Collect Input

Fill in a specific parameter value based on user input. In every Collect Input node, the virtual agent will prompt a question to the user. If the input is matched to the correct entity type bound to the parameter, the parameter value will be captured and stored.

To fill in a parameter value, select the name of the parameter you would like to fill, and add the prompt.

If you wish your agent will try to capture another input after failing to do so on the first try, you can add any number of retries. For each retry attempt, the agent will prompt using the same/different prompt until the value is filled.

No Input & Missed

You will notice the two other tabs next to the parameter:

"No Input" - When for some reason the agent was unable to collect the input of the user, e.g. when the user didn't type an answer. The agent will repeat the prompt (how many times depends on the number of retries you added) before triggering the "No Input" flow. You can define what behavior should follow if no user input could be collected twice, e.g. inform a live representative.

See below how you can define how long the agent will wait for input from the user.

"Missed" - When the input of the user doesn't match the selected entity. The agent will repeat the prompt (how many times depends on the number of retries you added) before triggering the "Missed" flow. You can specify what kind of behavior you want the agent to follow in such a case, e.g. inform a live representative or ask a follow-up question to redirect the flow.

"Skip this node if value is already collected" - What if the value was already collected in the conversation?

If the parameter value has been collected on a previous node (or even the same node in case the user went back to the same node during the same conversation), you can choose to skip this Collect Input node and keep the original value collected. If you like to override the value, leave this box unchecked.

When to use Collect Input

To fill in a user ID that contains numbers only, create the parameter “USER_ID” and assign the @sys.number entity to that parameter. A good prompt might be “What is your ID number please?”. You can also choose to dictate the flow of the conversation based on a value-filled by using the “Classification” or “Conditions” nodes.

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