How do I define a channeling policy?

Tip: Check out this video to see channeling configuration in action.

The Channeling settings allow you to set up the escalation paths and rules on your Bold360 AI widgets. Use this ability to forward visitor engagements to another escalation channel such as chat, email, or click-to-call.

  1. In the AI Console, go to Channeling > Channeling Policy. Channels on top will be processed first.
  2. Click Create channel at the top of the page.
  3. Name your channel and provide a description for it.
    Tip: Make the description of the channeling policy meaningful for analytics, so it is easy to identify and call out in reports, for example, Email ? After Hours? and Email ? Business Hours.
  4. Define criteria for selecting your target audience.

    You can define the following criteria with AND/OR relations.

    Note: If you enable more than one criteria for a particular rule, then all criteria must match for the rule to trigger an invitation. If you do not define any criteria then your channeling policy will target all your customers.
    Option Description
    User Query The content of the customer's search in the widget.
    Article Label The label assigned to the answer which is populated in the widget.
    Page context To be used only if contextual abilities are enabled in the account.
    Search Results You can choose either "No result" or "Has Result".
    Origin-URL The URL address to set up the condition from.
    Form Values Insert the values to trigger the ticket escalation through the contact form. (To be used only for contact forms.)
    Query Language Triggers a certain rule, if the query is searched by a specific language. (Use this condition only if translation is enabled in your widgets.)
    Time Select the time when you want to escalate customers to channels.
    Day Select the days when you want to escalate customers to channels.
    Domain The domain of the widget configuration. (The domain list is the same domain list in the widget configuration.)
    Day and time This condition is used for triggering escalation channels by a specific day and time.
    User Feedback Select whether you want to escalate customers after leaving positive, negative, or any feedback.
    Chat availability Define whether you want to escalate customers when an agent is available for chat or not.
    Number of words Define the number of words that trigger escalation to the channel.
    Active period Define date range(s) during which the policy is active. Days outside of the set active ranges do not trigger the channeling policy.
  5. Define what to do when customers want to escalate the chat, by selecting the appropriate escalation Channel type.

    Example: Let's say you want to set up a ticketing system and you select the Ticket channel type:

    • In the Label field, enter the name of the email escalation button.
    • Select an Icon for your escalation button. If you do not select an icon, the default one is used.
    • Define a Delay in seconds for displaying the escalation button.
    • In the Button action drop-down list, choose the action that will take place when a user clicks on the email escalation button.
      • You can select a Bold360 AI contact form, a URL link, or run a custom script.
        Note: Use the URL link option to direct visitors to a specific website.
      • If Show contact form is selected from the Button action drop-down list, you can select the existing contact forms in the Bold360 AI account.
    Tip: To present a specific article, use the nanorep.floatingWidget.showArticle(0000000) custom script, where the number in parentheses represents the article ID.
  6. In the After offering this channel to the customer field, define whether to process the next channeling policy.
  7. Save your configuration.

An example channeling configuration

There are numerous cases when you can offer customers the option to channel the conversation. For instance, you can set up your channel in a way that when the customer provides negative feedback and an agent is available then the channeling option is presented to the customer.

The example below shows a channel setup where a chat button is displayed when the customer provides negative feedback on an article that has "Chat Integration" label, and a live agent is available.

How to use inline pre-chat forms

When a customer is channeled to a live agent and fills in a pre-chat form, you can now make it more apparent to the customer that the chat has not ended:
  1. In the AI Console, go to Channeling > Channeling Policy.
  2. Select the channeling policy that you want to modify.
  3. Select the Show pre-chat form inline option.
  4. Save your changes.

How to validate phone numbers in pre-chat forms

Phone number validation is automatic: after chat escalation in conversational widgets, customers can only type valid phone numbers; otherwise, the field is marked in red and customers cannot start chatting with a live agent. Besides numbers, the following characters are valid in the phone number field:

  • Plus sign: +
  • Minus sign: -
  • Asterisk: *
  • Hashmark: #
  • Comma: ,
  • Semi-colon: ;
  • Brackets: ( )
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