Channels
Users can use your chat bot via a channel. The channel you choose for your bot depends on where its users will most likely look for help or hang out.
For example, if you are building an internal HR bot, we think it's best to put it on the company HR portal using a web widget, or perhaps on Facebook Workplace. However, if you're building a bot that targets a young(er) demographic, Facebook Messenger might be a better channel.
Publishing your bot on a channel is quite easy if you follow our channel guides:
Chatlayer.ai allows you to connect one bot to multiple channels at the same time.
If you want your users to follow a different flow based on the channel they are using, you can use our multi-channel functionality. To do this, add a Go To to the point in your flow where you wish to diverge, based on the channel.
Within this 'Go To', guide the user based on the
internal.channel variable, which contains the channel variable. In the image below you can see a bot that is connected to Facebook Messenger and Web chat; in order to offer the best experience in each channel, it diverts the users to the channel-specific flow by creating a condition: if internal.channel variable equals "facebook", create a 'Go To' to the Facebook flow; if not (else if), create a 'Go To' to the Web flow:
The values for
internal.channel correspond to the channel names:Channel name | values for internal.channel |
|---|---|
All channels managed through the Sinch Conversation API (SMS, RCS, WhatsApp, Viber, Instagram, Telegram, LINE) | sinchConversationAPI |
Amazon | amazon |
App integration channel (at the moment: Freshdesk Messaging webchat) | AppIntegrationChannel |
Chat widget | web |
Facebook Messenger | facebook |
Facebook Workplace | facebookWorkplace |
Google Home | googleHome |
Intercom | intercom |
Phone (through legacy CM.com) | cmPhone |
Sinch Contact Pro | SinchInboxBotChannel |
Sinch Voice | SinchVoiceBotChannel |
Sparkcentral | SparkcentralBotChannel |
Voice (through legacy CM.com) | voice |
Webhook | webHook |
Whatsapp (through legacy CM WhatsApp) | whatsapp |
WhatsApp through ACL | ACLWhatsappBotChannel |
WhatsApp through Wavy | WavyWhatsappBotChannel |
Zendesk | ZendeskChatBotChannel |
The table below gives an overview of which features are available in which channels. If a feature is not listed below, it's available for all channels.
Web widget | FB Messenger (native) & FB Workplace | Sinch Conversation API channels | Wavy WhatsApp | ACL WhatsApp | Webhook | Voice | |
Text message |  | | | | | | |
Media | | | | | | | |
Button | | | | | |||
Quick reply | | | | | |||
Carousel (generic template) | | | | | |||
List (web) | | | |||||
| | | |||||
| | ||||||
| | | | ||||
File | | | | | | | |
Rich text | | | | | | | |
Voice message | | | | |
Last modified 8mo ago