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Messages: name, voice and opening

Agent Studio → Messages: name your agent, choose its voice and tone, write the opening message above the chat button, add reply buttons and set the chat greeting.

  • In Darwin: Agent Studio → MessagesOpen in Darwin
  • Updated

Messages holds everything your agent says before and at the start of a chat. The preview on the right shows each change straight away.

Agent Studio with the Messages tab selected: Name and voice, Opening message and Reply buttons on the left, the chat preview with the opening message and three reply buttons on the right.

  1. Name your agent and pick its voice

    Under Name and voice, type the Agent name visitors see in the chat. Then open Voice & tone and choose Friendly, Professional or Direct. The tone changes how the agent words things, not what it does.

    The Name and voice section with Agent name set to Maya and the Voice & tone menu, set to Friendly, highlighted.

  2. Write the opening message

    The opening message is the short card above the chat button that starts a conversation. Turn it on or off with the switch (1), then write it in Message above the chat button (2). One question works best, for example "Comparing plans? I can tell you which one fits your team."

    If Darwin is running opening tests, the screen says so. Pages in a test keep showing the test's opening until the test ends, so a page can show a different opening from the one you wrote here. Select See tests to check.

    The Opening message section: the on/off switch marked 1, the Message above the chat button box marked 2, and a note that Darwin is running 2 opening tests with a See tests link.

  3. Add reply buttons

    Reply buttons sit under the opening message so visitors can answer with one click. Select Add button (1) for a new one, or select a button to edit its Button label and the Message sent when clicked. You can have up to 4.

    Tick Keep fixed in experiments (2) for a button that must stay the same in every opening test.

    The Reply buttons section with Add button marked 1. The Explore services button is open, showing Button label, Message sent when clicked, and Keep fixed in experiments marked 2.

  4. Set the chat greeting

    Under Chat greeting, write the first message people see when they open the chat.

    The Chat greeting section with the Greeting field.

  5. Save

    Select Save changes. Discard goes back to what is saved.

    If you changed the opening message, Darwin then asks what to do with running tests that started from your old opening:

    • Use the new one in them replaces the old opening in those tests. Its results start again from zero.
    • Test old against new keeps both openings in those tests, so they compete.
    • Not now leaves the tests as they are.

    Tests that use a page's own opening, rather than your site-wide one, aren't changed.

    The bar at the bottom of the editor reading Unsaved changes, kept in this tab, with Save changes highlighted.

Good to know

  • The opening message appears 2.5 seconds after the page loads. On a phone it also waits until the visitor has scrolled 40% of the way down. You can't change this timing.
  • A visitor who closes the opening doesn't see it again for the rest of their visit. To keep it off certain pages, use Hide on these pages on the Visibility & privacy tab.
  • The opening can be up to 120 characters, the same limit opening tests use. Shorter is better: one question works best.
  • Darwin's sales behaviour is built in: it answers questions from your knowledge, offers a meeting when a visitor shows interest, and doesn't make up prices, availability or bookings.

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