Design Automated Texting Sequences
There are several ways to design texting sequences, which automatically invoke chatbots (or single messages) in the future. This functionality is only available in Enterprise plans.
First, let’s review some terminology so you can pick the right artifact for your conversational need.
Single Message vs. Chatbot vs. Schedule Pattern vs. Schedule Flow
When creating a texting campaign, you have the choice to send to the selected set of users either a single message or a chatbot or a schedule flow, which have increasing interaction complexity.
A single message is the simplest case, where a message is just sent. However, the platform does not respond anything based on the possible user’s response. Single messages are appropriate for simple communication needs, such as sharing a promotion or a piece of news.
A chatbot is a conversational module, where the bot sends a message, the user responds, and based on the response the bot decides what to send next. It is important to note that chatbots execute during a single session, that is, the chatbot discussion is supposed to end within a couple of minutes of back and forth between the user and the bot, and not continue after hours or days (although it is possible for an SMS chatbot to span across days if the user is slow at responding to the bot questions). Chatbots are created in the CHATBOTS page.
To create longer-term conversational interactions, that span over hours or days, we need to employ schedule patterns or schedule flows. These artifacts allow creating sequences of chatbots (or single messages) that are triggered after specified time intervals (or at set times) and even check conditions before being triggered.
Schedule patterns are lower-level artifacts that provide more control in creating more complex sequences, but also require more time and training to use them effectively. Schedule flows were introduced as a higher-level graphical interface to hide the details of the underlying schedule patterns that are automatically created in the background. We generally recommend using schedule flows wherever possible.
A schedule pattern specifies when a specific chatbot will be triggered, that is, it is a combination of a chatbot and a time specification. For example, schedule pattern wellnessBotDemo may be created to trigger chatbot wellnessBot every day at 9 am for the next one month. For more details, see the schedule patterns page.
A schedule flow is an alternative way to create future chatbot invocations or chatbot sequences. The admin creates a temporal visual diagram of chatbot (or single message) invocations and delays between them, which can then be assigned to users. In the background, a schedule flow is implemented as a set of interconnected schedule patterns. For more details, see the schedule flows page.