Introduction to Guided Conversations
Customers are always seeking immediate, relevant, and seamless support. Guided Conversations (GC) empowers businesses to meet these expectations by automating customer interactions through smart and intuitive conversational flows.
What is Guided Conversations?
Guided Conversations (GC) is a self-service automation platform that enables businesses to deliver real-time, personalized assistance using interactive chatbot flows. With GC, customers can get answers, complete tasks, or access services—all without speaking to a human agent.
Whether it’s creating a ticket, booking an appointment, tracking an order, or collecting information, GC acts as a 24/7 support layer that enhances efficiency and improves customer satisfaction. At the core, GC works by guiding users through a series of predefined questions and decision points that help resolve queries or escalate them when needed.
Want to dive deeper? Check out FAQs: Basics of Guided Conversations
Why Use Guided Conversations in Support?
- Customers can get help for their questions and issues by following a simple question-and-answer flow.
- GC guides customers step by step to find answers or help complete tasks, without needing to talk to a support agent.
- Let GC handle repetitive and common queries.
- Your support is always on (24/7 Availability).
- Leverage your user data and inputs to offer customized solutions.
How Does Guided Conversations Work in Zoho Desk ?
- A customer initiates a conversation through a channel where the GC is deployed, such as a website or mobile app.
- The system presents predefined questions or choices to the customer.
- Based on the customer’s responses, the conversation navigates through the designed flow to provide relevant information or assistance.
- The conversation ends with resolutions, a completed action, or a transfer to a live agent if needed.
Learn more: Guided Conversations - A Self-Service Platform
Key Features of Guided Conversations
- Use preconfigured building blocks to create dynamic and personalized experiences.
- Deliver tailored suggestions based on user responses.
- Store and reuse user responses using local, session, or global variables (Variable Management)
- Deploy GC across websites, mobile apps, and messaging platforms (Omni Channel Support).
- Create flows in multiple languages for broader customer reach.
- Start quickly with ready-to-use templates across different business functions.
Getting Started with Guided Conversations in Zoho Desk
GC helps you automate customer interactions using simple, structured flows. These flows handle queries, collect information, and offer tailored responses without needing a support agent.
1. Create Flows to Build Conversations
In GC, a flow is a step-by-step path that defines how the bot interacts with your customers. It’s made up of blocks, where each block handles a specific task.
Use flows to:
- Greet users and understand their needs
- Ask for and collect information
- Offer guidance and assistance
- Transfer to a human agent if needed
Learn more:
2. Components of the GC flow builder
The GC flow builder comprises three components.
- Blocks: The building units that perform tasks
- Paths: The directional links that guide the conversation
- Variables: Placeholders to store and reuse customer data
Learn more: Components of the GC flow builder
3. What are Blocks?
Blocks in Guided Conversations (GC) are the foundational elements used to build interactive chatbot flows in Zoho Desk.
Each block is designed to handle specific tasks such as:
- Displaying messages
- Capturing user inputs
- Offering multiple choice options
- Performing backend actions
- Integrating with Zoho and third-party services.
From showing welcome messages with images and emojis to automating ticket creation or transferring chats to support agents, blocks empower businesses to create dynamic, personalized, and efficient conversational experiences.
Learn more: How to access blocks in GC
Types of Blocks in GC
A. Message Blocks
They display static or dynamic content, such as:
Learn more: Message Block
B. Question Blocks
They collect user responses in different formats like text, images, or interactive inputs.
- Text Block
- Image Block
- Video Block
- Audio Block
- File Block
- Email Block
- URL Block
- Currency Block
- Calendar Block
- Number Block
- Slider Block
- Location Block
Learn more: Question Blocks
C. Choice Blocks
Choice blocks guide users with choices like text, images, videos, audio, and more. Among these, Button Blocks play a key role in presenting choices in a clickable format.
Learn more: Choice Blocks.
Button Blocks
Button Blocks are a type of choice block that present users with one or more options in the form of buttons.
- Text
- Dynamic Button
- Emoji
- URL
- Image
- Video
- Audio
- Feedback
Learn more: Button Blocks
Other type of choice blocks:
- Card Choice
D. Action Blocks
It helps execute actions like operations, conditional logic, flow navigation, or connect with external apps.
Learn more: Action Blocks
E. Integration Blocks
It helps connect external platforms to fetch, update, and trigger actions.
4. Paths
Paths in Guided Conversations (GC) define the direction a conversation takes based on customer responses. Each path represents a unique flow tailored to different user choices. For instance, buying a product and customizing it would lead to two separate paths with different questions and options.
Learn more: Paths in Guided Conversation
5. Variables
In Guided Conversations (GC), a variable is a placeholder used to store and manage specific pieces of data throughout the conversation flow. Variables help personalize interactions by capturing inputs like names, locations, or preferences, and displaying them dynamically in messages or actions.
GC supports different types of variables each serving unique purposes, they are:
6. Multilingual Support in GC
GC is designed to support multiple languages, making your support accessible to a global audience. This feature enables customers to interact in their preferred language.
You can:
- Translate flows into supported languages
- Set default and fallback languages
- Manage translations from the Flow Builder
Learn more: Multilingual Support
7. Template Gallery
The GC Template Gallery offers pre-designed flows tailored to different business needs, such as customer service, sales, onboarding, appointment scheduling, and more.
With ready-to-use logic, intents, and responses, these templates accelerate your bot setup and reduce the need for manual configuration.
Learn more: Template Gallery
8. Sharing & Deployment
Once your GC flow is ready, you can easily share it across channels and platforms. Choose how you’d like to embed or share your chatbot:
- Public URL
- QR Code
- Embed
- iframe
- Mobile SDKs: iOS and Android apps
Guided Conversations can be deployed across a variety of instant messaging and communication channels to meet your customers where they are.
9. Channels Supported in Guided Conversations
You can deploy GC across various messaging and communication platforms, such as:
Next Steps
Ready to build your first Guided Conversation?
- Start with a simple flow
- Test it in preview mode
- Connect it to your preferred channel
- Launch it to customers and iterate as needed
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