WFH Tip : 15 What are Zobot responses and how can they be used?
The Zobot is a bot development platform on Zoho SalesIQ, using which you can build very compelling chatbots to automate customer interactions. It automates the process of interacting with your website visitors and helps you maintain the presence of a helping hand, even when all your operators are busy and can't respond. This post will talk about the different types of responses that can be used in the Zobot.
Before we jump in and start learning about the different types of responses, let us build ourselves a little example. Let us take the example of a common e-commerce store and assume that a Zobot called E-com Bot has been deployed on the website to answer customer queries. We will look at how each response type will help the bot during different scenarios during the conversation.
Suggestions:
Every conversation between a Zobot and the visitor consists of a couple of exchanges. Sometimes visitors might get a feeling that the conversation is getting monotonous and might not feel like typing out the response to a question. To handle situations like these and to make efficient conversations, the bot can display response suggestions in order to save the time and trouble spent in manually typing out responses.
For instance, the bot can display a list of products - say household appliances, clothes, shoes, books, etc. that are available in the store and allow the visitor to choose the one that they want to buy. This response type is an array and so you can stack more than one suggestion. They only accept collection as their value and the collection can only have a list of strings separated by commas. Learn more.
Skippable:
Some questions may look/sound unnecessary to some visitors and they might want to skip to the next part. It could be a casual question or a question about an extra detail that the visitor is not willing to disclose. In this case, skippable can be used.This response type can be used with all the input cards. It displays a skip button to the visitors along with the input widgets, using which visitors can choose to skip responding to the particular question. Say, the bot asks the visitor to choose a color for the product that he/she wants to buy and the visitor isn't very color-specific, then that question can be skipped by clicking on Skip. Learn more.
Field name:
There is always a lot of information that needs to be recorded during the course of the conversation for future use. field_name can be used in your bot scripts to update the visitor name, email, phone number, etc. inside SalesIQ. Other details like ID, city, etc. can also be updated using the field_name. This can be useful in an online store scenario - the bot can collect details like name, contact number and location of the visitor in case an order has been placed and the visitor wants the products delivered to a particular address. This information can also be used later for follow-ups. Learn more.
Note: All information other than visitor name, email and phone will be updated in the custom info section of the particular visitor.
Validate:
Validation of information given by visitors is an aspect that has to be paid attention to. Sometimes, when visitors send invalid information, it becomes difficult to follow-up or send them information about updates. The Zobot can validate the information that was given by the visitors while placing an order using validation to make sure there are no discrepancies in the data. Learn more.
Call To Action(CTA):
As the name suggests, these are buttons that can be added to bot replies and can perform different actions in your client with Client Actions. These are similar to response suggestions but the options do not disappear once the response is submitted by the visitor. They will still be able to take a look at the options inside the chat window.
The CTA is currently supported in text reply, single product and multiple product cards. Learn more.
Questions:
As the name implies, this response type is used to feed a collection of questions that the bot will ask the visitor when he/she lands on the website.This is a response type that is specific to the SalesIQ Scripts platform. It is an array of objects in which each question is an object. You can include any number of questions in the array. This response type can be used when the bot inquires about the needs of the visitor before placing an order. It can collect details like the category of products that they want to shop, the price range, color options, quantity, etc. and display a filtered list of products based on the answers given. This can make it easier for the visitor to choose the product and place an order. It accepts only a collection as the value. The collection, in turn, must have at least one map. Each question map in the array has the following keys : name, replies, input and suggestions. Learn more.
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. Say, the visitor wants to buy a home appliance on the online store and wants to talk to a human operator about the discounts available, delivery procedure and payment options. The bot can use the forward action to connect the visitor to a human operator who can handle the query. If the bot is performing actions like generating an invoice for the order that was placed, it can use the pending action to do so while also keeping the visitor informed about the process. These actions can also reduce the work done by your operators in half and improve the efficiency of customer support teams. Learn more.
Context:
Contexts in the Zobot are those that make bot conversations with visitors more flawless and human-like. The context_id is a unique identifier for any context that is available in the context handler of the Zobot. You can use the context action in case you want to use a set of questions in a particular context to invoke/perform an action.
context_id accepts only text as the value. The value must be the name of the corresponding context handler block.
For example, if you want the bot to create a lead in Zoho CRM using the name, email and phone number of the visitor who has placed an order, you can specify questions to get these details from the visitor in the same context. Learn more.
Delay:
Sometimes visitors might not need the help of the bot while they're browsing through the website. In this case, the bot can end the chat. When you don't want the bot to end a chat session abruptly, you can schedule a delay for the end of a chat.
This response keeps the chat live for a while in case visitors decide to come back for a question. If the visitor does not need the help of the bot to choose products and place the order, the bot can end the chat after a set period of time. Learn more.
Note: The delay will be unscheduled if the visitor types a message/ sends a message/ agents join the chat/chat is handed off to the agent.
To learn more about the types of responses, start building your own Zobot right away.
