Building the Guided Conversations flow

A good practice to follow before setting out to build a conversation flow is to prepare a hand-written or digital outline of the conversation or process to ensure all the necessary inputs and outputs are in the right place in a sequential order.

Check out these interesting use cases of GC in Healthcare, IT, and Retail industries .

Availability

Permission Required
Users with administrative privilege who have the permission to create, view, edit or delete Guided Conversation can access this feature.
Check Availability and Limits

Creating flows

Users who have the create permission can build the guided conversation flows. Similarly, users who have view and edit permission can perform relevant actions.

To set profile permission

Go to Setup > User and Control > Permissions > Profile .
Select a profile.
Under Administrative profile , toggle Guided Conversation .
Check Create , View, Edit or Delete as required.

To create flows

Go to Setup > General > Guided Conversations.
Select the department in which you want to build the conversation flow and click Create Flow .
Choose an option to create flow > Custom Flow or Templates.
If you choose Custom Flow option, you will have to create flow form.

Enter Flow Name.
Choose Target Audience.
Choose Channels and Default Language.
Enter Description and click Create Flow.

The centralized dashboard will be displayed to create, update and manage the flow and it's language. Check this document for multilingual capabilities in GC

6. When you click on a lauguage, it will take you the respective builder.

7. Click the Add Block icon (

) on the builder to start adding the block of your choice.

8. On the Blocks Library Panel, under any of the categories > Display blocks, Question blocks, or choice blocks. Choose a block to add

9. You can also add actions in between the blocks from the Action blocks section > Jump, fork, operations, cobine, or webhook block

To add a display block

In Message Block, select Text or Info card.

Text - Enter Message and Block Name and click Save.
Info card - Select Card Type: Static or Dynamic.
If you choose Dynamic, choose Rendering Style: Single or Multiple.

In Card Info List, upload an image, enter title, subtitle, description.
If there are Multiple Cards, then enter the above information for all cards.
Click Add Card Field, to include more fields like Text or Button.
If you choose Static Card, click Add Card, to include more than one card.

c. Enter Block Name.

2. Click Preview Block or Save.

To add a question block

Select a type of question block.
Enter Block name and Input variable.
The options will vary based on the type of block. For eg., for number block you must select the number type.
In Advanced Settings, toggle Skip block or End Block, if needed.
Click Preview Block or Save.

To add a choice block

Select any type of button, Dynamic Button or Choice Card.
Select Button Type: Single or Multiple.
In Button list, enter Button Name and click Add Button, if needed.
Toggle Create Path, if needed.
Enter Block Name and Input variable.
For Dynamic Button, enter Error Message (eg., Something went wrong, please restart the chat to try again).
Select Card Type: Static or Dynamic.
Enter text in the Question field.
Select Button Type: Single or Multiple.
In Card List, enter the necessary details.
In Advanced Settings, toggle Skip block or End Block, if needed.
Click Preview Block or Save.

Likewise, add more blocks to complete the flow.

To add variables to the flow

On the far left side of the Guided Conversation builder, click the Variables icon ( ). The Variables panel will appear.
Select a variable type from the drop-down (Global, Local or Session).
Select the variables from the available list.
The variables created before will be listed here, you can choose from those. From within the flow you can only create a Local variable.
Click Save.

To create a local variable from the flow

On the far left side of the Guided Conversation builder, click the Variables icon ( ).
The Variables panel will appear.
Under Variable Type select Global variable from the drop-down.
Click Add Local Variable .
Enter the following details in the form:

Variable Name - Name of the variable
Variable Type - Data type of the variable: String or Number
Variable Value - Value to be assigned to the variable
Description - A brief description of the variable

Click the Save button.

Actions Available in the Builder

The builder for Guided Conversation comes with an intuitive, user-friendly interface that lets you build the conversation flow one block at a time. You can use the following actions on the builder while working with blocks.

