FAQ and Trouble Shooting


Below are some FAQs and troubleshooting tips:

FUNCTIONALITY

  • HOW DO I BRANCH MY CHATBOT CONVERSATION?

Gobot makes it easy to take your bot conversations in different directions depending on how your visitor responds or interacts with your bot.  Use the Quick Replies button to branch your conversation.  Click here to learn more.

  • IS GOBOT GDPR COMPLIANT?

The GDPR went into force on May 25, 2018 and we are fully compliant!  Not only are we compliant, Gobot was designed to facilitate your compliance with GDPR.  You want to make sure that any software you are using to collect personal data allows you respect the privacy of your visitors or leads.  Just by way of example, Gobot allows you to set a retention period for names, email and other personal data consistent with the original purpose for which the data was collected.  Click here for more detail on GDPR.

  • HOW DO I TRANSLATE MY BOT?  IT'S IN THE WRONG LANGUAGE!

Gobot is used globally and allows you to script your bot in your language of choice.  Click here for more information.

  • CAN I USE MY BOT TO AUTOMATICALLY SEND MY WEBSITE VISITORS EMAILS?

Yes!  You can easily have your bot send your visitors email as your bot engages with them.  All you need to do is drag the Email button from the right hand palette into your bot script in the center panel in bot build mode.  You can place the Email button in the conversation exactly where you want it sent.  For example, if a visitor clicks a Quick Reply indicating he wants to subscribe to one of your lists your bot can send him or her a confirmation email right on the spot.  For more information on Gobot's email functionality, click here.  Gobot can also send email sequences!  Click here to learn more.

  • CAN I USE MY BOT TO AUTOMATICALLY BOOK MEETINGS?

Yes! You can use your chatbot to automatically book meetings and calls for you 24/7 and automatically update your calendar. Click here for more detail or here if you are using Calendly.  Click here if you want more detail as to how to set up a bot that will make sure your visitors are booked with the right person on the right team.

  • CAN I RELY ON MY BOT TO ANSWER VISITOR QUESTIONS AND REDUCE MY HELP DESK TICKET VOLUME?!

Yes!  Gobot can dramatically reduce your help desk tickets but it requires some upfront work.  First you will need to set up your Gobot knowledge base by creating articles that address common questions from your visitors.  Next, you need to add the Search Q&A functionality to your bot.  To get a feel for how it works, click Gobot's Help tab to the left and pose a question.  You will see that Gobot suggests responsive articles to address your question.  So, the bot keeps improving as you populate your Gobot knowledge base because this is where it draws its responses from.  For more information about Gobot's Search Q&A functionality click here.

  • CAN I USE GOBOT'S KNOWLEDGE BASE FUNCTIONALITY EVEN IF DON'T WANT MY BOT ANSWERING QUESTIONS?

Yes!  Gobot offers a fully featured knowledge base. While you can use your knowledge base as the source of knowledge for your bot to draw answers from, you don't have to.  If you prefer instead, you can simply link to your Gobot knowledge base from your website.  For example, you might include a "Knowledge Base" or "Need help?" button in the header or footer of your website, which upon click brings visitors to your Gobot knowledge base.  To do this all you have to do is go to your Gobot knowledge base, copy the URL, and then associate the button on your website with this URL.  For more information about Gobot's knowledge base, click here.

In addition to aggregate bot data, Gobot allows you to see individual chats your bots has engaged in. Click on the bot icon in the navigation bar, select a bot from your bot listing and click on the Chats button adjacent the bot title. This will bring you to the Chats Mode where all of your selected bots conversations will be listed in time order in the left-hand panel. Clicking on one of the conversations in the left-hand panel will open up the chat in the center panel. The right-hand panel will show details about the visitor that engaged in that chat.

  • HOW DO I SEND MY BOT RESPONSES TO MY HELP DESK?

Your bot can email visitor inquiries directly to your help desk. Alternatively, you can rely on a webhook to do this.  Click here for more detail.

  • WHAT THIRD-PARTY APPLICATIONS DOES GOBOT INTEGRATE WITH?

Gobot is integrated with a number of email marketing platforms, e.g., MailChimp, Aweber and Constant Contact, as well as with Google Analytics (coming soon). Gobot has a built-in webhook functionality that allows you to send data collected by your bot to third-party applications. One easy way to integrate with many third-party applications is to use Zapier.

  • I WOULD LIKE TO SEND AN EMAIL WITH A SPECIAL LINK THAT TRIGGERS A BOT. UPON CLICK OF THE LINK, THE EMAIL RECIPIENT IS BROUGHT TO MY WEBSITE AND A PARTICULAR BOT DESIGNED FOR LINKED VISITORS IS DISPLAYED. HOW DO I DO THIS?

This may sound complex, but it is not. The key is the URL link. You want a URL that will not only bring your email recipient to your website but also trigger a particular bot when that visitor arrives. To do this all you have to do is add some unique characters to the end of your URL and then use that URL in your Bot Setup page when you create your bot.

The first step is to create your bot. Be sure to use the following format for the URL in the Bot Setup page: http://www.mywebsite.com/#[insert some unique number or string here]. Use some unique number or string after the # in the URL - it can be anything. For example, add "/#111" at the end of your URL. Next, include a link to your URL in your email (or anywhere else) and upon click it will open your website and display the bot you chose for this linked visitor!

  • SHOULD I NOTIFY MY WEBSITE VISITORS THAT I AM USING GOBOT?

At Gobot we respect privacy and request that all our users do the same for their visitors.  We suggest you update your privacy policy to notify your website visitors that you are using Gobot.  We made it real easy for you, click here for some suggested language you can cut and paste.  Of course we cannot provide legal advice so run it by your lawyers!

