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2018, 2024
2024-06-27
watson-assistant

{{site.data.keyword.attribute-definition-list}}

Collecting information from your customers

{: #collect-info}

Many actions require multiple steps to collect all of the information that is required to complete the customer's request. When a step asks the customer for more information, the customer response type defines what type of response is expected. {: shortdesc }

In the step editor user interface, the middle portion of the step configuration defines the interaction between the assistant and the customer.

Step editor with middle part highlighted{: caption="Step editor" caption-side="bottom"}

The Assistant says field specifies the output that the assistant sends to the customer. If this output is a question that the user is expected to answer, that answer might be a number, a date, a name, or something else. You use the Define customer response field to specify what type of response is expected, based on the kind of information the assistant is asking for and how the customer is expected to specify it.

Choosing a response type

{: #choose-type}

To choose the customer response type for a step, click Define customer response to expand the field. You can then select one of the following response types:

Response type Description Example input
Options A list of predefined choices that customers can select from. At run time, the web chat integration shows an options response as a set of clickable buttons or as a drop-down list, depending on the number of choices. Small Medium Large
Confirmation A choice of either Yes or No. At run time, the web chat integration shows the Yes and No options as clickable buttons. Yes, No
Regex A text response that matches a specified pattern or format (such as an email address or telephone number).
Number A single generic number, specified either as numerals (100) or words (one hundred). 100, one hundred
Date A single specific date or a range of dates. 31 December 2021, 12/31/2020, tomorrow
Time A single specific time or a range of time. 5:00 PM, now
Currency An amount of money, including the unit. $25, 500 yen
Percent A fractional numeric value that is expressed as a percentage. 10%, 50 percent
Free text Any arbitrary text response. 123 Main Street, John Q. Smith
{: caption="Response types" caption-side="bottom"}

Skipping steps, always asking steps, or never asking steps

{: #collect-info-skip-step}

Although a customer response is associated with a particular step, the assistant can recognize the required information at any point during the action. You can set a step to be skipped if its value is already provided in the user's input. If the value is specified after the step, the new value replaces the value that is specified in the step itself.

For example, if the customer's initial input was I want to withdraw money from my checking account, a step that asks the user to select a bank account is skipped because the customer already entered that information.

For steps that expect a customer response, you can decide whether to:

  • Skip asking if the answer is mentioned in previous messages. This is the default for responses except Confirmation and Free text.
  • Always ask for this information, regardless of previous messages. This is the default for Confirmation and Free text.
  • Never ask. Collect information from previous messages.

Always ask

{: #collect-info-skip-step-always-ask}

If your action asks for the same type of data in more than one step, use the Always ask for this information setting to prevent the assistant from making incorrect assumptions. For example, you might have an action in which one step asks for a hotel check-in date and another step asks for the check-out date. If you skip asking, the assistant can mistake the check-in date for the check-out date.

To require that a step is always used in the conversation with a customer:

  1. In the customer response, click the Settings icon to open Customer response settings.

    Customer response settings{: caption="Customer response settings" caption-side="bottom"}

  2. Choose Always ask for this information, regardless of previous messages.

  3. Click Apply.

Never ask

{: #collect-info-skip-step-never-ask}

There might be some situations where you need a step to never ask a question because you anticipate redundant questions in the conversation.

To set that a step is never asked in the conversation with a customer:

  1. In the customer response, click the Settings icon to open Customer response settings.

  2. Choose Never ask. Collect information from previous messages.

  3. Click Apply.

Example

{: #collect-info-skip-step-never-ask-example}

This example explains when you might set a step to never ask for a response.

You might have an action that responds to requests to file an insurance claim. If you expect customers to typically make a request about a specific type of claim, such as auto, home, or medical, you might not want to ask another question about what type. They might say I need to file an auto claim or I want to make a home claim.

Although you still need a step that collects the answer about the type of claim, you might not want or need to ask that explicit question, especially if your assistant is used with the phone integration. Instead, you can create a step with the claim options, but set it to never ask.

This table shows how you might set up the steps. The last step is a catch-all in case the customer doesn't mention the claim type initially.

