WFH Tip 11: Reduce operator workload in half with Zobot actions
Making sure the customer support team is functioning hassle-free is crucial for businesses around the world, especially in today's WFH scenario. The number of issues become more and sometimes there will be a barrage of requests. The task of solving all these issues can become rather challenging and time-consuming for the operators of your organization. So, even a little help matters. This post will talk about how Zobot actions can lessen the burden on your operators with respect to handling visitor queries.
What are Zobot actions?
The activities that are performed by the bot while responding to visitor queries are called Zobot actions. They accept only text as their value and the values can be one of the following - reply, forward, operator_busy, context, block, pending and end.
- reply :
This action helps the bot handle the visitor on its own by providing replies to visitor queries. It helps the Zobot have conversations with the visitor just like a human operator does. While operators have to manually type out responses to every question from the visitor, the Zobot quickly and automatically responds to queries with built-in responses based on conversation history thus reducing the workload of an operator. replies accept only a collection(i.e. a list) as the value. The collection can, in turn, have one or more strings.
Syntax:
response.put("replies",{"Text1","Text2"});
Sample Code:
Case 1: One or more strings - when there are one or more text responses
response.put("replies",{"Hello there!","Welcome to Zoho SalesIQ."});
Case 2: Multiple Maps - when the response contains Display cards like articles, images, etc
response.put("replies",{
{
"type": "articles",
"text": "Here are your reference articles",
"description": "Articles about discounts in home needs",
"articles": ["121212121","123434343","123334678"]
}
});
Case 3: A combination of the first two - when the response consists of both text replies and cards
response.put("replies",{ "Hello there","How can I help you",
{
"type": "articles",
"text": "Here are your reference articles",
"description": "Articles about discounts in home needs",
"articles": ["121212121","123434343","123334678"]
}
});
- forward: Sometimes, when operators receive queries that are not related to their expertise, they forward it to their peers who are experts in the particular topic using the 'Transfer chat' option. The forward action in the Zobot works in the exact same way - it gives website visitors the option of switching from talking to a bot to a human operator while they are in the middle of a conversation at the click of an option. When the bot is not trained to handle a visitor, it can forward the chat to a human operator who is an expert.
Syntax:
{
"action" : "forward",
"replies" : ["Your text here"]
}
Sample Code:
{
"action" : "forward",
"replies" : ["Thanks for contacting us today, You will be connected to our operator shortly"]
}
- operator_busy: Visitor queries can come in at any time of day. Those queries that come in after business hours or when all operators are busy can sometimes become missed chats because none of the operators will be able to answer them. This can make customers dissatisfied and leave the website. The 'operator_busy' action solves this issue by sending out a message with the information that operators are not available and that one of the operators would get back to the visitor shortly. This can keep visitors informed about the fact that operators are unavailable to pick up chats. In this case, the visitor will be prompted to leave a message and the chat will be marked as missed.
Syntax:
{
"action" : "operator_busy" ,
"replies": ["Your text here ]
}
Sample Code:
{
"action" : "operator_busy" ,
"replies": ["Thanks for contacting us today, please leave a message and our operator will contact you shortly. ]
}
- block: Whenever operators come across a spammer/harasser's IP address and want to block it, they can add the IP in question inside the 'Block IPs' section. The Zobot action - 'block' does this automatically when it recognises a spamming IP thus saving your operators the time and trouble of manually blocking it. This action lets the bot find a vulnerability in the chat and block the IP of the visitor immediately.
Syntax:
{
"action" : "block" ,
"replies" : ["Your text here"]
}
Sample Code:
{
"action" : "block" ,
"replies" : ["Sorry, you are blocked from accessing the chat window."]
}
- context: The 'context' action in the Zobot saves operators the time and trouble of collecting information like name, email, etc. from visitors every time one visits the website. When the bot wants to collect multiple inputs to perform one action, it returns a context. A context is a definition of a web form that collects multiple inputs in a conversational manner and executes an action which is the context handler.
Syntax:
{
"action": "context",
"context_id": "book_appointment",
"questions": {},
}
Sample Code:
{
"action": "context",
"context_id": "book_appointment",
"questions": {{"name": "movie","replies": {{"text": "Ok, Lets make a booking with your sales execute !","icon": "https://zylker.com/meeting.jpg"},"Choose the department you would like to book appointment for ?"},"suggestions": {"Books","SalesIQ","CRM"}},
{"name": "show_timing","replies": {"Thats a great movie to watch !","Choose the date for the show ?"},"input": {"type": "calendar","time": "false","tz": "true"}}}
}
- pending: Generating a report or creating a profile for a visitor during an ongoing conversation can take a while and during this time, operators need to make sure that the visitor doesn't become impatient and leave. For this, they need to keep them hooked with a message or ask them if they want help with something else in the meantime. The 'pending' action in the Zobot does this automatically when a time-intensive action is in progress, thus keeping the visitor pinned to the conversation.
