The BusinessChat Chatbot serves as your 24/7 frontline support, designed to handle repetitive queries automatically and escalate more complex issues to human agents. Its primary goal is to provide immediate answers to common questions, freeing up your team to focus on high-value interactions that require a human touch.
This comprehensive guide will help you set up your chatbot, edit after launch if needed, and understand routing logic.
1.0 The Automated Frontline: Mastering the BusinessChat Chatbot
The basic chatbot offers single-level interaction only. Once a customer selects an option and receives a response, they cannot navigate deeper into a submenu or decision tree. To continue interacting, they must either return to the main menu or select a specific action you have provided in the reply buttons (e.g., 'Contact Support').
If you want more submenus and options in the chatbot, you will not be able to acheive this with the basic chatbot, you will need a custom chatbot which incurs an additional fee.
The Basic Chatbot components are the following:
Menu Welcome Message: The first message a customer sees after selecting their language, which presents the main options for interaction.
Bot Path & Buttons: The interactive journey you design for the customer. The bot can have up to 10 main menu buttons, each directing the customer down a specific path.
Button Actions: The specific outcomes tied to each button, such as sending a message, transferring to a human team, or ending the conversation.
1.1 Chatbot Initial Settings Setup
Follow these steps to set up the basic chatbot:
Click the Chatbot icon from the BusinessChat main page, and then click Settings
Adding Languages: The chatbot can communicate in up to three languages. For each language added, you must provide a friendly welcome message. The language selection prompt will only appear to customers if more than one language is active.
Naming Your Bot: In the settings, assign a "Bot Nickname." This helps customers easily distinguish between automated responses from the bot and messages from a human agent.
Displaying or Hiding Agents Names: A simple toggle allows you to choose whether the specific agent's name (First + Family Name) is displayed when a human takes over a conversation, adding a personal touch to the interaction. You can choose whether to display or hide the agent name from the conversation by toggling this button on or off.
With the basic configuration complete, you can begin designing the interactive journey your customers will experience.
Important
The chatbot can be activated exclusively on the BusinessChat platform and does not support integration with social media messaging platforms, for example. If you wish to redirect conversations from social media platforms such as Instagram to BusinessChat, you can add a WhatsApp link to your social media accounts. When clicked, customers will be redirected to the WhatsApp channel and will interact with the chatbot you have launched on BusinessChat.
1.2 Architecting the Customer Journey on the Chatbot
A well-designed conversation flow is intuitive, efficient, and guides the customer to a resolution with minimal effort. Once you’ve completed the Chatbot initial settings set up, click Chatbot to start designing the flow:
Crafting Your Main Menu Welcome Message
This is the first message a customer sees after the language selection. It should be clear and concise, explaining what the bot can help with and how to navigate the options.
Building Your Menu Buttons
You can create up to 10 main menu buttons, which you can reorder using a simple drag-and-drop interface. For each button, you define its name and the automated response that is sent when a customer clicks it. When configuring a "Menu Message" button, you can attach Images, Documents, or Location pins along with the text response.
Crucially, the bot does not support exact text matching. If a button is named "Support," a customer typing the word "Support" will trigger the "Incorrect Input" rule rather than activating the button's path. Customers must click the buttons to navigate.
Defining the Automated Response
When a customer clicks a menu button, the system sends an Automated Response. This is a message you craft that can include text, images, or documents to provide information or guide the customer.
Attaching Action Buttons
In addition to the automated response to be sent based on the customer’s button choice, you can attach up to three action buttons to guide the customer's next step. The available actions are:
Talk to a team: Transfers the conversation to a human support team. You need to specify which team the conversation will be assigned to from the dropdown menu of the Talk to a team button.
Return to main menu: Restarts the conversation flow from the beginning.
Go to a menu button: Jumps to the path of another main menu button without restarting.
End the conversation: Formally closes the bot interaction.
Smart Routing & Categorization
To fully automate your triage process, you should configure "Actions" behind every button. This ensures that when a customer makes a choice, the system immediately organizes the conversation before an agent even sees it.
Auto-Assign to Teams (Routing):
How to setup: When adding a "Talk to a Team" action button, you will be prompted to select a specific team from your dropdown list (e.g., Select "Sales Team" for the "Buy a Product" button). * Result: This bypasses the general queue and routes the chat directly to the agents best equipped to handle that specific topic.