Step Conditions Assistant says Customer response Customer response setting And then
1 None What kind of claim? Options: Automobile, Homeowner, Medical Never ask Continue to the next step
2 Step 1 is Automobile None Click here to file an automobile claim Skip (default) End the action
3 Step 1 is Homeowner None Click here to file a homeowner claim Skip (default) End the action
4 Step 1 is Medical None Click here to file a medical claim Skip (default) End the action
5 Step 1 is not defined (no claim type) None Click here to file an insurance claim Skip (default) End the action
{: caption="Example using the never ask response setting" caption-side="bottom"}

Protecting the privacy of the customer information

{: #protect-privacy-customer-information}

You can protect the privacy of the customer information in a step that you configure for the assistant. To hide confidential information in the conversation in a step, you can edit the settings and select the Protect data collected at this step checkbox. When you enable private-variable protection, the protected data is masked with asterisks in the conversation log. You can identify a conversation that includes a private variable in the preview page or preview panel with the toggle-tip icon (toggle-tip icon) that appears next to conversation.

To disable private variable protection, go to Customer response settings in the Editor tab inside an action step.{: tip}

The feature for masking the confidential customer information is available only for actions in assistants. If you're calling actions from a dialog, you can see the privacy setting in your action steps, but selecting the checkbox doesn't mask the customer information. In addition, this feature is not available for the assistants that are built in the classic experience of {{site.data.keyword.conversationfull}}. {: note}

For the stateful message API, the private variables are not included in the message response. For the stateless message API, the private variables are included in the message response with encryption.{: note}

For information about masking variables, see Using variables to manage conversation information{: tip}

Customer response types

{: #customer-response-types}

The configuration information that you must provide varies by response type.

Options

{: #customer-response-type-options}

An options response presents customers with a list of choices to select from. How these options are presented depends upon how your customers connect to the assistant. In the web chat integration, the options are shown as clickable buttons (for 4 or fewer options) or as a drop-down list (for more than 4 options).

There are two ways to create the list:

  • Enter a list of options and synonyms
  • Generate a dynamic list from a variable

Entering a list of options and synonyms

{: #customer-response-type-options-static}

Enter each choice in the Option fields. You can click Add synonyms to enter variations of an option value that customers might type. You can enter multiple synonyms in a comma-separated list.

For example, you might define the following options and synonyms:

Option value Synonyms
Blue aqua, turquoise, navy
Red burgundy, crimson, sangria
Green lime, olive, forest
{: caption="Options example" caption-side="top"}

To select an option, customers can click an option button or list item, such as Green. Or they can type Green or one of its synonyms, such as lime.

Synonyms are useful for a response that might be skipped because they enable the assistant to recognize an option that the customer might have chosen before seeing the list. For example, if the customer's original input was I want to order a large coffee, a synonym would enable the assistant to recognize large as equivalent to the actual size Grande.

You can save this configuration for reuse in other steps. To save a customer response, click the Save response for reuse icon. For more information about saved customer responses, see Saving and reusing customer responses. {: tip}

If you have a long list of options, such as all the states in the United States, you can choose to not show options in a list. This can be useful to prevent a phone integration from reading a long list of options to the customer.

To disable the list:

  1. In the options customer response, click the Settings icon.

  2. Click the Present options to the customer in a list toggle to off.

Dynamic list of options

{: #customer-response-type-options-dynamic}

Within the options customer response, you can use the dynamic setting to generate the list when you need to ask questions that are potentially different each time and for each customer. You need to set up a variable as the source of the options. For more information, see Dynamic options.

Confirmation

{: #customer-response-type-confirmation}

A confirmation response presents customers with the choices of either Yes or No as clickable buttons. Use this response type when the customer's response must be either Yes or No.

The following customer responses are recognized as Yes:

  • yeah
  • yea
  • yup
  • sure
  • positive

The following customer responses are recognized as No:

  • not
  • nope
  • nay
  • negative

The default setting for Confirmation is Always ask for this information. For more information, see Skipping steps, always asking steps, or never asking steps.

Regex

{: #customer-response-type-regex}

A regex response collects a text string that matches a pattern that is expressed as a regular expression. Use this response to capture a value that must conform to a particular pattern or format, such as an email address or telephone number.

You can specify multiple regular expressions for a single response. For example, you might define multiple regex patterns that match part numbers from different vendors that use different formats. Input text for the response is recognized if it matches any of the regex patterns you specify.

To add a regex response:

  1. In Define customer response, click Regex.

  2. Click Edit response.

  3. In the Regular expression field, select one of the predefined regular expressions, or click Define custom regular expression to write your own.

    To use a predefined regular expression, select one of the following:

    • Email: An internet email address (for example, [email protected]).
    • Phone number: A ten-digit US phone number (for example, 800-555-1212 or (800) 555-1212).
    • URL: A correctly formatted URL for an online resource, optionally including the protocol (for example, example.com or https://example.org/index.html).