  • CAN I USE GOBOT TO UPSELL OR CROSS-SELL PRODUCT ON MY STORE?

Yes!  Absolutely, use your chatbot on your product pages and/or cart to upsell or cross-sell.  For Shopify users, in particular, Gobot has made this really easy.  Leverage Gobot's deep integration with Shopify to automatically pull your Shopify products into a product carousel in your bot.  More more detail on Gobot's Shopify Product and Carousel features, click here.

  • CAN I USE GOBOT TO PROVIDE A CONVERSATIONAL COMMERCE EXPERIENCE?

Yes! You can use Gobot to engage your visitors and provide custom content tailored to what they say and do.  You can use Quick Replies to branch your conversation and provide specific and relevant content based on your visitors' responses.  As you are chatting with your visitors you can navigate to different URL and, thus, provide dynamic content that enhances the chat experience.  Click here for more information about dynamic content.  If you are using Shopify, you can import and offer your products in the chat window on the fly.  For more detail on Gobot's Shopify Product and Carousel features, click here.

TROUBLE SHOOTING

  • MY CHATBOT SCRIPT IS SO LONG THAT IT IS BECOMING HARD TO FOLLOW.

There are ways to make long scripts shorter and easier to manage and visualize.  Click here to learn more.

  • THE CHANGES I MADE TO MY BOT ARE NOT APPEARING

Give your bot a minute or two. Sometimes it takes a bit of time for your changes to get updated on the Gobot back end. You should also try clearing cookies, closing and reopening your browser window, and then running your bot again - this usually does the trick 9 out of 10 times!  Try running your bot again in Test mode and see if your bot script has been updated.

  • MY BOT IS NOT APPEARING ON MY SITE

Try clearing cookies, closing and reopening your browser window, and then running your bot again - this usually does the trick 9 out of 10 times!  Also, try loading your website in incognito mode to see if your bot runs - this avoids cookies from setting that may otherwise prevent your bot from appearing.  If you still can't get your bot to run, read on.  

It is not uncommon for users to inadvertently set multiple bot triggers that conflict. Click the Bot Setup Page and under the Advanced Tab turn off all of your triggers for now. Under the General Tab, under Select how the bot runs, click on "Resides on your site at all times" so that your bot appears upon click of a tab or button. When you test or publish your bot, look for that tab/button on the screen. If it does not appear you know something went wrong with the publication process. If the tab/button does appear, click it and your bot should run. If this works, you can go back to your settings, and choose a bot that pops up (rather than appears upon click of a tab) if you like, and carefully choose triggers that don't conflict.

  • MY BOT IS NOT SENDING EMAILS OR WEBHOOKS PROPERLY

Please note that emails and webhooks are not sent in Test Mode. You will need to publish your bot and run it on your site to test emails and webhooks. If you do not want to do that on your website, temporarily publish your bot on a non-public site for testing purposes. 

Please also note that emails sent by your bot may be sent on a delayed basis.  If your email has not been sent or received, check your email settings to see if your email was set to be sent on a delayed basis.  This may explain why your intended recipient hasn't received your bot's email yet.  To access your email settings, click on the Send Email element in your bot script in bot build mode and check the delay settings in the right-hand panel.

Bot notification emails are sent either hourly, daily or weekly depending on your setting under the Notifications tab of the Bot Settings page.  If you haven't received your notification email, check your delivery setting and make sure you have waited sufficient time for its scheduled delivery.

  • MY BOT IS OVERLAPPING OR OBSTRUCTING VISIBILITY OF ANOTHER WIDGET OR A POPUP ON MY SITE

In this case you can set your bot to appear on the opposite side of the screen. You can do this under the Style tab in the Bot Settings page or in Test mode (after clicking the Test button).  Various bot styling features can also be edited in Test mode.

Gobot is fully compatible with and will not interfere with your existing popups. With that said, Gobot is so much more engaging than your typical popup, and converts so much better, that we are hoping that you will eventually abandon your popups in favor of Gobot. Truth is that most screen jacking popups are pretty annoying! If there is any overlap with your popup, you can simply shift your popup position or adjust the positioning of your Gobot in Test mode.

  • THE TIMING OF MY CHATBOT SCRIPT ELEMENTS IS OFF

Not a  problem.  You can easily change the speed at which your bot script elements appear in the chat window by accessing the Style tab in the Bot Settings page.  See the "Adjust chat response speed" setting.  Alternatively, you can add a delay after certain individual chat bubbles, e.g., text bubbles and polls, by adjusting the pause delay in the right-hand panel for these script elements in bot build mode.  This allows you to change the speed of specific portions of your script.  For example, you might want a longer text chat bubble to linger a bit longer so your visitor has ample time to read it before the next chat bubble appears.

  • I AM NOT RECEIVING AN ALERT OR EMAIL NOTIFICATION WHEN MY BOT COLLECTS DATA OR INTERACTS WITH A VISITOR

In Bot Build Mode, click on Bot Settings and then the Notifications tab. Make sure your email notifications are set to ON.

  • HOW DO I ADJUST LINE SPACING IN MY EMAILS OR KNOWLEDGE BASE ARTICLES?

Use the text editor line spacing button.  Press Shift + Enter if you want a line break without an extra space, e.g., when typing an address or signature block.

  • HOW DO I ADJUST THE PRODUCTS IN MY SHOPIFY CAROUSEL?

Easy, but not in Gobot. As detailed here, you can use Gobot to share products on your Shopify store with your visitors.  The Product Carousel button automatically imports your Shopify store products into the Gobot chat window.  The carousel first presents product categories and then, upon selection by your vistor of a category, shows all product in the selected category. You can control the categories and the products in each category directly from your Shopify store. 

Copyright 2017-2018, Gobot LLC, All rights reserved.


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