Auto-Tagging Conversations (Topics):
How to setup: In the button settings, look for the "Add Topic" option. Select the relevant Topic you created earlier (e.g., assign the "Returns" topic to the "Return an Item" button).
Result: The conversation arrives in the Inbox already categorized. This saves agents time and ensures your "Conversation Topics Report" is accurate without manual data entry.
Integrating Order Tracking fromt eh chatbot
A special "Track Order Status" function can be assigned to a button. When selected, the bot will prompt the customer for their order number. It then retrieves the current order status directly from your connected e-commerce store (Shopify, Salla, or Zid) and displays it to the customer. When your ecommerce platform is not connected, this button will not work properly and will not retrieve the customer’s order status correctly.
If the bot cannot find the order number provided by the customer, it allows them to retry entering the number or offers an option to Talk to the Team.
IMPORTANT NOTE: For accounts on Zid ecommerce platfrom, you can add a custom field ({URL})for the tracking link in this chatbot option. However, for Salla stores, this option is not available, you can only add the order status custom field.
Note: A clarification that the Chatbot's order tracking is a separate feature from the "Order Status Automation" (which sends proactive updates).
Test and launch the chatbot
Once you finish setting up your flow, you can test the chatbot to make sure everything is according to what you need. Simply click Test Chatbot, scan the QR code, and interact with the bot on your phone in real-time. Once satisfied, click Launch to go live. Make sure you launch the chatbot before you move to the Operator section, as the flow will not be saved automatically.
Warning
You cannot temporarily disable or pause the chatbot. You can only delete it. Deleting the chatbot permanently removes the entire designed flow (buttons and steps), forcing you to rebuild from scratch if you want to reactivate it later.
While this main flow handles standard interactions, the Chatbot Operator is essential for managing the exceptions that inevitably arise.
1.3 Fine-Tuning with the Chatbot Operator (المقسم)
The Chatbot Operator is the rulebook that governs how the chatbot handles exceptions and non-standard scenarios. It ensures a smooth customer experience even when interactions fall outside the predefined button paths. It also outlines the rules for when a conversation is handed over from the chatbot to the team.
The Operator includes several key automated rules:
Idle Customer:
If a customer stops responding to the bot for one hour, this rule automatically routes the conversation to a human team for follow-up. This is why you might see conversations get assigned to users and appear in their inbox view long after the customer’s last interaction. Please note that although the rule states the chatbot waits an hour to assign idle conversations, it might actually take a bit longer.
When routed to a team:
if activated, you can write a message to let the customer know that they have been transferred to a human agent and someone will be assisting them soon.
Incorrect Input:
When a customer types a message that the bot doesn't recognize (instead of clicking a button), this rule triggers a message that gently guides them back to using the menu options. You can activate transferring the conversation to a teammate if the customer continues typing multiple times, which indicates they’re unable to handle the chatbot.
The "Incorrect Input" rule (handling invalid customer text) is mandatory and cannot be turned off
When a customer reach out outside working hours:
If a customer requests to speak to a team outside of their configured working hours, this rule from the Operator sends an automated message informing them of the team's availability. This relies on the working hours being correctly set in the team's settings.
How to edit the outside of working hours message that gets sent to customer when sending a message outside of the team's configured working hours?
To change the message that gets sent automatically to customers when they send a message outside of your team's configured working hours, follow these steps:
Click the Chatbot icon from the main BusinessChat page
Click on the Operator
Navigate to this rule: "When a customer contacts you out of working hours"
Edit the message and click "Save"
If a customer messaged a user after being routed by the bot:
If a conversation is escalated to a team but an agent has not replied yet, this message can be configured to reassure the customer that they are in the queue and will be attended to shortly. This message will trigger each time the customer types something, while the agent is yet to reply. IMPORTANT NOTE: This rule will trigger even when the customer reaches out outside of working hours. Meaning that if a customer reached asked to talk to customer service outside of working hours, first the Working hours rule will trigger informing the customer that they've contacted you outside of your working hours. Then if the customer types someting again, the agent busy rule will be triggered informing them that they've been transfered to the team.
Conversation Rating:
This rule automatically sends a satisfaction survey to the customer 10 minutes after the conversation closes, providing valuable feedback on agent performance. While the emojis are fixed in the rating message, you can edit the rating message itself. Note that the rating request will be sent only after the conversation is closed by the agent. However, if the agent closes the conversation after the 24 Hour Meta window, the rating message will not be delivered.
