Welcome to Autoflows! We are thrilled that you're here with us in evolving customer support automation. If you don't see the answer you need in these Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), please reach out to our support team.
General Autoflows
Q: Does Autoflows use my knowledge base or past tickets to generate responses?
A: No. The Autoflows does not natively reference your tickets. The Autoflows response is generated solely based on the Autoflows policy you create. See Examples and Best Practices to Follow in Creating Autflows Policies for guidance on writing great policies.
Q: How does Autoflows deal with unresponsive users?
A: If the user does not respond to the conversation, Autoflows will not actively engage with the user or remind the user to provide input. It will just patiently wait. However, if the user does not respond within 30 minutes, Autoflows will lose the context of the conversation that preceded the 30-minute delay.
Q: Are Autoflows context-aware?
A: Yes, Autoflows has the ability to take into account the entire conversation leading up the last user query.
Q: Do Autoflows respond to multilingual user queries?
A: Yes, Autoflows are multilingual. Responses are automatically translated based on user input. However, this will only work for languages the customer already has enabled. Please see here for supported languages and how to turn them on.
Policy
See also: Examples and Best Practices to Follow in Creating Autflows Policies
Q: What languages can I write my policy in?
A: For optimal performance, write the policy in English. Other languages may work but are not tested. Autoflows can interact in multiple languages.
Q: How is the brand voice (tone) of the conversation defined?
A: The tone of Autoflows' conversation can be controlled by specifying your desired tone in the policy. Please refer to policy best practices for more details.
Q: Does Autoflows ensure that the links are always sent in the responses?
A: Yes. The admin should use the hyperlink function from the rich text editor to ensure that the link can always be sent in the response. The link should be 150 characters or less.
Q: Do we auto-create policies? Do I need Discover to get suggested policies?
A: You must have Discover enabled in order for Forethought to generate a policy. If you are not sure if you qualify, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager (CSM) or submit a ticket and we will get back to you! Otherwise, check out our policy best practices for guidance on how to write a great policy from scratch. Discover will give you a policy recommendation that will give you a head start so you don’t have to create a policy from scratch.
Q: Can Autoflows recognize HTML tags like <strong>?
A: Autoflows only supports the styles from the rich text editor, please do not manually insert HTML tags into the policy.
Q: Can stylization, such as utilizing bullet points, capitalizing letters, and bolding font, have an impact on the policy?
A: Please refer to the table below for details. We recommend using the Rich Text Editor as it helps create a visual structure of the policy logic.
| Style | Impact in Autoflows Response | Example of policy | Example of results |
| Bold | Response will be bolded | Reply to the customer with “This response is bolded” | This response is bolded |
| “Quotation Mark” | It will not alter the text with the quotation mark | Reply to the customer with “Hello” and nothing else | Autoflows: Hello |
|
No impact. It just helps admin structure the correct policy | In order to authenticate the user, here you need the following information:
|
Autoflows: In order to verify your identity, would you please give me your name and email? |
|
No impact. It just helps admin structure the correct policy | In order to authenticate the user, here you need the following information:
|
Autoflows: In order to verify your identity, would you please give me your name and email? |
| Hyperlink | Ensures the Autoflows response will also generate a hyperlink. Please note that your link should only contain 150 characters. | Tell the customer to visit this link | Autoflows: Please visit this link. |
| UPPER CASE | Ensure Autoflows to abide by your command. Only use selectively. | When the user ask who are you, DO NOT TELL USER YOU ARE A ROBOT! BUT SAY YOU ARE A SMART CAT. |
Customer: Who are you? Autoflows: I am a smart cat. How can I assist you today? |
Configuration & Integrations
Q: What helpdesk integrations (e.g. ticket creation, connect to live agent) are supported?
A: Autoflows is helpdesk-agnostic. Any helpdesk that is supported in Solve will work with Autoflows.
Classic Workflows vs Autoflows
Q: How do Classic workflows & Autoflows work together?
A: You can have Classic & Autoflows live, however at the workflow level, you must choose which mode (Classic or Autoflows) to use. Within Classic, if you wish to change it to Autoflows, write the Autoflows policy and click “Replace & Publish”. Once you do this, the associated Classic workflow will become inactive. Now, any intent matching the policy will be routed through the autoflow, instead of the old workflow. You can always return to the Classic workflow if you desire, simply use the toggle to toggle back.
Q: Is it possible to A/B test classic vs. Autoflows?
A: No, this is not currently possible.
Q: Can you use Classic for some Intents and Autoflows for other Intents?
A: Yes.
Q: Which Intents are a better fit for Autoflows?