Syntax:
{
"action" : "pending",
"replies" : {"Your text here"}
}
Sample Code:
{
"action" : "pending",
"replies" : ["Please wait while I generate a report for you"]
}
- end: Whenever a visitor on the website has been idle for a while, operators can end the chat by clicking on the 'power' button inside the operator chat window. The 'end' action in the Zobot When the Zobot wants to end an ongoing conversation with a visitor, the end action can be used.
Syntax:
{
"action": "end",
"replies" : ["Your text here"]
}
Sample Code:
{
"action": "end",
"replies": ["Thank you for contacting us today."]
}
We have Sample Scripts that use all of the actions mentioned above. So, what are you waiting for? Start building your own Zobot right away!
For more information, check out our Help Documentation.
Regards,
Michelle
Access your files securely from anywhere
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Michelle Concetta Fernando
Sticky Posts
Alert: Audio Call Support to be discontinued for Old Live Chat Widget from December 31, 2025
Action Required: Upgrade to the New SalesIQ Live Chat Widget We're reaching out with an important update regarding the SalesIQ Live Chat Widget that requires your immediate attention. Effective December 31, 2025, audio call functionality will no longerYour bot just got smarter: AI-Powered routing that reads between the lines
What if your bot could tell the difference? Between a visitor who just needs a quick answer, someone actively comparing options, and a frustrated customer one click away from leaving? Most bots can't. They deliver the same response to everyone, missingBig Things Just Dropped in the SalesIQ Universe: Top Upgrades You’ll Love in Nova’25
Nova'25 has landed, and it’s packed with meaningful upgrades to help you engage smarter, work faster, and scale with ease. Whether you're into proactive messaging, smarter automation, or better admin control, there's something here for everyone. Here'sPlug Sample #10 - Simplify Ticket Management (Zoho Desk) with Chatbots
Hi everyone! We're here with another simple yet effective plug for your chatbot to integrate with Zoho Desk. When a customer reports an issue/request during chat, it's logged as a ticket on Desk. When they return for updates, you end up searching throughOpenAI Alert! Plug Sample #11 - Next-generation chatbots, Zobot + ChatGPT Assistant
Hi Everyone! We have great news for all AI enthusiasts and ChatGPT users! The much anticipated Zobot integration with ChatGPT Assistant is now available with Plugs. Note: SalesIQ offers native integration with OpenAI, supporting several ChatGPT models,
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
Zoho CRM Plus Resources
Zoho Books Resources
Zoho Subscriptions Resources
Zoho Projects Resources
Zoho Sprints Resources
Qntrl Resources
Zoho Creator Resources
Zoho CRM Resources
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
CRM E-mail Sync from Outlook
We are exploring Zoho as a possible new solution for our company. We are trying to understand further on how e-mail sync works. We use outlook. Our current CRM logs anytime we e-mail a customer so we can see in the CRM the message sent to the customer.Run your help desk on your schedule
In business, time is of the essence. This is especially true in a function like customer service, where KPIs such as response time and agent availability are the measures of success. Perhaps the most crucial consideration one needs to make about time is your hours of operation. These set expectations for your customer and for employees. To make communicating this information easier, we've revamped the way business hours and holiday lists work in Zoho Desk. In order to accommodate teams that workThe Customer Happiness REST API is broken
1. We are unable to extract the customerHappiness ( https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#CustomerHappiness#CustomerHappiness_ListallcustomerHappiness) object using the ticketNumber criteria. We keep getting HTTP 429 even when we limit to 60 calls perCan the Product Image on the Quote Template be enlarged
Hello, I am editing the Quote Template and added ${Products.Product Image} to the line item and the image comes up but it is very tiny. Is there anyway that you can resize this to be larger? Any help would be great! ThanksAutomatic Department and Employee Sync Between Zoho One and Zoho People
Dear Zoho Support, I'm writing to propose a valuable feature request that would streamline data management and improve user experience within the Zoho ecosystem: automatic synchronization between departments and employees in Zoho One and Zoho People.Zoho Expense and Chase Bank Visa credit cards - Direct Feed?