Action	Action name	Enables user to
	Enter full screen	View only the builder in full screen.
	Collapse path/Expand path	Show fewer or more paths while working with extensive flows.
	Re-center	Come back to the center of the builder if moved away to either extreme.
	Zoom In	Zoom in on a specific area of the builder.
	Zoom Out	Zoom out to view a larger area on the builder

Creating flows for specific channels

Nowadays, businesses encourage their customers to transact and interact with them through multiple channels. For example, customers can enquire about their order or make payment from the mobile application. They can raise service request, place an order or contact the customer care executive through WhatsApp business account.

A chat-based guided approach can help users easily navigate their way through the process. To facilitate this, organizations can build exclusive flows for different channels such as Web, mobile (iOS and Android), Telegram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram

Some blocks are not supported in every channel. For example, Info card is supported in Web but not in WhastApp. So while the admins can create a single flow for all channels, they need to carefully chalk the process to ensure the flow is built using common set of blocks that are supported across channels. Depending on the requirement, it would be best practice to create flows for individual channels.

To create flows for specific channels

Go to Setup > Self Service > Guided Conversation.
Select the department in which you want to build the conversation flow and click Create Flow.
In the Create Flow page, choose the Channel for which you want to create the flow.
You can choose all the channels: Web, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, Messenger, Line or iOS, Android.
Enter Name and Description for the conversation flow and click Create Flow.

Publishing a Conversation Flow

After building the conversation flow it's time to publish. Publishing the flow doesn't mean it will be available on your website for end users; it only means that the flow is available for the GC Widget to access.

To publish the flow

Go to Setup > General > Guided Conversation.
The conversation flows are listed under Published, Draft, and Trash.
Click Draft to view the flows that need to be published.
Select the finalized flow and click Preview to review the flow before publishing.
Preview opens a chat window on the right, enabling you to examine whether the conversation flows as intended.
Verify the flow, make any changes if needed, then click Publish when you are ready.

Note

The Save Draft option lets you save the flow midway so that you can resume working on it later.
You can make a flow available on different websites or web pages by using the share options.

Editing Flows

Flows that are saved as draft or published can be edited to include more channels, modify the path and so on. Since every block is not supported in every channel, to guide the admins the system shows an alert within the flow on the specific block prompting them to delete the blocks and make the necessary amendments in the flow.

For example, in the image below you can see the notification bar showing the number of blocks that are not supported.

Also, while editing when a particular channel is chosen the blocks that are not supported in the channel will be displayed.

To edit flows

Go to Setup > Self Service > Guided Conversations > GC Flows.
Select a Flow, click the More icon and select Edit.
In the Edit Flow page, check or uncheck the desired channel.
Change the Flow Name and Description if needed.
Click Update Flow.

Zoho Desk doesn't retain chat conversations for the end users. The existing conversation will be deleted right away when a new session is created. However, for sessions that are ended or restarted the conversation history will be deleted within 24 hours of session completion.

Customization Settings

The widget customization options have been enhanced to provide greater flexibility.

You can now modify:

Widget logo: Upload your brand logo to personalize the widget header.

Theme color: Choose a color that aligns with your brand’s theme for the widget interface.

Greeting messages and media: Set a default greeting text. Add media (images, GIFs, videos) to create an engaging experience.

Launcher icon and shape: Choose a custom icon (e.g., chat bubble, question mark) for the launcher. Adjust the shape to be circular, square, or chat bubble shaped.

Launcher position: Position the launcher at the bottom-left, bottom-right, or any custom location on the screen.

Background pattern: Customize the widget with a patterned or a plain design.

Powered by branding: Option to display or remove the “Powered by” branding text.

Call-out messages: Configure messages to prompt user interaction (e.g., “Need help? Click here!”).

End options:

Control user actions at the end of the session:

End session: Ends the session with an option to start a new session or retain and restart the session.

Start a new session: Clears previous session history and starts a fresh one.
Retain and restart the session: Retains the previous session and restarts it.

