Slot Types and Examples

If you set Influence Dialogue to On, your bot can behave differently depending on whether there is content in the slot. For entity-based slots, the bot only evaluates whether or not there is content. It doesn't behave differently based on the meaning of the content.

For example, if the bot asks the contact to provide the office location, it can act differently based on whether the contact does so. It cannot act differently for the Phoenix office versus the Prague office.

If you want the bot's actions to changed based on the content of the slot, you must create a custom text slot. Additional configuration will also be needed.

The bot could ask for the contact's first name, and you could then use that value as a variable in other bot actions throughout the conversation.

The bot statement, "Which office do you work in?" can let you report on something based on location. In the planning example, Akela added this statement so she could see how many users needed help with password resets by office.

An appointment scheduling bot might say, "I can send your new patient forms now if you provide your email address." The email address could then be passed to an automated job to send the forms.

A customer service bot might say, "Can I have your account number, please?" The slot could trigger an API call to your CRM that passes the value of the slot and then returns the account status based on the account number. This information could then be provided to the bot, or to a live agent.

The bot might also ask, "What would you like us to call you?". This information could be extracted to a custom text slot, used throughout the conversation, and stored in the customer's record for other types of interactions.

In each example, the bot could respond with a different action depending on whether the slot value was populated. Separate configuration would be needed to act on the content of the slot.

Select this type if you want the slot to hold numeric values. New fields appear so you can enter a Min Value and a Max Value. The default Min Value is 0 and the default Max Value is 10.

If you set Influence Dialogue to On, the bot's behavior can change depending on the value in the slot. Values below the minimum are treated as the minimum. Values above the maximum are treated as the maximum. In other words, if you set Min Value to 1 and Max Value to 5, the bot can behave differently for each of the values 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

A medical triage bot could ask, "What is the patient's temperature?" The slot can be set with a minimum value of 97 and a maximum value of 100. The bot can respond differently for patients with a very low temperature (97 degrees or less), a normal temperature (97.1 to 99 degrees), or a high temperature (100 degrees or more).

A restaurant reservations bot could ask, "How many in your party?" The slot could be set with a minimum value of 1 and a maximum value of 8. The bot can respond differently for each number in that range, perhaps by offering a table to parties with fewer than four members, a booth for four to seven members, and declining a reservation for parties of eight or more.

A banking bot might offer different incentives to contacts based on the total value of their accounts. The account values are pulled from the bank's internal system and saved to a custom slot.

You could create a custom number slot that is populated with any past-due balance from the contact's account. The bot could then attempt to collect the balance or handover Any contact message that should trigger transfer to a live agent the call so a live agent could do so.

For these last two examples, additional configuration would be required to pull the information from your CRM or accounting system.

Select this type if you want the slot to hold one of several values that you provide. A new Values field appears, where you can enter the specific values separated by commas. The bot would typically provide these values as choices to the contact. The default value of Other is automatically added to the values you define.

If you set Influence Dialogue to On, the bot's behavior can change depending on the value in the slot. Any values not specified in the Values field are treated as Other.

An order-taking bot might ask, "Do you want a small, medium, large, or extra-large pizza?" After the contact enters one of these values, the bot can respond differently based on the size. If the contact enters "Individual" or another value not on the list, the bot can ask for a correction before proceeding.

A bot used for hotel reservations might ask, "Do you want a smoking or non-smoking room?" and then pass the contact's response to the reservations system.

A survey bot could ask the contact to rate their experience as excellent, good, fair, or poor. A fair or poor response could then trigger a request for more information, which could be saved in a text slot.

A reservations bot might offer several open dinner times to a contact. The available times are pulled from an internal calendar resource and saved in a custom slot.

Select this type if you want the slot to hold true or false values.

If you set Influence Dialogue to On, the bot's behavior can change depending on whether the slot is set to True, set to False, or is Empty. An empty slot does not automatically act as a False value. You can train the bot to recognize "yes" as true and "no" as false.

An order-taking bot might ask, "Do you have any coupons today?" An answer of False might result in the bot finishing the order, while an answer of True might require a handover Any contact message that should trigger transfer to a live agent for processing the discount.

Instead of using a categorical slot, the hotel reservations bot might ask, "Do you want a smoking room?" and then treat a False response as a request for a non-smoking room. If the contact does not respond, the bot could explain that a preference is required to proceed with the reservation.

A technical support bot could ask, "Have you tried rebooting your system?" It could then ask the contact to reboot if the answer is True, or proceed to the next step if the answer is False.

Select this type if you want the slot to hold an arbitrary value. It might a good choice if you are gathering data from the contact that you want to use in other systems.

An entity-based slot with the Any type cannot be used to influence the dialogue between bot and contact. A custom Any slot can influence dialog with additional configuration.

You might want a customer service bot to gather data about the contact's clothing sizes. You could use a text slot, but you don't know for sure how the contact will state the size since different sizing systems are used around the world. An Any slot could hold the information in whatever way the contact expresses it.

Slot holds the entire last message Anything a contact says in a bot interaction, whether question or statement, written or spoken. from the contact.

This slot does not influence dialogue.

Value is automatically generated by the system. This value may include Digital Experience custom fields.

The content of this slot cannot be edited.

Slot holds data about the ongoing contact The person interacting with an agent, IVR, or bot in your contact center..

This slot does not influence dialogue.

Value is automatically generated by the system. This value may include Digital Experience custom fields.

The content of this slot cannot be edited.

Slot holds data about the customer The person on the other end of an interaction..

This slot does not influence dialogue.