Serve content using Message blocks

Answers in Ada are built using content blocks that provide your customers with a rich chatbot experience. Each block acts as a single bubble in the chat, and can be combined in infinite ways to create Answers tailored to your audience. The content blocks available within your bot will vary based on your package. There are many different types of content blocks. Let's take a look at the most commonly used types!

The text block is used to interact with chatters through text. A single text block acts as a single chat bubble in the chat. Each text block has a 320 character limit, and an Answer can have unlimited text blocks stacked on top of each other, but we recommend you keep each text block and Answer as short and simple as possible.

You can add emojis and format with line breaks and tabs to give your text blocks some personality 😎

Use AI to improve your text content

Any time you serve up content using the text block, no matter which of Ada's supported languages you're writing in, you have the option to polish it with AI. You can click the Improve button to automatically run your content through GPT and replace it with a rephrased version with improved tone. Even after improving your content automatically, you can always go back and edit it yourself until you're happy with it.

If you'd rather not use the automatically rephrased version of your content, you can click Undo in the notification that appears at the bottom of your screen to reverse it.

A shuffle block helps keep your bot’s content fresh! Add as many variations as you’d like, and the bot will randomly select one to send to a chatter each time they reach that Answer. Content variations in the shuffle block act the same as text blocks and can handle emojis and formatting.

We recommend using this message block in Answers that are likely to show up repeatedly in a single conversation. For example, adding a shuffle block with different versions of hi or hello in the Greeting or different apologies in the Negative Review Answer will give your bot more personality and prevent the conversation from becoming robotic.

If your shuffled message contains essential information, make sure that information is in every variation — otherwise, only random chatters will get the important message!

Use AI to create message variations

To start creating content variations for your bot to shuffle between, start typing a message into your block. If you want, you can use the Improve button to refine your initial message, just like you can for text blocks.

Then, you can use the Create Variations button to use GPT to rephrase your content into 3-5 variations for your bot to randomly serve to chatters - in any of Ada's supported languages. All of these automatically generated variations are editable and removable, so you can further refine the variations you get from the AI. You can also click Add Manually to write additional variations yourself.

A link block acts very similarly to a hyperlink on a webpage. This can be useful if you want to link to a more in-depth support article or are direct your chatters to a webpage.

When Generate Preview is toggled off, the following additional fields will be provided for you to customize the link preview as you would like.

Link messages can also be counted as handoffs in the analytics view by toggling Count as Handoff on. If you require a chatter to go to a webpage in order to escalate their query, this feature will help keep track of those interactions in your bot's analytics.

The link can also be opened in the same or separate browser window depending on your preferences!

A Picture content block allows you to link to an image or upload it directly from your files. This content block can accommodate JPG, GIF, SVG or PNG, and includes an alternative text field.

In the chatter view, images will be sized to the chat window, and can be expanded with a simple click!

Like the Picture block, the Video block allows you to link to a video or upload it directly. You can either upload an MP4 or use a YouTube or Vimeo link!

Videos will play right in the chatbot window.

A Web Window is similar to a Link block, except it allows you to customize the width and height of the corresponding window that opens.

Add the destination URL into the Window URL field, and customize the message and button text that will be presented to the chatter. Make sure to include the height and width dimensions of the window (in pixels) to get full use of this feature!

The Web Window block also has a Count as a Handoff toggle, similar to the Link block. Toggle this on if you would like to consider all link clicks for this block as a handoff in your analytics.

The Email Block is a handoff option that sends a chat transcript to your support email queue. This is a simple but effective method for handing off a chatter.

The Email Block is added to an Answer the same way any other block is, and once added, the following fields can be personalized:

The Builder Note block lets you add context to Answers and leave notes for other builders and Bot Managers. Use it to manage longer Answers or to provide a note on a particular section of an Answer. To use the Builder Note block, drag it into your Answer, and type in your note.

Have any questions? Contact your Ada team—or email us at help@ada.support.