We also have Sample Scripts that use all of the response types mentioned above.
For more information, check out our Help Documentation.
Related Topics:
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
Big 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'sYour 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, missingAlert: 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 longerPlug 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
Peppol: Accept Bill (Belgium)
Hi, This topic might help you if you're facing the same in Belgium. We are facing an issue while accepting a supplier bill received by Peppol in Zoho Books. There is a popup with an error message: This bill acceptance could not be completed, so it wasclick to call feature
I've Zoho CRM and in that i want click to call feature.Zoho Books is now integrated with Zoho Checkout
Hello everyone, We're glad to be announcing that Zoho Books is now integrated with Zoho Checkout. With this integration, you can now handle taxes and accounting on your payment pages with ease. An organization you create in Zoho Checkout can be added to Zoho Books and vice-versa. Some of the key features and benefits you will receive are: Seamless sync of customer and invoice data With the end-to-end integration, the customer and invoice details recorded via the payment pages from Zoho CheckoutSync Issue
My Current plan only allows me with 10,000 rows and it is getting sync failure how to control it without upgrading my planAdd Zoho PDF to Zoho One Tool Applications
It should be easy to add from here without the hassle of creating a web tab:JOB WISE INVOICE PROCESS
I WANT TO ENABLE JOB WISE TRACKING OF ALL SALES AND PURCHASEPDF Template have QTY as first column
I want to have the QTY of an item on the sales orders and invoices to be the first column, then description, then pricing. Is there a way to change the order? I went to the Items tab in settings but don't see how to change the order of the columns onRAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) Type Q+A Environment with Zoho Learn
Hi All, Given the ability of Zoho Learn to function as a knowledge base / document repository type solution and given the rapid advancements that Zoho is making with Zia LLM, agentic capabilities etc. (not to mention the rapid progress in the broaderWelcome to the Zoho ERP Community Forum
Hello everyone, We are thrilled to launch Zoho ERP (India edition), a software to manage your business operations from end to end. We’ve created this community forum as a space for you to ask questions, comment answers, provide feedback, and share yourIn App Auto Refresh/Update Features
Hi, I am trying to use Zoho Creator for Restaurant management. While using the android apps, I reliased the apps would not auto refresh if there is new entries i.e new kitchen order ticket (KOT) from other users. The apps does received notification but would not auto refresh, users required to refresh the apps manually in order to see the new KOT in the apps. I am wondering why this features is not implemented? Or is this feature being considered to be implemented in the future? With theConsolidated report for multi-organisation
I'm hoping to see this feature to be available but couldn't locate in anywhere in the trial version. Is this supported? The main aim to go to ERP is to have visibility of the multi-organisation in once place. I'm hopeful for this.IMAP mail after specify date
Hi My customer's mail server is on premise and mail storage is very huge. So It never finish sync. and finally stop sync. Cloud CRM have a option like zoho mail sync mail after some date.Claude + MCP Server + Zoho CRM Integration – AI-Powered Sales Automation
Hello Zoho Community 👋 I’m excited to share a recent integration we’ve worked on at OfficehubTech: ✅ Claude + MCP Server + Zoho CRM This integration connects Zoho CRM with Claude AI through our custom MCP Server, enabling intelligent AI-driven responsesNotes badge as a quick action in the list view
Hello all, We are introducing the Notes badge in the list view of all modules as a quick action you can perform for each record, in addition to the existing Activity badge. With this enhancement, users will have quick visibility into the notes associatedSearch Bar positioning
Why is the Search bar on the far right when everything is oriented towards the left?Basic Mass Update deluge schedule not working
I'm trying to create a schedule that will 'reset' a single field to 0 every morning - so that another schedule can repopulate with the day's calculation. I thought this would be fairly simple but I can't work out why this is failing : 1) I'm based inThe Social Playbook - January edition: Getting started with content creation
Social media isn’t just about posting some random content. It’s about why certain content works, how brands stand out, and what makes people pause mid-scroll. The Social Playbook is a monthly community series where we break all of that down. Through realImport Error: Empty values for mandatory fields - Closing Date
Hello, I've tried multiple times to import a CVS Potential list from another Zoho account. But the error message I get is: Empty values for mandatory fields - Closing Date There are valid dates in this field, so I don't understand why this error messagesAdding custom "lookup" fields in Zoho Customization
How can I add a second “lookup” field in Zoho? I’m trying to create another lookup that pulls from my Contacts, but the option doesn’t appear in the module customization sidebar. In many cases, a single work order involves multiple contacts. Ideally,Special characters (like â, â, æ) breaking when input in a field (encoding issue)
Hey everyone, We are currently dealing with a probably encoding issue when we populate a field (mostly but not exclusively, 'Last Name' for Leads and Contracts). If the user manually inputs special characters (like ä, â, á etc.) from Scandinavian languages,Feature Requests - Contact Coloured Picklist Visibility & Field Visibility During Ticket Creation