    For examples of other common patterns, see Example regex patterns. {: tip}

    For more information on regular expression syntax, see Syntax{: external}.

    Only English characters can be used in a regular expression. If you need to use other characters in a regular expression, you must represent those characters in Unicode.

    {{site.data.keyword.conversationshort}} uses the Google RE2 regular expression library to match regular expressions at run time. Regular expression syntax can vary between implementations, so ensure any regex patterns that you write conform to the RE2 syntax{: external}. {: note}

  4. If you want to specify multiple regex patterns for the response, click Add regular expression to add another field in which you can select or define another regular expression.

    When you specify more than one regular expression, a Name field is displayed for each one. Use this field to give each regex pattern a unique name. You can use this name in subsequent step conditions to identify which regex pattern was matched.

    Response with multiple regex patterns{: caption="Response with multiple regex patterns" caption-side="bottom"}

  5. Test your regular expression by typing example input in the Test field. If any text within your input matches the regex patterns you specified, the matching text is listed in the Assistant recognizes: field.

    Match shown in regex test{: caption="Match shown in regex test" caption-side="bottom"}

    The Test feature in the step editor uses a browser-based regex engine to find matches in your test input. At run time, the assistant uses a different regex engine that might have different results, especially with complex patterns. Before deploying your assistant in production, always use the assistant preview to test any step that uses a regex response. {: note}

  6. Click Apply when you're finished editing.

  7. By default, customers can't change topics when an utterance matches the pattern in a regex response. If you want a customer to be able to digress with a regex response, click the Settings icon, then enable the toggle Allow customer to change topics before evaluating a regex response. This gives the customer a chance to change topics before the assistant checks the regex pattern. For more information, see Allowing your customers to change the topic of the conversation.

You can save your configured regex response for reuse in other steps. For more information, see Saving and reusing customer responses. {: tip}

Example regex patterns

{: #regex-examples}

You can use the following regex patterns to recognize some common types of user input.

Description Patterns
US passport number /^[A-PR-WY][1-9]\d\s?\d{4}[1-9]$/
US bank routing number \b((0[0-9])|(1[0-2])|(2[1-9])|(3[0-2])|(6[1-9])|(7[0-2])|80)| ([0-9]{7})\b
UPS tracking number /\b(1Z ?[0-9A-Z]{3} ?[0-9A-Z]{3} ?[0-9A-Z]{2} ?[0-9A-Z]{4} ?| [0-9A-Z]{3} ?[0-9A-Z]|[\dT]\d\d\d ?\d\d\d\d ?\d\d\d)\b/
USPS tracking number - /(\b\d{30}\b)|(\b91\d+\b)|(\b\d{20}\b)/\n- /^E\D{1}\d{9}\D{2}$|^9\d{15,21}$/\n- /^91[0-9]+$/\n - /^[A-Za-z]{2}[0-9]+US$/
FedEx tracking number - /(\b96\d{20}\b)|(\b\d{15}\b)|(\b\d{12}\b)/\n- /\b((98\d\d\d\d\d?\d\d\d\d|98\d\d) ?\d\d\d\d ?\d\d\d\d( ?\d\d\d)?)\b/\n - /^[0-9]{15}$/
{: caption="Example regex patterns" caption-side="bottom"}

Number

{: #customer-response-type-number}

A number response collects a single numeric value.

The customer can specify the number value in either numerals (100) or words (one hundred). Negative and decimal values are recognized.

Date

{: #customer-response-type-date}

A date response collects a specific calendar date or a range of dates. The assistant can recognize dates that are expressed in various formats. Valid examples include:

  • Today
  • Friday
  • Now
  • 10/30/2020
  • October 30th, 2020
  • October 30th

Time

{: #customer-response-type-time}

A time response collects a single time or a range of times. The assistant can recognize times that are expressed in various formats. Valid examples include:

  • 12:45PM
  • 10:30
  • 6am
  • Now
  • at 10
  • from 5pm
  • 4 o'clock
  • half past 4

Currency

{: #customer-response-type-currency}

A currency response collects a currency value, including the amount and the unit. The assistant can recognize currency values that are expressed in various formats. Valid examples include:

  • $10.00
  • 20 cents
  • five dollars
  • 500 yen

Percent

{: #customer-response-type-percent}

A percent response collects a fractional value that is expressed as a percentage. The assistant can recognize a percentage that is written by using either the percent symbol (%) or the word percent). Valid examples include:

  • 15%
  • 10.5 percent

Free text

{: #customer-response-type-free-text}

A free text response collects any arbitrary text string. Use this response for capturing any text, such as a name or address, or special instructions to be passed along. Valid examples include:

  • 123 Main St.
  • John Q. Smith
  • Please add extra sauce

The free text response type has these default settings:

You can enable watsonx.ai in your assistants to intelligently recognize the text strings in a free text response with multiple action variables. For more information about using watsonx.ai to gather information, see Information-gathering.

