Channeling Policy Articles

How do I add a custom field or value to the contact form?

The contact forms allow your users to escalate their questions to your agents. The Digital DX AI API allows you to dynamically insert values to the contact form, including values in visible form fields as well as hidden fields that will be visible in the ticket details in your inbox. For an explanation on how to add these values, please click here.

What is the Contact Form API?

The Contact Form API allows you to specify values that will populate the contact form when it's opened.

To learn more about this API, visit our Rest API & SDK Reference.

What is intentional channeling?

Important: You must have the Enable intentional channeling feature enabled for your account. Contact your Customer Success Manager to enable it for you.

Ever wondered why there are three channeling scores marked by diverging arrows on the Dashboard? And why is that two of them display 0% in most cases?

That's because you can define positive (green arrow), neutral (gray arrow), and negative (red arrow) channeling but, by default, all channeling count as negative.

Now let's say, you have an online fashion outlet and you want customers to download a brochure with your spring collection. In this case, you would create an article that answers customers looking for spring clothing. You would then add a Download button, as shown below, as a channeling policy and set channeling to be interpreted as a positive action.

There are many other implementations where you can consider channeling as a positive action, such as directing potential customers to sales agents. You can even run reports on positive channeling to show potential sales value.

How to set up positive channeling

  1. In the AI Console, go to Engagement > Channeling.
  2. Create a new channeling policy as described in How do I define a channeling policy?

    In the previous example, you would set up your channeling policy as follows:


  3. Set Channeling score value to Positive.

    If you set it to Neutral, that will influence your neutral channeling score on the Dashboard.

  4. Save your changes.

How to view positive channeling in reports

  1. In the AI Console, go to Analytics > Reports.
  2. On the Fields tab, under Content, select Channel Sentiment.
  3. Set any other report parameters that you need.
  4. On the Filter by tab, select Channel Sentiment and run the report.

Does positive channeling effects the Self Service Score on the Dashboard?

No. The Self Service Score on the Dashboard is calculated under the assumption that any channeling involves some level of human interaction. Therefore, it cannot be considered to be fully digitally resolved. This means that even if a channel is defined as "positive", it will still "negatively" affect the Self Service Score.

How do I change the escalation bar text?

  1. In the AI Console, go to Touchpoints > Widgets.
  2. Click Personalize under the Widget you want to configure.
  3. Select the Knowledge Base, URL, or domain that you want to change.
  4. On the Settings page, go to the Texts & Colors tab.
  5. To change the text that is displayed in the escalation bar, enter the alternate text in the Escalation-bar title field.

    Result: The change is shown in the display of how your widget will look, in the right-hand section of the page.

  6. Click the Save changes button that is displayed, and then click OK.
The change is made instantly in the widget on your website.

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: ( )

Setting up Digital DX AI contact forms

Overview

Part of the Digital DX AI constant online presence is the contact form feature, an integral part of both the floating and the support page widgets, that allows you to gather vital statistics about your online consumers, as part of the question asking process. These contact forms are fully customizable and configurable, so you can structure the input from your customers to reflect the informational elements most useful to you in terms of business intelligence, market share and demographics.

Setting-up the contact forms

  1. In the AI Console, go to Channeling > Contact Forms.
  2. Select the Knowledge Base or URL for your widget. The default setting is Master Settings, which is recommended to choose, as it ensures that your changes will take effect across all your domains and URLs. The generic options provided with the Digital DX AI solution are displayed on the Popular Forms sub-tab. All of these can be edited to reflect the needs of your company when obtaining demographic data and market research information. See Customizing the Contact Form below for information about personalizing and configuring a contact form.
  3. Click the form that you want to display in your widget. You see the preview of the widget on the right.
  4. Click Save Changes. The change is made instantaneously in the widget on your website.

Customizing the Contact Form

You can modify and personalize all of the contact forms to suit your needs and reflect your requirements. To do so, click the pencil icon under a contact form. The Customize Contact Form dialog is displayed, as shown below:

This dialog contains options on the following tabs:

Edit tab
  • Each field within these tabs is editable.
  • You can add new fields by clicking Add New Field.

To edit a field, move your cursor over the field until it is highlighted.

The following table describes all the editable options:

Option

Description

Click to change the position of the field within the form.

Click to edit the name of the field.

Note: All field text to be visible and viewed by the customer can be modified.

Click to delete the field.

Click the arrow in the Email field to display the field's settings side tab.

