Chatbot Settings and Advanced Triggers


This article focuses on the Triggers tab of the Bot Settings page where you can control when your bot pops up on your website, e.g., on particular days, for first time visitors only, etc.  

Let's get started.  Click on the New Bot in the Bot dashboard, accessible by clicking on the bot icon in the navigation bar on the left side of the screen.  Alternatively, in bot build mode, click on the Bot Settings button in bot build mode.  

Click on the New Bot or Bot Settings button will open the Bot Settings page, which includes 6 tabs:

  1. General
  2. Style
  3. Triggers (this guide)
  4. Advanced (including Language and Notifications and Retention)
  5. Google Analytics (currently not available)

Note under the General tab what you have selected for "Select how the bot runs".   Options in the various Bot Settings tabs will vary depending on whether you choose to build a popup chatbot ("Pops up under certain conditions") versus an embedded chatbot widget ("Remains on your site at all times") under the General tab.  As detailed more fully in this section below, a popup chatbot is intended to appear at just the right time and place on your website based on triggers you choose.  In contrast, an embeddable chatbot widget is intended to permanently reside as a tab, button, or bubble on your website, e.g., as a "Click here for help" tab (with the option of expanding upon a subset of triggers to draw attention but always remaining visible in minimized tab form).

Section A below covers triggers for bots that automatically pop up on your site. 

Section B covers triggers for bots that appear on your site only upon click of a tab, button or bubble that is embedded on your site.  

  • A. TRIGGERS TAB - Options Available for Popup Chatbot

The screenshots below assume you are building a popup chatbot and have chosen this option in the General tab.  Taking the fields in order from top to bottom:

  

MOBILE

This field allows you to hide Gobot on mobile devices.

ON COMPLETION

This field allows you to choose what happens to the Gobot message window when the Gobot conversation is closed, i.e., "x"ed out, by your visitor. You have the option of minimizing Gobot (only showing the Gobot icon) or completely hiding the Gobot message window.

The next field in this section allows for the triggering of a second bot.  Upon close of your bot by a website visitor you have the option of triggering another one of your bots with or without a time delay. Use the toggle button on the left to turn this option on and off.

DATE AND TIME

In this field you can choose exactly when your bot runs, e.g., date or hour range, etc. Use the toggle button on the left to turn this option on and off. This feature is great to run, e.g., holiday, time sensitive, or time limited, promotions with your bots.

SITE VISITOR TRIGGERS

In this section's first field "Don't show this chatbot to the same visitor again until this amount of time has passed ____", indicate how much time you want between bot appearances on this site.

In the next field you can selectively display the bot to only visitors located in particular geographies or exclude these visitors.  This may be helpful, for example, if you are using a bot scripted in a particular language and tailored for a particular audience or to accommodate different privacy regimes.

In the next field "Run bot if user spends X amount of time on site___", you can set a single trigger: time on site. Here you can choose how much time must elapse before your bot appears on your chosen site. It often makes good sense to give a website visitor some time to digest your website information before displaying your bot.

CART RELATED TRIGGERS

You can use Gobot's cart related triggers to reduce the incidence of abandoned cart.  Click here to learn more.


PRO TRIGGERS


Choose one or more of the four advanced triggers listed (or none of them, your call). You can use the toggle button on the left to turn these triggers on and off.

Visitor is referred from a specific URL: If this button is on, your bot will only appear if your website visitor is referred from the particular URL listed. This feature is really useful to target visitors that are brought to your website, e.g., by a particular promotion you are running on another site.

The user's cursor leaves the browser window: If this button is on, your bot will only appear as your website visitor's cursor leaves the browser window. This feature is useful to target and reengage website visitors that are about to leave your website.

Only show to: If this button is on, your bot will only appear for first time visitors or repeat visitors to your website (depending on which option is chosen from the pull down menu). Some of your bots may only make sense for first time visitors, e.g., a bot that introduces certain features of your site. Other bots may only make sense for repeat visitors, e.g., a bot that presents a coupon to loyal repeat customers, etc.

Visitor scrolls down a percentage of the page: If this button is on, your bot will only appear as your website visitor scrolls down to a particular part of your website. The distance down the page your bot will appear will depend on the percentage included in this field. This feature allows you to tie your bot's appearance to where on the page your website visitor, and allows for a more contextual bot engagement.

After selectively filling out the Advanced triggers tab section of the Bot Setup page click Save and Continue to go back to Gobot's bot builder mode, where you can proceed to script, test, and publish your bot.


  • B. ADVANCED TAB - Options Available for Embedded Chatbot Widget

This section takes you through the Triggers tab options assuming you chose an embedded chatbot widget on the General tab (option: "Remains on your site at all times"). The embedded widget resides permanently on your site waiting patiently to be manually clicked by your visitors (in contrast to your popup chatbots that appear on your site at just the right time and place based on your chosen triggers shown above). You may want to make such an embedded chatbot widget available on your site so that visitors, for example, can seek self-help by searching your frequently asked question knowledge base or easily request live support. As the embedded chatbot widget is intended to appear as a tab on your site at all times you may be curious as to why the Advanced tab includes any popup triggers at all. This is because we have found that it is useful to sometimes remind your visitors of the presence of your embedded chatbot widget - you don't want it turning into a wallflower! Rather than suddenly appearing on your screen like a popup chatbot, however, the trigger is used to automatically open or expand the already present embedded chatbot widget tab so as to gently remind your visitor of its presence and availability on your site. 

In the first field you can disable your bot for mobile.  In the rest of the fields, triggers based on time on page, based on cursor exiting page, based on cursor scroll, and based on geography are the only triggers available for your embedded chatbot widget in the Advanced tab. You can choose one or a combination of these triggers for your embedded chatbot widget. Use them strategically to get your embedded chatbot widget the attention it so deserves!


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  2. Getting Started
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