Setting Up Conversation AI

This article will guide you through setting up and configuring Conversation AI so that you can take full advantage of the power of conversational AI inside your FG Funnels® account!

What Is Conversation AI?

Conversation AI is an AI-powered communication tool in FG Funnels that helps automate conversations with contacts across supported channels. It can respond to inbound messages, collect information, answer questions, assist with appointment booking, and support workflows based on how the bot is configured.

Conversation AI bots can be created for different business needs, such as general Q&A, lead capture, appointment booking, or more advanced multi-step conversation flows. Proper setup ensures the bot responds on the correct channels, follows your business goals, and provides a consistent customer experience.

Key Benefits Of Conversation AI

• Multi-Channel Communication: Connect your bot to supported channels such as SMS, Email, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Chat Widget/SMS Chat, and Live Chat.

  
  

• Lead Capture: Collect key contact details like name, email, phone number, address, and custom qualification answers.

  
  

• Appointment Booking: Allow the bot to help contacts book, reschedule, or cancel appointments based on your configuration.

  
  

• Faster Response Handling: Use wait time settings and response modes to control when and how the bot replies.

  
  

• Primary Bot Control: Assign one primary bot to handle general inbound messages on selected channels.

  
  

• Testing Before Launch: Test the bot from the setup panel before setting it live in Suggestive or Auto-Pilot mode.

  
  
• Advanced Customization: Use bot training, Brand Voice, advanced settings, response settings, and workflows to improve bot behavior.

Setup Methods for Conversation AI Bots

Conversation AI offers multiple setup methods so you can choose the best option based on your use case and level of customization. Simple bots can be created with a guided form, while more advanced use cases can use prompt-based setup or a visual flow builder.

FG Funnels currently provides two main setup methods:

Prompt Based Bot

Prompt Based Bot setup is best for users who are comfortable writing detailed prompts and want more control over the bot’s personality, goals, actions, and behavior.

IMPORTANT: Selecting a "Bot Template" when creating your bot will ONLY affect the "Prompts" for your conversation AI bot.  You can always overwrite anything added from the template you selected, but if you select a template, FG Funnels will populate the following areas for you to create foundational bot prompts.

Use Prompt Based Bot when you need:

• More personalized bot behavior
• Custom instructions and prompts
• LLM model selection
• Custom bot personality and goals
• Actions such as appointment booking, workflow triggers, human handover, stop bot, transfer bot, auto follow-up, and conversation summaries

To create a Prompt Based Bot:

Note: Prompt quality directly impacts the bot’s performance. For guidance on writing better prompts, refer to AI Prompting 101 and Customize your AI responses using Prompts.

1. Go to AI Agents > Conversation AI > + Create Bot.
2. Select Prompt Based Bot.
3. Choose one of the available options, such as:
   • General Q&A
   • Appointment Booking
   • Marketplace Template

   • Start from Scratch

     
     
4. Continue into the bot editor.
5. Configure Bot Settings.
6. Configure Bot Training.
7. Configure Bot Goals using prompts, model settings, and actions.

Flow Based Builder

Flow Based Builder is best for advanced users who need visual logic, branching, and multi-step conversation paths. This setup method works well for more complex lead qualification, nurturing, and appointment flows.

Use Flow Based Builder when you need:

• Visual flow-based setup
• Advanced lead qualification
• Multi-step objectives
• Complex logic and branching
• Advanced appointment booking flows
• More control over how contacts move through the conversation

To create a Flow Based Builder bot:

1. Go to AI Agents > Conversation AI > + Create Bot.
2. Select Flow Based Builder.
3. Click Create New Bot.
4. Continue into the bot editor.
5. Configure Bot Settings.
6. Configure Bot Training.
7. Open Bot Goals.
8. Click Launch Flow Builder to create the visual conversation flow.
9. Configure global bot behavior, including:
   • Tone
   • Personality and style
   • Conversation intent
   • Additional business information
   • Business context
10. Configure available actions such as:
    • Stop bot
    • Human handover 
    • Auto follow-up 
11. Configure appointment-related options, if needed.
12. Enable conversation summaries, if needed.

Advanced Features And Settings

Advanced features allow you to customize bot behavior by configuring wait times, message limits, sleep mode, and FAQs. These settings help control response timing, prevent interruptions, and ensure accurate answers to common questions.

• Wait Time Before Responding: Adjust the delay for responses to create a natural flow.

  
  

• Maximum Message Limit: Set the cap for the number of bot messages per interaction.

  
  
• Send Bot to Sleep: Temporarily disable the bot during manual interventions or workflows.

Bot Training

Bot training helps improve the bot's accuracy and relevance in responses by using two key features: the Web Crawler and Custom Bot Responses (FAQs). These tools provide the bot with the information it needs to handle customer queries effectively.

• Web Crawler: The Web Crawler enables you to enhance your bot's training by gathering data from various online sources, ensuring precise and context-aware responses. It can be configured to pull information from specific URLs, directories, entire domains, and even Google Docs.

