Imagine walking into your favourite coffee shop, and before you even place your order, the waiter asks, "Would you like your usual?" That small gesture makes you feel recognized and valued, strengthening your connection with the place. Now, what if your chatbot could create that same personalized experience for your visitors?
With the Criteria Router card, you can dynamically tailor your chatbot’s behaviour based on visitor attributes, without writing a single line of code. Adjust the bot’s flow based on factors like visitor type, CRM details, lead score, or real-time responses to create smarter, more relevant interactions that make every conversation meaningful.
Say "Welcome back" to returning visitors
Instead of using a common greeting, your bot can identify returning visitors and greet them accordingly:
For new visitors: "Good morning! Welcome to Zylker 👋"
For returning visitors: "Good morning! Welcome back, <visitor name> 👋"
By personalizing interactions, you create a near human experience, increasing engagement and customer satisfaction.
How can your business benefit from this?
- Enhance Customer Experience: Personalization makes interactions feel natural and engaging.
- Prioritize VIP Customers & Leads: Ensure high-value visitors get the best support.
- Optimize ChatGPT Assistant Usage: Control access to premium AI responses, reducing unnecessary API calls.
Use cases for the Criteria Router
1. Prioritizing High-Value Leads
Use Lead Score, CRM Tags, or Visitor Stage to route/transfer potentials directly to experienced sales reps, increasing conversion rates.
2. VIP Customer Support
Identify VIP customers via CRM data or tags and route/transfer their requests to senior support reps for immediate resolution.
3. Recognizing & Greeting Returning Visitors
Detect returning visitors using Visitor type and customize greetings accordingly.
Pro Tip: Use "Good %smart.timenow%" context variable to personalize greetings further based on the time of day (Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and Night). =4. Contextual Support Based on Page Visits
Customize chatbot behaviour based on the visitor's current page. For example, visitors on the support or about page can receive an enhanced support experience, including AI-powered assistance or ticket creation.
5. Campaign-Based Chatbot Flows
If visitors land on your website via a specific marketing campaign, tailor chatbot responses to align with that campaign, ensuring a seamless experience.

6. Flow Customization Based on Visitor Input
When using the Input Card to capture visitor responses, you can split the bot flow based on their answer. For example, if you collect feedback via a Ratings Card, store the visitor's response in a bot context variable. Then, use the Criteria Router to customize the bot's response based on the rating received. High ratings can trigger a request for a testimonial, while low ratings can prompt an immediate support escalation, ensuring a proactive customer experience.'
ChatGPT Assistant Pro Tip:
We know that the ChatGPT Assistant is a paid service that charges per API call. To manage its usage effectively, you can use the Criteria Router.
Instead of enabling it for all visitors, analyze the most common inquiries you get for your business, whether sales or support-related. If most are support queries, provide the assistant's expertise only for existing customers for enhanced support. For sales-related queries, get the visitor's requirement and create a support ticket in the desk or schedule an appointment instead, ensuring optimized usage and cost management.
Testing the Criteria Router
To test the Criteria Router, click on Test Your Bot, then select Edit Visitor Info below the bot's display picture and fill in the details based on the card you're testing. For example, if you want to test whether the bot flow changes when a visitor lands on the Contact Us page, search for Landing Page and enter your Contact Us page URL. Then, restart the bot flow to see if the bot responds accordingly.
You can use this method to test different use cases and visitor personas, ensuring your bot behaves as expected in various scenarios.
FAQs
1. Can I add multiple rules to the Criteria Router?
Yes, you can combine multiple rules using AND & OR conditions to fine-tune chatbot behaviour.
2. Can I track which flow is used most often?
Yes! Use Flow Stats to track and analyze chatbot interactions.
3. Can I create different bot flows based on visitor location?
Absolutely! Use the Country/Region filter to customize responses for different geographic locations.
4. Can I differentiate between WhatsApp and website visitors?
Yes! Use the Channel filter to create distinct chatbot experiences for website, WhatsApp, and other platforms.
