FAQs: Basics of Guided Conversation

FAQs: Basics of Guided Conversations

What is Guided Conversations?

Guided Conversations, also known as GC in Zoho Desk is a way to implement your self-service strategy. It is a GUI (Graphical User Interface) based, low-code, self-service platform aimed to deliver great customer experience. Using a set of predefined questions, GC guides users to help them find answers to their questions, or perform activities like creating a ticket, booking an appointment, tracking an order and much more.

GC is independent and does not involve a support agent's intervention. The users will be asked a question, the answer to which will prompt another relevant question. With each question, the user can move closer to what they are looking for.
Instead of looking for an agent or searching through the website, the users can use Guided Conversations to find their answers. GC can provide support round-the-clock, which makes it easy for customers to get help at the right time, resulting in a great customer satisfaction.

You can read more about this feature in the help document here.

How can Guided Conversations help my organization?

Imagine that a customer named Paul is looking through your website and would like to request a refund for a damaged product. He tries to reach your support team through the toll-free number, but it is after business hours. Paul's next thought is to send an email, but he needs to get this request registered as soon as possible so that he can use the funds to place the order for another product. If your website landing page had a simple self-service tool such as Guided Conversations, Paul could have easily registered the refund request at the right time by himself. Implementing Guided Conversations in your organization can have these top benefits:
  1. Increase agent's productivity
  2. Increase customer satisfaction
  3. Be cost effective
Increase agent's productivity:
When your support agents are spending time explaining to a customer how to track an order, they might be failing to address a major issue that needs immediate technical assistance. It's also tiring for your agents to answer repetitive questions and address similar issues that need minimal assistance. To reduce the stress on your agents and help them focus on the tickets that require their urgent attention, Guided Conversation can be the solution. With predefined questions, GC can easily navigate the users to assist themselves in simple tasks like changing a pricing plan, returning a product, canceling a purchase, or even creating a support ticket.

Increase customer satisfaction:
GC can work without any rest, so customers can get assistance at anytime of the day. According to a report from Aspect Software, 73% of customers want the ability to solve product and service issues on their own. Harvard Business Review states that 81% of all customers attempt to take care of matters themselves before reaching out to a live representative. They do not want to wait to interact with an agent and get their issue addressed. They are looking for simple guidance which will lead them to the right path to find their own answers. With Guided Conversations, you can provide timely support and help customers independently solve their own service-related problems. This will help you achieve great customer satisfaction.

Be cost effective:
As mentioned earlier, GC can give a shoulder to your support agent and help them resolve more support requests by taking out the repetitive ones. GC can also provide timely support around the clock. It can serve multiple customers simultaneously without making any mistakes. This eliminates the need for a large number of technical staff, which reduces the organization's support expenses considerably.

Does GC support multiple languages?

Yes, you can build a GC flow in any of the languages supported by Desk. However, we do not support translation services wherein a flow could be translated from a master language to a set of other languages. Following are some of the languages that are supported, like English, Japanese, Chinese (China), Chinese (Taiwan), Spanish (Spain), German, French, Turkish, Russian, etc. 

For the full list of supported languages please refer to Languages Supported in Desk

Can users type a question in GC?

No, it is not possible for a user to ask a question to the Guided Conversation. The user can only answer the questions prompted in the Guided Conversations flow or select responses from the choice provided. It is a completely predefined navigated process.


Does GC store the data collected?

No, GC does not store any of the data that is collected during the flow.

Does GC perform user verification before providing data?

By itself, GC will not perform any default user verification. However, by using either JWT token or a third party OTP provider, user verification can be performed.

How is Guided Conversations different from Zia's Answer Bot?

Zia's answer bot is an AI-powered reply assistant that helps customers and agents by providing relevant responses based on its intelligence. Zia gathers this intelligence from the existing KB articles. Guided Conversations, on the other hand, do not involve Artificial Intelligence to help customers. It works only according to pre-defined conversation flows.

Do I need to know how to code in order to build a GC flow?

