured in the Channels application):
For example, if the Agent receives 1 voice call, he/she can still receive another Chat (51+30=81) and still have 19 remaining points of Capacity. More SMS or Emails can be received with these available points, but not another Chat.
The Agent can still initiate outbound conversations or assign new conversations from the Inbox, since these actions do not cost any points, at this time.
Note: Agent Capacity is only available for the Push model (offer screen or direct assign coming from an Incoming Message flow). Wherever the Agent sends a conversation back to the queue or transfers it to another queue, the conversation will be converted into Pull Model, and therefore it will lose the original cost.
Use Case of an Incoming Message Studio Flow for Chat Channel
- Initial Step [1]: Flow begins when the visitor sends a first message on the widget.
- Calendar Based Rules [2]: After the visitor’s initial message, the flow will check if the day is signaled as a holiday. If so, it will send an automated message informing that no Agents are available due to the holiday. Otherwise, the flow will check for time-based rules.
- Time Based Rules [3]: After checking if it’s a holiday, the flow will verify if it is inside business hours with the “Time Based Rules” component. When it is outside business hours, the flow will go to the “Automated message”.
- Conditional Statement [4]: When the “Assign agents to message” component matches with an Agent, the flow will go to a Conditional Statement. Here, it will verify the website URL of the page where the visitor is:
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- If the visitor is on the home page, the following automated message will be sent: “Welcome to our website, an Agent will reply to you shortly”.
- In case the visitor is on the feature page, the following automated message will be sent: “Welcome to our feature page! Would you like to know more about any particular feature? An Agent will reply to you shortly”.
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- Assign agents to message [5]: When a chat message arrives within business hours and not on a holiday, the flow will point to the “Assign agents to message” component. It will attempt to match with a ring group, and in case it can find an Agent, it will go to a Conditional Statement. If no Agent is matched, it will go to an automated message informing that no Agents are currently available.
Troubleshooting
What to do in case of an outage?
We recommend our customers to manually change to Basic Routing (Queue/Pull Model) when there is an outage on Advanced Routing (Studio/Workflow).
What if I want to use only one Studio flow for all digital conversations, but I want to use Autopilot for Chat?
You can duplicate the flow (one with the VA component and another without the VA component) or use a conditional statement within the flow. With the conditional statement, you can go to different branches based on the channel.
Additional Resources