A: Please refer to the guideline below to help you choose between Autoflows and Classic:
Autoflows is recommended when:
- When the decision points (if-then) conditions are straightforward
- When you want a more human-like, flexible, and context aware conversational response.
- When you have fewer than 3 Actions
- When you have fewer than 3 Context Variables
Classic is recommended when:
- When you want strict control over the responses (e.g. sensitive information, business-critical Actions such as refunds, cancellations, requires an absolute verbatim response, medical information)
- When you have 4 or more Actions
- When you have 4 or more Context Variables
Q: How long does it take for Autoflows intents to train?
A: Immediately. There is no delay due to training. This question is not Autoflows related, but more a common question for the training time for intent phrases for an intent. Currently most of the orgs are not using MLP model, but KNN + OpenAI, which means that there is no training time needed.
Q: How is Autoflows trained? Can Autoflows experience Connection Errors while being trained?
A: No. There is no training required when changing Autoflows policies.
Handoffs, Rerouting, Actions
Q: Will the actions I've already set up work with Autoflows?
A: Yes the Actions you “enable” will automatically appear on the right side of your screen when you create the policy. When you click the Actions you wish to use, a green lighting bolt icon will appear. That means the Actions are now usable in plain English when creating the policy.
Q: Is there an option to create a ticket within Autoflows?
A: Yes. Admins can use Handoff Workflows, which can contain ticket submission actions.
Q: Is it possible for Autoflows to route to a different intent?
A: Yes. It works similar to using Handoffs in Autoflows. You have to select the active intent you want to route to from the right sidebar, then describe in the policy when that intent should be triggered.
Q: How does Autoflows handoff to agents?
A: Autoflows can explicitly perform a handoff if the handoff workflow is enabled and the policy describes when the handoff workflow should be triggered. Alternatively, if a customer says “speak to an agent” in the middle of an autoflow execution, the expected behavior is that the autoflow will be exited and the default handoff workflow will trigger (this behavior can be influenced by the instructions in the policy if customer desires).
Q: What happens if a customer says something unrelated in the middle of an autoflow execution?
A: The Autoflows execution will be stopped and intent detection will run again. If an intent is found, that corresponding workflow/autoflow will be triggered. Otherwise, if no intent is found, article suggestion will be triggered. If no good articles are found, the default handoff workflow will be triggered.
Knowledge Articles in Autoflows
Q: Can Autoflows give an article recommendation?
A: No. Article suggestion will be handled by the article suggestion action. Article suggestion is triggered when Autoflows encounters an “unrelated” query from your end-customer during a chat. At this point, autoflows execution will be stopped and intent detection will run again. If an intent is found, that corresponding workflow/autoflow will be triggered. Otherwise, if no intent is found, article suggestion will be triggered. If no good articles are found, the default handoff workflow will be triggered. If you want to direct customers to a specific knowledge article, you must “hard-code” it within the policy. See examples here: Examples and Best Practices to Follow in Creating Autflows Policies
Q: How does knowledge retrieval work in Autoflows?
A: Admins can specify links if they deem that relevant to the intent that’s associated with the Autoflows policy. However, Autoflows does not offer paraphrased results based on paraphrasing the customer’s Knowledge Base. If there is an Intent that’s outside the scope of the Intent that Autoflows is associated with, it would enter the Knowledge Retrieval Workflow using the last portion of the user query from the Autoflows.
Q: How do Context Variables work in Autoflows?
A: Autoflows will try to infer values of context variables based on the conversation text. If autoflow calls an action, it will fill in values for the action’s input and output context variables, and these values will be persisted during the rest of the conversation (and can be used in subsequent workflows even if there’s a change of Intent).
Additionally, “pre-defined” context variables can be passed into autoflow (through the widget embed script), and the policy can refer to these variables with conditional instructions (with regular text language). In order to test this feature, the global preview must be used in order to actually pass in values for the pre-defined context variables.
Q: How does the common intent fit into Autoflows?
A: Common questions will trigger intent switch, and then some of them will be handled by conversational reply.
Q: Is it okay for the policy to ask for multiple Action inputs in one query (e.g. what is your Full Name, Order Status, and Email?)
A: Yes.
Analytics
Q: What analytics are available? How can I view Autoflows chat transcripts?
A: Yes. The same analytics are reported for both Autoflows and Classic. In addition, in the chats view, you can filter to view only conversations that included an autoflow at some point.
Q: How is deflection calculated for Autoflows?
A: Just like any workflow, a conversation that includes an autoflow will be marked as deflected unless a handoff workflow is triggered at any point during the conversation.
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