You can adjust these settings according to your requirements; specifying a text box type from a drop-down list and enforcing a certain type of customer-entered content; specifying whether a field is mandatory and adding a validation message if required.

Click to display the field's further settings side tab. Again, you can adjust and modify these settings according to your requirements; specifying the field name as it will be represented in the submitted ticket, or defining the class for this field in the CSS.

To save your changes, click Save.

Preview tab

On the Preview tab, you can see how your newly edited contact form will appear to the customer, as shown in the example below.

Settings tab
On the Settings tab, you can name your Contact Form and specify its language.

Assign values to form fields dynamically using an API

You can assign values to fields dynamically. You can also create hidden fields to convey further ticket details. For more information about the API, click here.

What if the automated response doesn't answer the customer's question?

If the automated response doesn't answer the question the customer asked, the customer can choose to escalate the question to an agent either by email or by chat depending on the channeling options set up in the system. See How do I define a channeling policy? for more information.

Digital DX AI can learn agent's answers through the Suggested Content feature of Smart Advisor and respond automatically to similar inquiries in the future. See What is the Suggested Content section? to learn more.

You can also ask for feedback about your articles. See What options are available for gathering user feedback? for more details.

Which features are included in the LivePerson chat integration?

Below is the list of supported features for the Digital DX & LivePerson integration:

  • Pre-chat survey
  • Post-chat survey
  • Integrated chat window
  • Agent availability according to LP skill (predefined in the AI Console)
  • Agent availability according to average waiting time (predefined in the AI Console)
  • Digital DX widget can be added to the LivePerson agent console. You can read more about it here.
  • The ability to define "high-value" questions in the Digital DX knowledge base and set chat availability accordingly. (i.e. Show-chat, hide-chat, promote chat and push chat). You can read more about it here.
  • First initial question asked by the user in the widget, is passed to the Agent in Live Person once chat is initiated from the widget.

How to integrate Salesforce chat

To integrate Salesforce with the Bold360 AI platform, you must first get the deployment code in Salesforce and then set up the integration in Bold360 AI.

Salesforce console settings

  1. Login to your Salesforce admin console, and go to Setup > Build > Customize > Live Agent > Deployments.
  2. Click New.
  3. Fill in the name and title fields and click Save to get the deployment code.
  4. From the deployment code, note down all relevant information (Deployment Domain, Chat API Domain, Deployment Id, Organization Id).

  5. To get the Button Id, go to Chat Buttons and Automated Invitations in Salesforce Setup and extract the button ID from the Chat Button Code.

Bold360 AI settings

  1. Log in to Bold360 AI, and go to Channeling > Channeling Policy.
  2. Click Add channel.
  3. Select Chat for Channel type.
  4. From the Select chat provider drop-down list, select Salesforce.
  5. Fill in the Deployment Domain, Chat API Domain, Button Id, Deployment Id, and Organization Id that you have copied from the Salesforce console.
  6. Optionally, define conditions for the chat button to be displayed. For more information on setting up conditions, see How do I define a channeling policy?.

How to integrate BoldChat?

To integrate BoldChat with Bold360 AI, do the following:

  1. Login to your Bold360 AI, and go to Channeling > Policy.
  2. Click Add channel.
  3. Select Chat for Channel type.
  4. Select Bold360 from the Select chat provider drop-down list.
  5. Paste your BoldChat API key into the API key field.

    If you do not know your BoldChat API key, open your BoldChat console and go to the Setup > General Account Settings menu. On the Chat API tab, click View key next to the API key that you want to copy.

  6. Optionally, define the conditions for the chat button to appear. For more information on setting up conditions, see How do I define a channeling policy?.
  7. Save your changes.

Once the integration is set up, make sure you are Online in the BoldChat console to accept new chats. You will see the Chat escalation button on the Bold360 AI widget. If the chat integration does not work, contact our support.

How to define when the channel bar is displayed?

You can control the number of words typed before the channel bar will appear. The channeling bar will appear only if the number of words typed in the widget is greater or lesser than a specified number.

You can do it by adding a new type of condition to the channeling policy as follows:

  1. Go to Channeling > Channeling Policy and click Add channel.
  2. Name your channel and select the Number of words condition.
  3. From the relation drop-down list, select a condition ('Greater than', 'Equals to' or 'Less than').
  4. Select the number of words.
  5. From the After channel added drop-down, select whether the channel bar will continue or stop processing.
  6. Click Save.