Create a new session: Ask the user whether to proceed with a new session or close the widget. This option clears the previous session history and creates a new session for the user.

Idle session timeout:

Set a timeout period to manage idle sessions effectively.

A pop-up will prompt the user to continue or restart the chat after inactivity.
The maximum session timeout is 23:59 hours (24 hours triggers an automatic session timeout).
If inactive for more than 24 hours, the session cannot be continued.

Multilingual options:

Enable language selection within the widget to provide a localized experience for users.

Associating Flows with ASAP add-on

Once the flows are created, you can host them on your website by associating them with ASAP add-on or the GC widgets.

For example, if you want the customers to experience dual benefit of live chat where the chat can take place with a support agent along with the GC chat flow, then you can associate the flow with ASAP add-on. See also Embedding ASAP add-on

Likewise, if you want to provide your customers a complete self-service platform then you can use the GC shareables to host the flow on your website.

To facilitate live chat, you must associate a Business Messaging channel with the GC bot.

To associate flows with ASAP

Go to Setup > Channels > ASAP .
Click the name of the add-on in which you want to include conversation flows.
Under the Tab Selection , hover over the Chat tab.
Click the Settings icon corresponding to the Chat tab.
Under the Chatbot Settings section, enable the Guided Conversation toggle button.
Click the Associate Guided Conversation Widget link.
Click the Select link to view the list of available conversation flows.
Select the GC flows that you want to associate with the add-on and click Add .
The conversation flows you selected are now associated with the ASAP add-on.
Click Save/Update .

Sharing GC Flows

Once the flows are associated with a widget, the administrator can share it with the customers or agents using the following options:

Embed the code snippet on the webpage . You can embed different widgets in different webpages. Widgets can be customized within the web-app design which includes the placement of the widget, the widget shape and the way the bubbles appear within the widget. This will allow you to view the GC flows within a chat widget in your help center. Also, it allows GC flows to be invoked as a chat widget from any HTML page

Note that the option to embed the chat widget will NOT be available if the flow permission is set as agents only.

Use iFrame to display the chat widget right within a blog post or article . It also facilitates to open the chat widget in the rich text editor. For example, in any help center, GC flows can be invoked from the following areas — Ticket Reply editor, Add form Editor, Comment Box, KB Editor etc.

Share the QR code in social channels such as Whatsapp, Instagram, Telegram for customers to access the GC flow as a chat widget in a separate web page with a public URL.

Invoking the GC flow via the QR code from mobile phone would ask to download a app clip to render mobile optimized GC chat.

Share the public URL for anyone to access the chat widget. Similar to the QR code, when URL is invoked by the user, GC chat widget gets loaded in a separate web page with a public URL.

Use Mobile SDK , to provide access to the GC chat from your mobile application. It loads the entire flow within the third-party app.

To select sharing option for a GC Flows

Go to the GC Flows list view and select the desired flow
Go to the Share tab from the centralized dashboard and select an option to share the flow with customers.
You can select, Embed, iFrame, QR Code, Public URL or Mobile SDK.

4. If you select Embed, iFrame or Public URL, click Copy to copy the code.

5. If you select QR code , click Download or Print .

Deleting a Conversation Flow

Deleting a conservation flow does not remove the GC flow entirely from Zoho Desk. This only means that the flow will not be visible to your end users on your help center. Once deleted, the flow will move from the Flows tab to the Deleted flows tab. You can restore it anytime you want by selecting the deleted flow and clicking the Restore button. Note that only users with permission to delete GC flows in their respective Profiles can delete.

To delete a conversation flow

Go to Setup > General > Guided Conversation .
The conversation flows are listed under under Flows.
Hover over a conversation flow under the Published or Draft category.
Click the Delete icon corresponding to the flow.
The confirmation box appears.
Click Delete .

When a flow is deleted, all associated languages are also removed but can be restored together.

SEE ALSO

Components of GC Flow Builder

Guided Conversation - Business Scenario and Scope

Use Cases of GC in different industries

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