Our company uses JP Morgan Chase Visa credit cards. We can't be the first to try and use a combination of Zoho Expense + Chase Bank + Visa Credit Cards --- anyone successful with this combination? 1. The direct feed automation isn't working. When I goImpossibile inviare il messaggio;Motivo:554 5.1.8 Indirizzo del mittente bloccato
" Impossibile inviare il messaggio;Motivo:554 5.1.8 Indirizzo del mittente bloccato" Hi need to send email, how can fix this? Thanks, AliceImage inputed in Zoho Form were displayed to small in exported version
Good evening, my name is athallah, i am a trainee in government office Right now, i use Zoho form to digitalize an airfield monitoring form. my problem is, the image were to small to displayed in exported version. it really bad for formal presentationAPI. How do I get responses submitted to the form?
Hi, I'm trying to retrieve a list of form responses via the API. I've created a Self Client application in API Console. What scoup should I enter? What are the endpoints? Is there documentation on this anywhere? I've wasted a lot of time searching. GPTQuestion about Zoho CRM Professional plan users
Hello! I have a question about the Zoho CRM Professional plan. Is the pricing charged per user or per organization? Are there any free users included in this plan, or do I need to pay for each additional user separately? Thank you!Communicating with emojis
On July 17, we celebrate World Emoji Day! We're a bit late 😐 sharing insights about this day. But we just couldn't let it pass without a mention 😊 because emojis have a meaningful connection with customer service 💬 🤝. We do not want to miss out onChanging the Default Search Criteria for Finding Duplicates
Hey everyone, is it possible to adjust the default search criteria for finding and merging duplicate records? Right now, CRM uses some (in my opinion nonsensical) fields as search criteria for duplicate records which do nothing except dilute the results.Is it possible to create a word cloud chart in ZoHo Analystics?
Hi there, I have a volume of transaction text that I would like to analyse using word cloud (or other approcah to detect and present word frequency in a dataset). For example, I have 50,000 records describing menu items in restaurants. I want to be ableHelp integrating Aircall into Zoho CRM
Hi all, We are need to get better AirCall integration into Zoho. We have configured in the Aircall dashboard but we have not done the Zoho side. We cannot see Zoho CRM information on incoming calls. And we calls and text's are not being logged. SpecificallyShopify Extension no longer working in CRM
Zoho CRM and Extension are no longer working properly. We have used Shopify Basic for years. All of the sudden it stopped working, then started working again, and now no longer working again. There are several ways for Personal Information to sync fromHow to keep track of bags, cans, drums of inventory?
We buy and sell products that are packaged in bags 🛍️, cans🥫, drums🛢️, etc. with batch numbers. When we get a shipment of one of the products, how do we track we received (say) 10 cans each of 5L of a product and maybe we received 10 cans of anotherEasy third party collaboration: Zoho Flow Integration
Third-party integrations extend your project functionality with improved workflow, and data processing. With Zoho Flow integration you can include multiple third party actions into your project or task automation. Add Zoho Flow action in Workflow rulesZoho Inventory - How to pay a supplier up front then receive multiple deliveries
How do we manage situations where we pay a supplier up front, then the receive the products in increments? Example Workflow: Create Purchase Order > Receive Bill for full amount > Receive Items 2 or more deliveries. Currently, once a Bill is created againstIntroducing Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) in Zoho CRM | Public early access 2023
Greetings Customers! We're excited to announce that the CPQ feature will soon be available in Zoho CRM and accessible to all accounts using the Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions. We've opened this feature to select customers, and it'll behow to edit the converted lead records?
