All Channels - Other Utility Steps
Here is the list of all the steps in the Bot Editor which are utilities for various use cases, and are usable for all channels like AlcmeonChat, WhatsApp, etc.
Note
This step doesn't send any messages to your client. It's an internal note that allows you to write down some information about your scenario, as a reminder or as a guide for your colleagues. In fact, it's a "sticky" note!
Waiting for a message
This step has a simple role: it is triggered as soon as the client sends a message.
It is particularly useful when connected following a step that does not have a “free message entry” output, such as “carousel” or “message only” steps, or even an “action” step.
Link to a scenario
💡Advanced feature, please contact Alcmeon support to use it.
This special step is invisible to your client. It simply allows you to link your current scenario to another active scenario, creating interconnected "modules." This step can currently only be linked to scenarios in the Alcmeon Marketing environment.
Agent Shortcut (beta)
💡Advanced feature, please contact Alcmeon support to use it.
Allows you to add a shortcut at any point in the scenario that can be used by an agent in the process of responding to a customer.
This will have the effect of (re)launching the bot at that precise point for the customer, immediately after the advisor sends the written response.
For example, if an advisor wants qualifying information that the bot was requesting in a certain branch but the customer did not provide, instead of manually requesting it, they can force the user to take over that branch of the scenario so that the customer qualifies their request.
📄 NB: the title of this step is mandatory, and must be very explicit, because this is what will appear to the advisor in their interface on the Conversation Page.
Promo code
This step sets a scenario variable to the value of a promo code.
In your Alcmeon Bot scenario, you have the choice between delivering the same generic code to all customers, or delivering a unique code per customer.
In the latter case, you must provide our support team with an excel or csv file in the Promo Code step of your scenario and we will integrate your file.
Next, this step will randomly distribute these codes to each customer. Note: A returning customer will receive the same code they previously received. Each code is distributed to only one customer.
In this step you will need to choose an "Operation" name defined in your excel or csv file, as we allow multiple operations to happen at the same time.
The Promo Code step has 3 outputs to plug into your scenario:
- Code found: the code is saved in the variable
promo_code_[yourOperationName] - No code available: All promo codes have been used
- The user has already received the code
On first release, the code can be used in a message. If your promotion is called "Winter24", you can send a message to your customer via a "Message Only" step, for example, with the text "Here is your code, use it now! {{promo_code_Winter24}}".
Subbot
⚠️Advanced feature, please contact Alcmeon support before using it.
This step has 2 uses: internal subbot and external subbot, which you must choose from the drop-down menu when editing this box.
Internal subbot
An internal subbot has been created and is administered by Alcmeon. It allows for advanced features requiring complex operations.
Capture message content
Stores the last message from the client in the variable “message_context”. This special variable is used for example by the “AI Connector” step
Please note, this only works for text messages, but not for other types of client messages like images, videos, audio, etc.
When a message that is not a text message attempts to be captured by this subbot, the subbot will trigger the error output “Message format not supported”.
Check user answer
Deprecated feature, please do not use it.
Get the day of the week
Allows you to have one branch per day of the week, and the bot will take the output corresponding to the day of the week, for example "Monday".
It is possible to override this value, for testing purposes, by passing a date in the format today_GMT_YYYY-MM-DD into the "message_content" variable, which will trick the subbot into thinking it is on that date.
Search Closest Store
Based on an Excel file containing a list of geolocated stores, to be uploaded to the subbot, this function asks the customer for their postal code and offers them a list of stores within 50km.
2 error outputs: internal error and no stores found within 50km radius
The excel file to be uploaded must be in xslx format and have the following columns, in this order:
Wait for a postal code input by the user
Allows you to request a postal code from the customer and automatically position the location variable with the latitude/longitude associated with the postal code.
Then use the subbot “Search Closest Store” for example.
External subbot
Allows you to share control of the conversation with a system external to Alcmeon. This third party will develop and host an endpoint in a middleware that will be called by an Alcmeon webhook when it is necessary to handle a certain part of the conversation.
Technical documentation:
- https://developers.Alcmeon.com/reference/get_description-1
- https://developers.Alcmeon.com/reference/post_start-1
- https://developers.Alcmeon.com/reference/post_handle-event-1
- https://developers.Alcmeon.com/reference/post_end-1
- https://developers.Alcmeon.com/reference/get_uploaded-tabular-data
- https://developers.Alcmeon.com/reference/post_subbot-continue
Mailing campaign
💡Advanced feature, please contact Alcmeon support to use it.
Allows you to define, at any point in your scenario, the start of a message sending campaign path for Alcmeon Marketing.
📄 NB: the title of this step is mandatory, and must be very explicit, because this is what will appear to the Alcmeon Marketing user in the push campaign interface.