Conversation AI

• Respond across channels - email, SMS, chat widgets, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp

• Answer questions accurately - pull relevant answers from a connected Knowledge Base

• Collect contact information - name, email, phone, and other details synced directly to your CRM

• Book appointments - connect to your Ivorey™ calendar so contacts can schedule directly in the conversation

• Trigger workflows - automatically enrol contacts into a workflow based on the conversation

• Hand off to a human - transfer the conversation to a team member when needed

• Transfer to another bot - route the conversation to a different Conversation AI bot for a more specialised response

• Follow up automatically - send an automatic follow-up message after a conversation

• Respond to images and voice notes - understands and replies to images and voice messages contacts send (Auto-Pilot mode only)

• Generate conversation summaries - get a quick AI-generated summary of what was discussed

• Maintain working hours - only respond during set active hours, across selected channels

• Two bots can respond on the same channel (e.g. email), but only if they're differentiated somehow (usually by tags)

• Conversation AI currently supports only one email sending domain (your primary domain) - learn more about email sending domains

• While Live Chat widgets support specific widget selection, this is not currently supported for SMS/Email widgets

• Image and voice note responses only work in Auto-Pilot mode, not Suggestive mode

• You can connect up to 7 Knowledge Bases to a single bot

1. From the main Ivorey™ menu, go to AI Agents > Conversation AI > click the [+ Create Bot] button, in the top right corner > and choose how you want to build your bot:

   1. Prompt Based Bot - provide instructions for a personalised lead capturing process, appointment booking, or general Q&A (recommended for most conversation management needs)

   2. Flow Based Builder - a visual, drag-and-drop builder for advanced, multi-step lead qualification with complex logic and branching
      
      Note: For the purpose of this article, we'll focus on the Prompt Based builder. ​

2. Choose a starting point:

   1. General Q&A - includes a preset prompt for answering common questions and providing quick resolutions

   2. Appointment Booking - includes a preset prompt for helping contacts select and confirm appointment slots

   3. Marketplace Templates - choose from pre-built Agent templates as a starting point
      
      Note: Marketplace templates are built by third parties, not by Ivorey™ or HighLevel directly.

   4. Start from Scratch - build a fully custom bot, defining its prompt yourself

3. Click [Continue] to open your bot builder > and give your bot a name, in the top left corner (this will be the name your bot uses to introduce itself)

4. On the Build tab, at the top of the page:

   1. Choose your primary Model (the AI engine powering your bot's responses) from the drop-down
      
      Note: We currently have a range of OpenAI (GPT) models available.

   2. Click the ⚙ gear icon to select a secondary model

   3. Enter your Business Name

   4. On the right, you will see the estimated number of tokens > hover over the [i] information icon to see the estimated cost per message > and review the total count of words included in your prompt (max. of 2000 words) > once you have configured all of your bot settings, review these estimates to get a good idea of your costing
      
      Note: Cost estimates are a guideline, but final charges will depend on the total number of tokens used in each message.

5. In the main prompt window, write your bot's instructions - this is where you tell it who it is, how it should sound, and how it should handle conversations. If you chose General Q&A or Appointment Booking, this will already contain a starter prompt you can edit:

   1. Click [Custom Values] in the toolbar to insert dynamic contact data into your prompt (e.g. Contact > First Name, so your bot can personalise its replies)
      
      Note: Refer to our Use Custom Values to Train AI guide to create custom values with instructions that you can apply to your Agents as needed (e.g. overall business information, personality, etc.).

   2. Click [Prompt Optimizer] in the toolbar to test and refine your prompt using AI - see our testing section below

   3. A strong prompt typically covers:

      1. Personality & Role - who your bot is, your business name, and what it should (and shouldn't) help with. Be specific about anything it's not equipped to handle, so it can redirect politely instead of guessing (e.g. "You cannot help with processing payments, orders, refunds, or cancellations; politely let the customer know you can't help them with billing issues")

      2. Goal - the single outcome you want the bot working towards in the conversation (e.g. gathering contact details, answering questions accurately, or guiding the customer towards booking an appointment)

      3. Conversation Guidelines - the tone and style you want it to use

      4. Examples - a few "avoid this / use this instead" pairs to reinforce tone, especially useful for steering your bot away from generic, robotic-sounding phrases

      5. Rules to Follow - guardrails for behaviour (e.g. don't repeat sentences, stick to provided information only, don't suggest external websites)
         
         Tip: If you’re not sure how to write a strong prompt, open Ask AI (or your favourite external AI tool like Claude or ChatGPT) > and ask it to draft a prompt for a Conversation AI bot using the structure above. If it’s not already familiar with your business, describe who you are, what you do, your tone, and what you want the bot to achieve in a conversation.