so I can fetch the converted leads records using API (COQL), using this endpoint https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v5/coql and using COQL filter Converted__s=true for some reasons I need to change the value from a field in a converted lead record. When I tryZoho Bookings <> CRM integration
Hello Zoho community! We are enabling our Zoho Bookings <> CRM integration. What is the workflow if the integration detects that the contact already exists in the CRM? Does it create a duplicate record? Overwrite the record? Merge the record? (in thisCannot reject empty expense report
Hello, We are currently having issues with two empty expense reports where if we try to reject them, either manually or through the REST API, we get error 114016, which says some of the expenses have already been billed and must be removed. I'd appreciateUse of Zia within Forms
I have noticed that recently you have added Zia to help create forms from scratch. Would it be possible to add Zia functionality to free text fields for form submissions or if this is already on the roadmap an ETA for this please? We have a lot of fieldDefault in fields on Form B based on the user selection in Form A
Hi Everyone, I have added an action button to a form report to bring up a new form based on user selection, see it indicated in red below: Then when the ne form loads, I want to default in some of the fields based on the record the user was selected on.Auto-sync field of lookup value
This feature has been requested many times in the discussion Field of Lookup Announcement and this post aims to track it separately. At the moment the value of a 'field of lookup' is a snapshot but once the parent lookup field is updated the values diverge.Last activity time is acting like last modified time
When i edit the description or any field in the potential, account, contact and lead, the Last Activity Time is being updated like the Modified Time. This is messing all workflows and reports and we are unable to track real last time of activities likeEnhancements to the formula field in Zoho CRM: Auto-refresh formulas with the "Now" function, stop formula executions based on criteria, and include formulas within formulas
Dear Customers, We hope you're well! By their nature, modern businesses rely every day on computations, whether it's to calculate the price of a product, assess ROI, evaluate the lifetime value of a customer, or even determine the age of a record. WithHEX/RGB Color Input in Visual Editor
Hello Zoho Pagesense Team, We hope you're doing well. We’d like to submit a feature request to improve the color selection options in the Pagesense popup editor. Current Limitation: Currently, to set text colors, users must move the color slider manually.Add Comprehensive Accessibility Features to Zoho Writer
Hello Zoho Writer Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request to enhance Zoho Writer with a full set of accessibility tools, similar to the accessibility options already available in the Zoho Desk agent interface. 🚧 CurrentCRM and Campaigns- tags not integrating?
Hi! I am setting up an automation in zoho campaigns and it says the crm is integrated...but when I want to use a trigger of a certain tag I created for people in the crm to denote those who purchased, it doesnt have that tag available as an option inMaximum limit of rows exceeded
I am trying to add a row to a spreadsheets that has fewer than 60 rows. I keep getting an error message that says I have exceeded the maximum limit of 65,536 rows. Any ideas out there?Can't change form's original name in URL
Hi all, I have been duplicating + editing forms for jobs regarding the same department to maintain formatting + styling. The issue I've not run into is because I've duplicated it from an existing form, the URL doesn't seem to want to update with the new【参加無料】今年最後のZoho ユーザー交流会｜東京・大阪・名古屋で開催！ 活用事例＆ユーザー同士の情報交換
ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 11月に東京、大阪、名古屋の3都市でZoho ユーザー交流会を開催します！ 毎回ご好評いただいている本イベントでは、実際の Zohoユーザーによるリアルな活用事例の共有や 参加者同士でノウハウを交換し合うグループワークを予定しています。 「他社の活用を参考にしたい」「Zoho をもっと使いこなしたい」方にぴったりの場です。 初参加の方もぜひお気軽にご参加ください！ ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーIntroducing parent-child ticketing in Zoho Desk [Early access]
Hello Zoho Desk users! We have introduced the parent-child ticketing system to help customer service teams ensure efficient resolution of issues involving multiple, related tickets. You can now combine repetitive and interconnected tickets into parent-childTip #7: 5 formas de mantener tus listas de correo electrónico
Tips and Tricks #7, adaptado de Susmit Sen ¡Hola, comunidad! Esta semana volvemos con nuestros Tips and Tricks para Zoho Campaigns. En esta ocasión, voy a darte algunos consejos para mantener limpias tus listas de correo electrónico, y empezar el 2021Mail Merge related Lists
When I try to merge an associated list the fields do not have a checkbox to choose them as it does in the tutorials. Am I missing something? Any ideas would be appreciated.create-a-purchase-receive API issues
Hello all, I'm trying to use the create a purchase receive inventory API documented here (https://www.zoho.com/inventory/api/v1/purchasereceives/#create-a-purchase-receive) however when I do am getting the following error {"code":9,"message":"The purchaseZoho Pagesense really this slow??? 5s delay...
I put the pagesense on my website (hosted by webflow and fast) and it caused a 5s delay to load. do other people face similar delays?Heatmap: Missing Content Elements - Zoho Page Sense
Hi there, I'm trying out Zoho Page Sense to generate heatmaps for my Wix pages. My problem: Some parts of my Wix pages don't show on my heatmap, the heatmap is just empty there. Maybe Wix default lazy loading setting causes this error? Is there a wayMarketing Tip #3: Use social proof to build trust
People trust people. Showcasing reviews, testimonials, or “bestseller” badges on your product pages can nudge hesitant buyers toward purchase. Try this today: Add one customer testimonial or highlight your top-selling product on your homepage. Or, doNext Page