Recent Topics
Domain restriction for User Management actions in Zoho One
Greetings, Zoho One Admins! To strengthen account security further and safeguard user management settings, we are imposing domain-based restrictions for user account-focused admin actions in Zoho One. In addition to password reset of user, organization
Zoho Mail iOS app update: Signature
Hello everyone! In the latest version(3.1.7) of the Zoho Mail app update, we have brought in support to create, edit and remove signature within the app. You can create signature from the compose screen as well as from within the Settings module(inside
Copy paste from word document deletes random spaces
Hello Dear Zoho Team, When copying from a word document into Notebook, often I face a problem of the program deleting random spaces between words, the document become terribly faulty, eventhough it is perfect in its original source document (and without
Desktop app doesn't support notecards created on Android
Hi, Does anybody have same problem? Some of last notecards created on Android app (v. 6.6) doesn't show in desktop app (v. 3.5.5). I see these note cards but whith they appear with exclamation mark in yellow triangle (see screenshot) and when I try to
Approval Button in Subform
Hi Team, I’m working on a subform-based requirement where users will submit requests, and these requests must go through approval by multiple team managers. Each line item in the subform needs to be individually approved or declined based on the user's
Reporting Limitation on Lead–Product Relation in Zoho CRM
I noticed that Zoho CRM has a default Products related list under Leads. However, when I try to create a report for Lead–Product association, I’m facing some limitations. To fix this, I’m considering adding a multi-lookup field along with a custom related
Setting checkbox value on template in Sign from Creator
Good day, Please help me understand how do I set a tick from a checkbox in Creator into a checkbox on a Sign template. Below is the only values on the Sign template and the code from Creator, "field_boolean_data": {}, "field_date_data": {}, "field_radio_data":
Zoho Projects - Unread Comment Icon
Hi Projects Team, It would be great if there was a notification I con on the comments icon so it's easy to see which tasks have new comments. Something like a red circle with a number of unread comments would be great. Thanks for considering my feed
Zoho Projects - Update Feed via API
Hi Projects Team, Please consider adding an API to allow update and retrieval of messages to the Feed. Thank you
Automated log-out/session end
I'm concerned about security of our data. Is it possible to set an automatic time-out for user sessions on Zoho CRM, after a certain period of inactivity or when the session reaches a certain duration (12 hours perhaps)?
Subform auto populate values
Hi Team, I’m trying to retrieve values from Zoho People using API functions and dynamically populate them into a subform. For example, I’ve created a form with several fields that users will fill out. Based on their input, I need to fetch records from
What is New in CRM Functions?
What is New in CRM Functions? Hello everyone! We're delighted to share that Functions in Zoho CRM have had a few upgrades that would happen in phases. Phase 1 An all new built-in editor for better user experience and ease of use. ETA: In a couple of days.
Gantt Chart - Zoho Analytics
Are there any plans to add Gantt Charts capabilities to Zoho Analytics?
WhatsApp Calling Integration via Zoho Desk
Dear Zoho Desk Team, I would like to request a feature that allows users to call WhatsApp numbers directly via Zoho Desk. This integration would enable sending and receiving calls to and from WhatsApp numbers over the internet, without the need for traditional
Request for Auto PO - Min–Max based Automated Purchase Feature
Dear Zoho POS Team, I’m writing to request a feature enhancement that would significantly streamline inventory management for businesses using Zoho POS — particularly supermarkets, FMCG retail, and multi-store operations like ours. Feature Requested:
Identify long running sync jobs/tables
My sync process causes strain on my production database and I'd love some tools/alerts to help me identify which tables are taking the longest. The current screen only shows 3 tables at a time and truncates the last fetch time so that it is very cumbersome
Zoho Analytics Regex Support
When can we expect full regex support in Zoho Analytics SQL such as REGEXP_REPLACE? Sometimes I need to clean the data and using regex functions is the easiest way to achieve this.
Automatically CC an address using Zoho CRM Email Templates
Hi all - have searched but can't see a definitive answer. We have built multiple email templates in CRM. Every time we send this we want it to CC a particular address (the same address for every email sent) so that it populates the reply back into our
Solution to Import PST File into Office 365.
MailsDaddy OST to Office 365 Migration Tool is an outstanding solution to recover OST files and migrate them into Office 365 without any hassle. Using this software users can multiple OST files into Office 365 with complete data security. It offers users
Series Label in the Legend
My legend reads 'Series 1' and 'Series 2'. From everything I read online, Zoho is supposed to change the data names if it's formatted correctly. I have the proper labels on the top of the columns and the right range selected. I assume it's something in
Associate emails from both primary and secondary contacts to deal
We need to associate emails from multiple contacts to a deal. Please advise how this can be achieved. At present, only emails from primary contacts can be associated. Thanks
New integration: Zoho Sign for Zoho Projects
Hey there! We’re excited to announce the brand-new Zoho Sign integration for Zoho Projects! With this integration, users can now send documents for signatures, track their progress, and manage approvals—all without leaving Zoho Projects. This bridges
Update to attachment display in ticket threads
This enhancement will provide faster access for support teams and end-users, significantly boosting productivity for everyone. Get ready for a more efficient and satisfying experience! Immediate benefits Faster ticket rendering reduces wait times and
Narrative 15: Blueprint - Automate, guide, and transform your support processes
Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series Narrative 15: Blueprint - Automate, guide, and transform your support processes Even organizations that deliver quality products and services can face low customer satisfaction when their
Different MRP / Pricing for same product but different batches
We often face the following situations where MRP of a particular product changes on every purchase and hence we have to charge the customer accordingly. This can't be solved by Batch tracking as of now so far as I understand Zoho. How do you manage it as of now?
