Selecting the block type

Within any application there are a number of different types of content you may want to show to the user. This ranges from simple text or image based responses through to more complicated forms that collect information from the user. Here we explain all of the possible block types you can use.

Basic blocks

This is the most used block type. To sum it up, if your bot is 'just saying something', this is the block type you need.

With this type of block your bot can:

• say something to the user

• offer button options to guide the user - see Buttons

• keep those button options active after the conversation moves on (just check the 'Keep buttons after user choice' box)

If your bot is doing more than just saying something, e.g. collecting data or looking something up in another system, it's probably a function block you need.

Function blocks

Does you bot need to do something? Gather user details, find something out from another system, email someone, etc.? If so, it's time for a function block.

Function blocks themselves are very similar to a Basic Block however they will also pass the data out to any Webhooks that are configured in the bot.

When adding a function you can either choose from a number of the prebuilt functions within the platform or you can create a generic function block knowing that you or a member of the team will implement the functionality for it through the webhook.

In order to help build out the conversation quickly, and while you are waiting for any development to continue, you can create a Function block but temporarily disable the bot from attempting to send the information to the webhook. To achieve this inside a function block, you'll see a 'To do' checkbox. While this is checked, the bot will not attempt to post data to the webhook or built-in function. Instead, it will display the temporary information and move on. You may want to use the temporary fields to 'fake' what your bot does for prototype purposes, or to just write a description of what the bot will do as a reminder. Then you're free to carry on designing your experience.

When the developers come to build the function, they'll use the webhook facility in settings and uncheck the 'To do' box. Once this is unchecked, the bot will try to complete the function properly and won't show the information in the temporary fields.

Prebuilt function blocks

These are things you can make your bot do - no coding knowledge necessary. They work by using Forms as a basis. You just need to configure the block and vóila - your bot just moved up a league in the chatbot stakes!

Email

Great for enquiries, reservations and lots more. It's easy to set your bot up so it takes some information from the user and sends this to a mailbox of your choice.

As well as the usual information a block can provide, the Email block will also require a Form that will ask all the relevant questions you need to extract. You will also need to provide the information specific to sending the email such as the To Email, From Email, and Subject

Of course, you don't want to leave the user hanging once you have the info, so remember to tell your bot what to say next, with a Next block.

Salesforce - create a case

As many companies choose Salesforce as their CRM platform of choice, we created the Salesforce - create a case block - ideal for raising tickets with humans.

To use this block you'll need to configure some settings first. Go to the Settings area of the platform and select Salesforce from the left-hand menu. The information here will include the Client ID and Authentication tokens needed to connect to Salesforce.

Once you've configured the Salesforce settings you'll be able to add the block to your content. There are no additional properties you need to configure for this block type.

Unset form

IntelAgent remembers information that a user has provided during a conversation. For instance, if the user has entered their address, the bot won't ask for it again if it's needed for another action.

While this is useful, there are times when you want to be able to reset any information that a user has provided. For instance, if a user orders something to go to one address but then wants to order something else to go to another address you may want to be able to clear the address information for that user.

An Unset form function block will clear the information associated with the current user, for the form identified in the block. It will not clear any other information collected from other forms which means that you can clear the address information, but persist the users name or email if you've collected that via a different form.

Zapier

If you're planning on integrating with an external platform such as a Database or CRM one option is to develop the integration manually. However, Zapier is a platform that has integrated with over 3000 different platforms already and as a result may well have built that integration before. With this in mind it might be easier and cheaper to provide the integration with the help of Zapier instead.

To integrate with Zapier, you'll need the Zapier block in logicdialog. More information about integrating with Zapier can be found on the Zapier Integrations page.

Image blocks

As the name suggests, Image blocks allow you to present images to the users. Logicdialog allows you to easily drag and drop the image you wish to show to the user on to the block.

If you wish to have more than one Image then you can use the Gallery option. Using the buttons at the top of the block you can add any number of Items to the gallery. Each item can have the same features as a normal block such as a title and buttons etc.