GC is a low-code builder, so you do not need any familiarity with coding to work with GC. You can easily build a flow in GC using the predefined blocks provided in builder. All you have to do is add the blocks and fill out some basic details. Be it a simple flow with direct questions and answers, or a complex flow with multiple cross overs and API integrations, you can build it in just a few steps with GC. 

The Webhook Blocks that help GC to access data from other applications is the only place that uses a few coding terms. This might seem a bit overwhelming for people who have never worked with API integrations. However, you need not worry. If you follow the instructions in our help documents, this can be done in no time. You can always reach out to our Support team if you need  assistance.

Is Guided Conversation mobile friendly?

Yes, Guided Conversations is supported in iOS and Android mobile devices. When you publish the Guided Conversation in your webpage, it can be used on your mobile devises also. While adding the blocks to your GC flow, you can easily preview how the they will appear for end users in an iOS or Android device.

What is a JSON?

Javascript Object Notation is commonly known as JSON. It is a data format used for exchanging and storing data. While using Webhook Block, you can upload the data you want to send to your application in JSON format.

JSON stores data in the form of text ("string"). A JSON object consists of a key/value pair separated by a colon (:) and enclosed in curly brackets {}. The key typically refers to a variable, and the value is the data carried by that variable. If there are multiple key/value pairs, each pair is separated by a comma.



Here, "name" and "Id" are the keys and "John" and 123 are the values.

After deleting, how long will the Guided Conversations flow be available in the trash?

The Deleted Flows will remain listed there, unless removed manually. Please make a note that there is a limitation on storing the number of flows. There can be a total of 25 unique GC flows created in your department, which includes the Published, Drafted and Deleted Flows. So in case the total number of flows have already reached 25, and you want to create another GC flow, you might need to check the Deleted flows and delete them manually from Zoho Desk in order to create one.


How do I add a block to the GC flow path?

Blocks are the single units of action items that are used to build a conversation flow.
To add a block to your GC flow
  1. Go to Setup > Self ServiceGuided Conversations.
  2. Select the Flow in which you want to add a block.
  3. On the Guided Conversations builder, click   (the Add Block icon).
    The Add Block panel will appear on the right.
  4. Select the block that you want to add.
    For example, Text Block from the Message Block section.
  5. Enter a Block Name.
    For example: Welcome Message
  6. Enter the text you want to show under the Question field. For example: Welcome to our Guided Conversations!
  7. Click Preview Block to see how the block will be displayed on computer and mobile devices.
  8. Click Save.
    Similarly, you can add the required blocks at various points in the GC flow.

Can I retrieve a block or a path after deleting it?

When you delete a particular block or a path, you can reverse the delete action using the undo option () present on the left corner of the flow builder.

Additionally, if you delete a flow, it will be stored under Deleted Flows tab in GC. You can restore the flows from there back to your Draft or Published flows at anytime. A Published Flow has the last 10 versions stored under the version history and any of them can be restored at anytime.
To view and restore a latest published flow version
  1. Go to Setup > Self ServiceGuided Conversations
  2. Under Published Flows, select the one you desire.
  3. Click Edit in the top-right corner.
  4.  Click the Version History icon ().
  5. In the Version History section, choose to View or Restore the versions.

How do I create dynamic cards?

Dynamic cards are used to display information that is fetched during runtime. The variables in which data are stored during runtime can be invoked inside the card details by using @. For example, if your customer is making a purchase using your GC, you will collect details like product type, quantity and delivery address from the customer and calculate the amount to be paid. This data differs with customers and products. This is why they are called dynamic data. This dynamic data that is stored as variables can be used inside Dynamic Card to provide an order summary to the customer. 
The dynamic card option is available in the Info Card and Choice Card
To create a dynamic card
  1. In a GC flow builder, click  (the Add Block icon).
  2. Under Response Blocks, select Info Card or Choice Card.
  3. Under Card Type, select Dynamic Card.
  4. Enter the details and click Save.
Creating Guided Conversations Flow

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