  
  
• Custom Bot Responses (FAQs): Custom Bot Responses (FAQs) let you specify precise answers for frequently asked questions, ensuring consistency and accuracy. When a user asks something that matches or is similar to an FAQ, the bot provides the exact response you've configured in the FAQ section.

Bot Goals

Bot goals define the bot’s personality, intent, and additional instructions to align with your business needs. Setting these parameters helps the bot maintain the right tone and focus, whether resolving queries or generating leads.

Prompt

The prompt defines the core behavior of the bot by combining its personality, intent, and additional information. This helps guide the bot’s responses to ensure they align with your business needs and communication style.

1. Personality: Personality determines the tone of the bot’s responses, such as friendly, professional, or formal, to match your brand’s communication style. Some examples of different personalities you can use for your conversation AI would be:
   • Friendly: Casual and approachable.
   • Professional: Business-like and formal.

   • Formal: Reserved and highly structured.

     
     
2. Intent: Intent specifies the bot's primary objective, such as resolving customer queries, generating leads, or providing information. Some examples of different intents would be:
   • Resolving Queries: Focus on answering customer questions.

   • Generating Leads: Guide conversations toward lead generation and conversions.

     
     
3. Additional Information: Additional information allows you to provide specific instructions or details to customize the bot’s responses more precisely.

Appointment Booking Actions

Appointment booking actions help the bot facilitate scheduling by sending booking links, transferring conversations to employees, or triggering workflows after an appointment is booked.

1. Picking a Calendar: To assign appointment booking actions to your conversation AI bot you will need to first pick the calendar you want it to reference and book on. Use the dropdown to select the calendar from your sub-account's existing calendars.

   
   

2. Send Booking Link: Instead of displaying available calendar slots, the bot can send a direct booking link to customers. Ideal for businesses that prefer customers to choose slots independently from a calendar interface.

   
   

3. Pause After Booking: Disables any further bot responses once an appointment has been successfully booked. This ensures the bot does not continue the conversation unnecessarily, allowing for a smoother handoff to follow-up processes or human interaction.

   
   
4. Transfer to Employee: This feature allows the current AI bot to hand off a conversation to another AI bot. This enables specialized bots to take over based on the context or type of inquiry, ensuring the conversation is handled by the most appropriate bot. The handoff is seamless, allowing the new AI bot to continue the conversation without interruption.

   • Use Case: When a general support bot needs to transfer a conversation to a booking bot or a specialized bot for more detailed assistance.

     
     
5. Trigger Workflow After Booking: Automate follow-ups or notifications after an appointment is booked. Send confirmation emails, reminders, or internal notifications automatically once an appointment is scheduled.
   • IMPORTANT: You must FIRST create the workflow that you want to trigger, and then you can connect your bot to that workflow.

Test And Train Your Bot In Real-Time

The chat window in the Training and Goals sections allows you to test and refine your bot as you configure it. This real-time feature helps ensure your bot performs accurately before going live.

1. Chat with the Bot: Have full conversations with the bot with no limitations and at no cost. This helps you understand how the bot responds to different queries.

   
   

2. Give Feedback on Answers: Provide feedback on the bot’s responses. Positive feedback improves the bot’s behavior, while negative feedback automatically creates a new FAQ entry in the training section.

   
   

3. Edit the Prompts: Update the bot’s personality, intent, and additional information directly during testing by clicking the small edit icon next to the feedback buttons.

   
   
4. Reset the Conversation: After making edits, reset the conversation without refreshing your browser. This allows you to test changes immediately and continuously refine your bot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I need to create a new bot, or can I edit an existing one?

You can do either. To edit an existing bot, go to AI Agents > Conversation AI > Agent List, then click the bot name or use the three-dot menu and select Edit.

Q: Which setup method should I choose?

Use Guided Form Setup for simple lead capture, appointment booking, or general Q&A. Use Prompt Based Bot if you are comfortable writing detailed prompts. Use Flow Based Builder if you need advanced logic, branching, and multi-step conversation paths.

Q: Does the bot respond immediately after I save it?

Not necessarily. New bots may be set to Off by default. Review the bot status and switch it to Suggestive or Auto-Pilot when you are ready.

Q: What is the difference between Suggestive and Auto-Pilot?

Suggestive mode creates reply suggestions for your team to review and send manually. Auto-Pilot sends replies automatically based on the bot’s configuration.

Q: Should I test the bot before using Auto-Pilot?

Yes. Test lead capture, FAQs, appointment booking, unknown questions, and any workflow-related behavior before enabling Auto-Pilot.

Q: Can the bot collect contact information?

Yes. The bot can collect details such as name, email, phone number, street address, city, and custom question 

responses depending on the setup.

Q: Can Conversation AI book appointments?

Yes. If appointment booking is enabled, the bot can help contacts schedule appointments based on the calendar configuration available in your setup.

Q: What happens if the bot does not know the answer?

You can configure email notifications so selected users are alerted when the bot cannot answer a question.

Q: Can I customize how the bot sounds?

Yes. You can select or create a Brand Voice, add instructions, configure bot goals, and adjust response settings to 

align the bot with your business tone.