Batch/lot # and Storage bin location
Hi I want to ask for a feature on Zoho inventory I own a warehouse and I've gone through different management software solutions with no luck until I found Zoho, it has been a game changer for my business with up to the minute information, I'm extremely happy with it. It's almost perfect. And I say Almost because the only thing missing for me (and I'm sure I'm not alone) is the need of being able to identify the lot number of my inventory and where it is located in the warehouse. Due to the nature
ZOHO BOOKS - RECEIVING MORE ITEMS THAN ORDERED
Hello, When trying to enter a vendor's bill that contains items with bigger quantity than ordered in the PO (it happens quite often) - The system would not let us save the bill and show this error: "Quantity recorded cannot be more than quantity ordered."
Good news! Calendar in Zoho CRM gets a face lift
Dear Customers, We are delighted to unveil the revamped calendar UI in Zoho CRM. With a complete visual overhaul aligned with CRM for Everyone, the calendar now offers a more intuitive and flexible scheduling experience. What’s new? Distinguish activities
Sync desktop folders instantly with WorkDrive TrueSync (Beta)
Keeping your important files backed up and accessible has never been easier! With WorkDrive desktop app (TrueSync), you can now automatically sync specific desktop folders to WorkDrive Web, ensuring seamless, real-time updates across devices. Important:
Writer update results in BitDefender blocking it as malware
After updating Writer to latest update, Bitdefender blocked the app and writer no longer runs.
Zoho Books - New Interface keep details with PDF View
Hello, The Zoho Books Interface has changed for estimates etc... One thing is causing issues though. Before the change, in PDF view you could see the detail information including custom fields entered for the estimate. Now, you have to switch between
Zoho One Unified Portal - Applications
Hello, It is great to see the work on the New Unified Customer Portal. Thanks for that. The number of applications is limited though. It is now only around the Zoho Books ecosystem (Books, Expense...) and Zoho Social. = Are other applications planned
Refresh frequency
Dear Zoho Team, I really, truly appreciate that Zoho Books gets frequent updates. As a matter of fact this is how a good SaaS company should stay on top. However, I feel that I have to hit refresh almost every day. This was exciting at the beginning but
Refund
My plan expired today, and I updated my payment details with a new credit card. At the same time, I wanted to downgrade, but the system wouldn’t allow the downgrade until the payment details were updated. As a result, I was charged for the same plan before
Can we generate APK and IOS app?
Dears, I want to know the availability to develop the app on zoho and after that .. generate the APK or IOS app and after that I added them to play store or IOS store.. Is it possible to do this .. I want not to use zoho app or let my customers use it. thanks
Add "Fetch Composite Item" Action for Inventory
I want to make a Flow that uses information returned in the GET call for Composite Items, and it's not currently available in Zoho Flow. Please consider adding this functionality.
Calling Function via REST API with API Key gives 401 using Zoho Developer
Hi, I created a couple of functions using the one month trial of Enterprise edition, which I was able to call using the API Key method from Postman and from an external site. Now that my trial has expired, I have created the same functions in the Developer
Error due to - 'Internal Exception' when uploading Sign-generated PDF file to workdrive via Deluge in Zoho CRM
Hi I wasnt getting this error a few days ago and my code had not changed, so I'm wondering if there's a Zoho bug somewhere? I am downloading a PDF file from a Zoho Sign url using invokeurl and then uploading it to a Workdrive folder using zoho.workdrive.uploadFile.
Embed CRM record images in email templates
I have email templates that I want to embed dynamic images in their body - not as an attachment. For the context, the image is a QR code individual to each contact. So there are couple of challenges for which I think there is no solution in CRM: 1/ I
Assign multiple departments to multiple helpcenters
Hi there! I have a reseller company for a software and I'm using Zoho Desk as my helpcenter and ticket management system. The software is great and I would like to make a suggestion! With multi-branding activated, your departments that visible in help
Next Page