Check your bot is ready to launch

Run through this checklist before you put your bot in front of customers, so it answers well, fails gracefully and doesn't surprise you with costs.

Who can do this: team owners and admins.

Knowledge

• The bot has the content it needs. List the ten questions customers ask most and check each answer exists in a data source. Add anything missing, such as prices, opening hours or returns policies, with a manual data source. See Structure your content for good answers.
• Every data source has finished syncing. Check the Data sources tab. The bot can't answer from content that hasn't synced.
• Content stays up to date. Turn on automatic syncing (Standard and above) for sources that change, such as your website or help centre. See Keep your bot up to date.

Instructions

• The bot's Prompt says who it is and what it helps with. Set it in General settings. Include the tone to use, topics to stay away from, and what to say when it doesn't know. See Write your bot's instructions.
• The Welcome message and Example questions fit your customers. Example questions should be ones the bot answers well.
• The bot tells people it's an AI. Say so in the welcome message or the Prompt.

Testing

• You've asked real questions. Click Test on your bot's page and ask the questions customers actually ask, including awkward and off-topic ones. Fix problems with Improve your bot's answers.
• You've saved test cases, if your plan includes Tests, so you can re-check answers after every change. See Test your bot.
• Power-ups work end to end. Trigger each power-up in a real conversation and check the result arrived: the email was received, the meeting booked, the row added.

When the bot can't help

• Customers can reach a person. Add the Talk to a human power-up so the bot can pass a conversation to your team by email, and tell the bot when to offer it in its Prompt.
• Someone will pick up handed-off chats. On Standard and above, your team can take over web conversations directly.

Leads

• You collect contact details where it matters. Ask visitors for their details before the chat starts with the pre-chat form, or let the bot collect them during the conversation. See Capture leads with your bot.

Look and feel

• The widget matches your brand. Set colours, icons and theme in the web channel's Appearance & branding settings. See Customise the widget's appearance.
• Chat Thing branding is removed, if you want it gone. Available on Standard, Pro and Enterprise. See Remove Chat Thing branding.
• The widget language is right. Set the web channel's Language so buttons and labels match your site. See Languages.

Costs and abuse

• Usage limits are set. In General settings, under Usage limits, set a Daily token limit and a Maximum message length so one busy day or one abusive visitor can't use up your plan. See Usage limits.
• You know what happens when tokens run out. See Message tokens and Add-ons.
• You know how to stop spam. If you start getting automated or abusive messages, turn on Spam protection in the web channel's Advanced features. It adds a quick human check, so leave it off until you need it. See Access and security.
• Private bots are protected. For internal bots, turn on Require a password under Access control.

Go live

• The widget is installed on the pages where customers need help. See Install the chat widget.
• Your other channels are connected, such as WhatsApp or email.

After launch

• Read conversations in the first week. Questions the bot couldn't answer are your to-do list. See Conversations.
• Check your analytics. On Pro and Enterprise, your bot's Overview shows topics, sentiment and common questions. See Analytics.
• Use Otto to fix bad answers. Open a conversation and click Ask Otto about this chat. See Otto.