Visual Scoring: the emoji scoring system: 😞 (0% - Unsatisfied), 😐 (50% - Neutral), 🤩 (100% - Satisfied)
Bulk Close Exclusion: The survey is not sent if the conversation was closed using the "Bulk Close" feature.
Reconnect with Same Agent (Sticky Agent):
When enabled, this feature routes a customer who replies within 24 hours of their last conversation directly back to the same agent who previously assisted them, bypassing the chatbot entirely for a more continuous experience. Note that if the agent is not active at the time of the second assignment, the conversation will remain assigned to them, it will not be assigned to another active agent.
Once these rules are configured and the flow is designed, the final steps are to test the experience thoroughly and launch it for your customers.
2. Handling External Support Numbers (The Redirect Strategy)
In some operations, your Customer Service team may use a separate WhatsApp number (e.g., a standard WhatsApp Business App on a phone) that is different from the API number connected to BusinessChat. Since the platform cannot "transfer" a live chat to a different phone number directly, you must set up a "Redirect Workflow" using a smart link. This ensures customers know they need to click a button to reach your agents.
1. Creating the "Click-to-Support" Link: First, you need a direct link to your support number.
Format: Use the standard WhatsApp short link format: https://wa.me/ followed by the number in international format (no zeros or +). Or use this online free tool to create a lin automatically: https://www.businesschat.io/free-marketing-ressources/whatsapp-link-generator?
Example: https://wa.me/966500000000
2. Configuring the Redirect message: first, you need to remove all the standard "Talk to a Team" buttons from the bot options.
Step 1: First, remove all standard "Talk to a Team" buttons from the bot options.
Step 2: Add a Customer service menu option and write a message informing customers that they need to click the link to talk to support, and paste the wa.me link you created earlier into the message.
Step 3: Edit your operator rules for when a customer is transferred to a human agent, when the customer types after being transferred, and the working-hours message to accommodate this scenario.
Note: you cannot add the wa.me link as a button; it must be added to the message body.
3. Managing the "Ghost" Ticket When a customer clicks the link, they leave the BusinessChat bot, but the conversation technically remains open in your dashboard unless you close it.
Manual Clean-up: instruct your team to bulk-close these conversations in the "Unassigned" view using the Bulk Actions tool to keep your analytics clean.
4. Limitations to Note
Analytics Split: Conversations that happen on the external number will not appear in your BusinessChat reports (Response Time, CSAT, etc.).
No Re-routing: You cannot transfer them back to the main bot automatically; they would need to message the main number again.
The seamless handover from the automated Chatbot to a human agent in the Inbox is the core of BusinessChat's powerful hybrid support model. This process ensures that customers who need human assistance receive it promptly and efficiently.
Escalation is triggered in two primary ways: either through an explicit customer request (e.g., clicking a "Talk to an Agent" button) or automatically via the "Idle customer" rule in the Chatbot Operator.
3. Chatbot Relationship with Automations
It is essential to understand the relationship between the chatbot and other automations (like Cart Abandonment).
Chatbot: Handles direct, real-time conversations initiated by the customer.
Automation Flows: Triggered by behavior over time (e.g., abandoned cart).
All sent messages from the automations or bulk campaigns will appear in the Closed bot view and the specific automation view. If a customer types, the conversations will follow the flow of any other conversation.
Note: If a customer replies to a Marketing Campaign or an automation message, the Chatbot will immediately trigger the Main Menu.
4. Troubleshooting Chatbot assignment issues
Why is the bot informing customers that they have been transferred to customer support even outside of working hours?
=> You would this behavior in case you have both the "when a customer contacts you out of working hours" rule and "if a customer messaged a user after being routed by the bot" rule. The scenario is as follows: when a customer asks to talk to customer service outside of working hours, first the Working hours rule will trigger informing the customer that they've contacted you outside of your working hours. Then if the customer types someting again, the second rule ("if a customer messaged a user after being routed by the bot") will be triggered informing them that they've been transfered to the team.
2. Why is the chatbot not active/answering customers?
If you notice that the chatbot is not interacting with inbound customer conversations, then it's most likely because the conversation is currently assigned to an agent. When the conversation is assigned to an agent, the chatbot will not be triggered. You have to close the conversation so that when the customer sends any new message, the bot will be triggered.