How to add Bold360 AI's contact form to an article?

Add the Bold360 AI contact form to the body of an article.

With smart channeling, you can add the Bold360 AI contact form to the body of an article. This means that the contact form, which is used to escalate tickets, can be used from an article.
  1. Go to Channeling > Policy and click Add channel.

    Result: The Add new channel window is displayed.

  2. Under Channel type select Ticket.
  3. UnderAction on user escalation, select Show contact form.
  4. Under Select contact form, select the contact form to be displayed in the article.
  5. Select Show form in article body.
  6. Add the conditions to populate the contact form in the article.
Example:

What are the best practices for channeling?

Follow these guidelines about channeling to increase deflection rate, agent efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Remember the following guidelines when setting up channeling options:

  • We recommend you provide no more than two or three channeling options at a time? so that you don't overwhelm the customer with options.
  • 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.
  • Offer different channeling options during and outside business hours, for example, email out of business hours and phone only during business hours. This ensures that customers are directed to the channels most suited to them at the time they are interacting with the bot.
  • Offer at least two levels of error messaging, that is, channel after the second error message only. This way you give the bot time to succeed, more than one chance to leverage its full capability which can increase agent efficiency and therefore customer satisfaction.
  • Create multiple customized error messages to go along with the escalation to keep the conversation natural.
  • Ensure channeling is always enabled in the following cases?:
    • When no answer is found? so that instead of disengaging with the communication altogether, the user can ask an agent when they can't get an answer from the bot.
    • When the user provides negative feedback?. This way, you give your agents a chance to immediately improve the user's experience after they've expressed frustration.
  • You can optionally enable channeling
    • By article labels which is easiest for customers to understand
    • By keywords such as agent

What are the best practices for channeling to phone?

When setting up a channeling policy for phone, keep the following in mind:

  • Ensure that there are no phone numbers in articles. Instead of including phone numbers within the article, include a button to channel to phone.
  • If your main goal is deflection, we recommend you remove phone numbers from other places on your website.
These best practices ensure that anytime someone channels to phone, your channeling metrics are updated accordingly enabling you to more accurately calculate channeling and deflection.

How to integrate LiveEngage chat

To integrate LiveEngage with Bold360 AI, you must set up the integration in the LiveEngage console and in Bold360 AI.

If you have an embedded chat window, you must copy the Engagement Element ID as well and make the button hidden. This is only required for embedded LiveEngage buttons.

LiveEngage console settings

  1. Login to the LiveEngage console and go to the Campaigns at the top of the page.
  2. Set up a new campaign.
  3. Choose the engagement that Bold360 AI should connect to and click Edit.
  4. The URL has the following structure: https://z2.le.liveperson.net/a/15915821/#camp!campaigns/web/183894032/engagement/708293532/studio
  5. The last parameter is the Engagement ID, which is 708293532 in the example above. You will need this ID when you set up the integration in Bold360 AI.

Bold360 AI settings

  1. Log in to Bold360 AI, and go to Channeling > Policy.
  2. Click Add channel.
  3. Select Chat for Channel type.
  4. From the Select chat provider drop-down list, select LivePerson LE2.
  5. Fill in the account number, Engagement ID and the Engagement element ID from the LiveEngage Console.
  6. Optionally, define conditions for the chat button to be displayed.

How to integrate LiveChat Inc chat

To integrate LiveChat Inc into Bold360 AI, you must set up the integration in Bold360 AI and in the LiveChat Inc Console.

  1. Set up Bold360 AI:
    1. Login to your Bold360 AI, and go to Channeling > Policy.
    2. Click Add channel.
    3. Select Chat for Channel type.
    4. From the Select chat provider drop-down list, select Live Chat Inc.
    5. Fill in the specific configuration details related to the LiveChat Inc. integration.
    6. Optionally, define conditions for the chat button to be displayed.
  2. Set up the LiveChat Inc Console:
    1. Login to the LiveChat Inc console.
    2. Go to Settings > Chat window > Greetings.
    3. Change the Invite after 20 seconds option to off.
    4. Go to Settings > Channels and click Change your window type.
    5. Set Window type to Embedded on the website.

Once the integration is set up, make sure you are in Accepting chat status in LiveChat inc. You will see the Chat escalation button on the Bold360 AI widget.

How to integrate Zopim Chat

Integrate Zopim Chat with Bold360 AI.