Hi Desk Team, I have 2 feature requests for you. Since Coloured Picklists are now available in Desk, It would be great if the colours were visible on the Related Details (Contact Information) when creating a ticket. In the screenshot below, I have 2 fieldsHow to integrate XML with Zoho CRM
Hi, I have an eCom service provider that gives me a dynamic XML that contains order information, clients, shipments... The XML link is the only thing I have. No Oath or key, No API get... I want to integrate it into Zoho CRM. I am not a developer norFeature Request - Ability to Customise Contact Info Card on Ticket Details View
Hi Desk Team, I've added a "Contact Priority" and "Account Prioirty" field and it would be very useful to agents if they could see that information in the Contact Info card on the Ticket Details view. It would be great if we could choose some fields toTax in Quote
Each row item in a quote has a tax value. At the total numbers at the bottom, there is also a Tax entry. If you select tax in both of the (line item, and the total), the tax doubles. My assumption is that the Tax total should be totalling the tax fromZoho Flow integration with Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp
Hi there, any plans of adding integrations with Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp into Zoho Flow? Seems that more and more business are delivering automated updates such as "your order is received", "your order has been shipped" and so on via these two platforms. Not sure if Whatsapp has the API access needed i am pretty sure that Facebook Messenger has... Kind regards Bo ThygesenMulti-currency and Products
One of the main reasons I have gone down the Zoho route is because I need multi-currency support. However, I find that products can only be priced in the home currency, We sell to the US and UK. However, we maintain different price lists for each.Campaigns unsubscribe/manage preferences links
Hi, Where can I edit the unscubscribe and manage preferences link in the footer of the email. I would like it so that when you click 'manage preferences' an form opens up that allows the person to choose what type of emails they do and don't wish toemail address somehow still not verified (?!)
L.S. After creating a new email template in CRM I was about to send a group email to my clients, then Zoho CRM announced that they would change the sender address to some kind of Zoho-e-ddress because my email address "has not been verified". Not onlyMarketing Tip #17: Add credibility to your online store with Review Widgets
One of the fastest ways to build trust in an online store is to show real customer feedback right where people are deciding to buy. Third-party widgets let you embed things like Google Reviews, Instagram feeds, or even a WhatsApp chat button. These addadding several team members to an Opportunity
How can we add several team members to one opportunity for collaboration? I have researched and only found something called Deal Team which I cannot find in my CRM to configure.PDF Annotation is here - Mark Up PDFs Your Way!
Reviewing PDFs just got a whole lot easier. You can now annotate PDFs directly in Zoho Notebook. Highlight important sections, add text, insert images, apply watermarks, and mark up documents in detail without leaving your notes. No app switching. NoBulk update Profile Permissions
Dears, What should we do if we add new forms or reports and need to update more than 20 permissions? Updating them one by one feels pretty harsh, doesn’t it?From Zoho CRM to Paper : Design & Print Data Directly using Canvas Print View
Hello Everyone, We are excited to announce a new addition to your Canvas in Zoho CRM - Print View. Canvas print view helps you transform your custom CRM layouts into print-ready documents, so you can bring your digital data to the physical world withFilter in fields from Jira extension
We have installed the Jira extension so we can maken Jira issues from Zoho desk. In Zoho desk I can also see the Jira issue status for example but I can not filter on this field. I would like to setup an filter showing me the closed Jira issues. How cantext length in list report mobile/tablet
Is there a way to make the full text of a text field appear in the list report on mobile and tablet? With custom layouts, the text is always truncated after a certain number of characters.Zoho Creator customer portal limitation | Zoho One
I'm asking you all for any feedback as to the logic or reasoning behind drastically limiting portal users when Zoho already meters based on number of records. I'm a single-seat, Zoho One Enterprise license holder. If my portal users are going to add records, wouldn't that increase revenue for Zoho as that is how Creator is monetized? Why limit my customer portal to only THREE external users when more users would equate to more records being entered into the database?!? (See help ticket reply below.)Link Contacts to Billed Accounts
Hello, I want to do a survey on all my customers of 2025. For that I want to select all contacts linked to accounts who where billed in 2025. How to I create this link to I can then use Zoho Survey with this database of contacts?Export all of our manuals from Zoho Learn in one go
Hi, I know there's a way to export manuals in Zoho Learn, but I want to export everything in one go so it won't take so long. I can't see a way to do this, can I get some assistance or is this a feature in the pipeline? Thanks, HannahBring Zoho Shifts Capabilities into Zoho People Shift Module
Hello Zoho People Product Team, After a deep review of the Zoho People Shift module and a direct comparison with Zoho Shifts, we would like to raise a feature request and serious concern regarding the current state of shift management in Zoho People.Historical Sales Info - Blend with Finance Invoice Line Items, Access in CRM and Desk
My company has been using Zoho One since 2021, with sales data going back through 2020. However, we have been in business much longer, and we have historical sales information that we want to have at our fingertips when talking with customers (usuallyNext Page