Channels
Last updated
Last updated
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:
Facebook MessengerWhatsApp Business APIGoogle AssistantWebVoiceWorkplace from FacebookWebhook channelSinch Conversation APIChatlayer.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:
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 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 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