  1. Log in to Bold360 AI, and go to Channeling > Policy.
  2. Click Add channel.
  3. Select Chat for Channel type.
  4. From the Select chat provider drop-down list, select Zopim.
  5. Fill in the specific configuration details related to the Zopim integration.Note: To find your Zopim account number, go the settings widget in Zopim chat console, and you find your account number in the script.
  6. Optionally, define the conditions for the chat button to displayed. For more information on setting up conditions, click here.
  7. Save your changes.
Once the integration is set up, make sure you are Online in the Zopim chat console to accept new chats. The Chat escalation button is displayed on the Bold360 AI widget. If the chat integration does not work, contact our support.

How to integrate Olark chat

  1. Login to your Olark chat console, and make sure your status is set to Accepting new chats.
  2. In the Olark chat console, go to Settings > Installation, and copy the Site ID.
  3. Login to Bold360 AI, and go to Channeling > Policy.
  4. Click Add channel.
  5. In the Channel type drop-down, select Chat.
  6. In the Select chat provider drop-down, select Olark.
  7. Complete the specific configuration details pertaining to the Olark integration and define the conditions for the chat button to appear. For more details on setup conditions, click here.

Now you can see that Chat escalation button on the Bold360 AI widget.

LivePerson LP2 integration - how to test that integration is working

  • Make sure you have the correct account, engagement ID, and the ID of the element where the LivePerson (lp) buttons should be injected.
  • Add a generic rule to make sure that the chat works for any article.
  • The lp tag code should not be injected by Bold360 AI unless decided otherwise. The integration should work regardless of whether the lp tag code exists on the page. However, if needed, you can manually add the lp tag to the page where you perform tests, such as the Support Center page. You should get the lp tag code either from the LivePerson console, if you have the credentials to the account that is being tested, or ask for this code from the customer.
  • Read the following article to get all necessary information from LivePerson.

When you are all set, run your test page and ask a question that should display the chat icon in the action bar of the article. If you cannot see a chat, you must confirm whether the integration is not working or the chat (agent) is not available.

  1. Open the Inspect window (Ctrl+Shift+i).
  2. Go to Console and type lpTag.
  3. Check that the site number matches the the account ID, which is set in the console role.
  4. Check the availability of the chat by clicking lpTag.taglets.rendererStub.getEngagementState(<engagement ID that is set in the policy rule>). Look at the state of the chat to verify that the integration works:
    • If state is 0, the integration does not work properly. See Troubleshooting for more information.
    • If state is 1, the integration is OK and there are no available agent at this time
    • If state is 2 and you do not see the button, this is a CSS issue as something hides the button

Do the following to verify that there are no issues with the setup of the integration:

  • Since we cannot support two simultaneous active chats, verify that there is only one LP2 chat rule active for a specific article.
  • Be patient. From the moment an agent starts using the LivePerson console, it takes up to 5 minutes for Bold360 AI to recognize that a chat is available.

If troubleshooting verifies that the integration works fine, then the problem is with LivePerson.

How do I integrate a Chat Provider?

Bold360 ai can be integrated with any third-party chat provider. You can read about the benefits of chat integration here.

Since a pre-configured solution is available, Bold360 ai can be integrated with minimal effort for the following chat providers:

Announcements

Genesys DX/Bold360 End of Life: January 2024

The Genesys DX (Bold360) platform will end of life on January 31st, 2024. This difficult decision was announced in March, 2023.  

Genesys continues to make a strong commitment to Genesys Cloud, while tightening the portfolio to further accelerate feature growth on the platform. Part of that included bringing over key Genesys DX features to Genesys Cloud CX, such as Knowledge Optimizer that focuses on ease-of-use knowledge management. Digital only licenses for Genesys Cloud were also introduced late last year, which are suitable to those who are not looking for voice capabilities or who need agent seats that only feature support for digital channels. 

Details on the end of life timeline

As of January 31st, 2024, access to Genesys DX product interfaces and customer-deployed components stop to function. Users will no longer be able to log into product interfaces, and all of the boldchat/bold360/nanorep domains will become unavailable for use. If you are curious on what the code on your website related to this might look like and how to remove it, we encourage referencing this post on the DX community

After January 31st, 2024, admins will still be able to get access for an additional 30 days. This period is meant to allow for extracting the necessary data from the platform. Historical data extraction from your account will be available to retrieve by data extraction APIs (Bold360 APIs and Nanorep APIs).