Saving and reusing customer responses

{: #saved-customer-responses}

There might be some questions that your assistant needs to ask in multiple different steps and actions. For example, a banking assistant might support many different actions, each of which requires that the customer specifies an account number. A customer response might have a complex configuration (for example, it might have options with many synonyms). Instead of having to rebuild such a response over and over, you can save a customer response and reuse it wherever your assistant needs it.

Creating a saved customer response

{: #saved-customer-responses-create}

To create a saved customer response:

  1. In Actions, click Saved responses.

  2. Click New saved response.

  3. In the Name field, specify a descriptive name for the saved customer response configuration.

  4. Configure the details of the response as required. A saved response can be created only as an options response type. For more information about this response type, see Customer response types.

  5. Click Save. The saved customer response now appears on the Saved responses page.

  6. In the Type of response field, choose Options or Regex.

You can also edit or delete any existing saved customer response. Keep in mind that any changes that you make apply to all instances of the customer response in any step that uses it. If you delete a saved customer response, any steps that use that response become invalid and must be corrected to use a different response type. {: important}

For the options and regex customer response types, you can also create a saved customer response based on the customer response configuration within a step. If you configure a customer response in a step, click the Save response for reuse icon and specify a descriptive name for the saved customer response. (This isn't available if you use the dynamic setting for an options response.) {: tip}

Uploading saved customer responses

{: #uploading-saved-customer-response}

If you have many saved customer responses, you can upload them from a comma-separated value (CSV) file than to define them one by one. If you are migrating entities from the classic experience to saved customer responses in {{site.data.keyword.conversationshort}}, see Migrating intents and entities.

  1. Collect the saved customer responses into a CSV file. Save the CSV file with UTF-8 encoding and no byte order mark (BOM).

    The required format for each line in the file is as follows:

    <savedResponse>,<value>,<synonyms>

    Where <savedResponse> is the name of a saved customer response, <value> is a value for the saved customer response, and <synonyms> is a comma-separated list of synonyms for that value. For example:

    genres,science fiction,sci-fi,SF
genres,historical fiction,HF
genres,young adult,YA
genres,autobiography
genres,biography
genres,fantasy
locations,Adams Street
locations,Central
locations,South End

    Uploading a CSV file also supports patterns. Any string that is wrapped with / is considered a pattern, as opposed to a synonym. For example:

    ContactInfo,localPhone,/(\d{3})-(\d{4})/
ContactInfo,fullUSphone,/(\d{3})-(\d{3})-(\d{4})/
ContactInfo,internationalPhone,/^(\(?\+?[0-9]*\)?)?[0-9_\- \(\)]*$/
ContactInfo,email,/\b[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Za-z]{2,}\b/
ContactInfo,website,/(https?:\/\/)?([\da-z\.-]+)\.([a-z\.]{2,6})([\/\w \.-]*)*\/?$/

  2. Go to the Saved responses page.

  3. Click the Upload icon Upload icon.

  4. Select a file from your computer. The maximum CSV file size is 10 MB. If your CSV file is larger, consider splitting it into multiple files and uploading them separately.

    The file is validated and uploaded, and the system trains itself on the new data.

Using saved customer responses in steps

{: #using-saved-customer-response}

After you save a customer response, it becomes available as a response type for any step. To use a previously saved customer response in a step:

  1. In the step editor, click Define customer response.

  2. In the list of customer response types, click Saved to see the available saved customer responses.

    Step editor with saved customer responses{: caption="Step editor" caption-side="bottom"}

  3. Click the saved response that you want to use.

To remove a saved response from a step, click the Delete Delete icon icon. Removing a saved response from a step affects only the step that you are editing. It does not delete the saved response or remove it from any other steps.

To edit a saved response from a step, click Edit response. Keep in mind that if you edit a saved response, your changes affect all steps that use the response. If you want to edit the response only for the step you are editing, click the Unlink from saved response Unlink from saved response icon icon. After you unlink a response, any edits you make affect only the step you are editing; they do not affect any other steps, nor are they applied to the saved response.

After you unlink a response, you cannot relink it. If you want to return to the saved response without your edits, delete the response, and then read the original saved response. If you want to make your edited version of the response available for reuse, save it as a new saved response. {: tip}