6. To the right of the prompt window, you can configure the remaining settings for your bot. Click each drop-down to expand it:

   1. Actions - click [+ Set Up Your Actions] to choose what your bot can do during a conversation:

      1. Appointment Booking - connect your Ivorey™ calendar so your bot can check availability and book directly:

         1. Single calendar - the bot uses one calendar for every booking > click [Proceed]

         2. Multi calendars - let the AI choose between several calendars based on the conversation > click [Proceed]

            1. Add an AI Description (up to 400 characters) explaining how the bot should decide which calendar to use (e.g. Identify the user's preferred location and book them into the matching calendar)

            2. In the Calendar(s) Preview table, add Additional Keywords & Description for each calendar to help the AI route bookings correctly

            3. (optional) Tick Use fallback calendar so bookings still go somewhere if the AI can't confidently match one

            4. Click [Proceed]

         3. Services - let the AI choose between different services based on the conversation > click [Proceed]

            1. Add an AI Appointment Booking Instruction (up to 5,000 characters) to guide how the bot should choose between services (e.g. which to prioritise or how to decide when multiple services could apply)

            2. Review the Service(s) Preview table, showing each service, its description, and category

            3. Click [Proceed]

         4. Advanced Options - configure additional booking behaviours:

            1. Don't book appointment (only send the booking link) - the bot won't book directly, and instead it sends the contact a link to book themselves

            2. Pause bot responses after booking - disable further replies once an appointment is successfully booked

            3. Trigger workflow after booking - run a specified workflow when a booking is successful

            4. Transfer Employee post appointment booking - hand the conversation to a specific team member once a booking is confirmed

            5. Toggle ON Allow bot to cancel the appointment and/or Allow bot to reschedule the appointment, if you want your bot to handle these directly, based on your calendar’s own cancellation/rescheduling settings

            6. Click [Save]

      2. Trigger a Workflow - enrol a contact into a workflow based on the conversation

      3. Contact Info - capture and update contact details automatically

      4. Stop Bot - pause the bot for specific scenarios

      5. Human Handover - hand the conversation to a team member in certain scenarios (e.g. when the contact requests to speak to a human)

      6. Transfer Bot - pass the conversation to a different bot

      7. Auto Followup - automatically follow up with a contact after the conversation

   2. Knowledge Base Triggers - click [Add Knowledge Base Trigger] to connect an existing knowledge base, or click [+ Create New] so your bot can pull accurate answers from your business content:

      1. Select the Knowledge Base you want to connect (up to 7 per bot)

      2. (optional) Add an Instruction telling the bot when to use it (e.g. Use this knowledge base when the user asks about pricing and discounts) - if left blank, your bot will decide on its own when it's relevant
         
         Note: Refer to our Knowledge Base guide for the full setup steps.

   3. Mode - control how your bot operates:

      1. Set the Mode:

         1. Off - the bot won't respond, but you can still train and test it (this is the recommended starting phase)

         2. Suggestive - the bot drafts replies for you to review and send manually (we recommend moving here after rigorous testing)

         3. Auto-Pilot - the bot replies automatically (recommended as a final stage once testing and quality checks are complete)
            
            Note: Suggestive Mode only pauses automatic message sending, it doesn't disable your bot's configured Actions. If your bot has Appointment Booking, Contact Info capture, or Trigger a Workflow set up, those can still fire in Suggestive Mode once their conditions are met, even while the reply text itself is waiting for your review and approval. Keep this in mind if you're using Suggestive Mode as a "nothing happens without me" safety net - it isn't quite that.

      2. If your bot will be managing/sending emails, click [Configure Email Settings]:

         1. Set your bot’s From name > your From email will be inherited from your default account settings > optionally add CC and/or BCC recipients > under Reply behaviour, personalise the Greeting (e.g. Hi {{contact.first_name}}) > set the Wait time as either Same as other channels, or set a Custom wait time just for email > and click [Proceed]

         2. Select your Email type:

            1. Plain text - add an optional Email signature, formatted using the built-in text editor

            2. Design editor - click [Create New Template] to generate and customise a fully branded email template

            3. Click [Proceed]

         3. Preview how your bot's email will look > and click [Save]

      3. Click [Contact Assignment Channels] to configure which channels your bot can manage, specifically when directly assigned via workflows or by another bot:

         1. Select all, none, or specific channels only > and click [Save channels]
            
            Note: This is not the same as assigning your bot to manage all incoming messages on these channels - that will be done when deploying your bot in upcoming steps. This is only configuring the channels your bot supports when it is assigned to a contact.

   4. Timing & Pacing - control when and how often your bot replies:

      1. Set the Wait time before responding, so your bot can collect multiple messages and reply with one contextual answer instead of several rapid-fire replies

      2. Set the Maximum messages per conversation (max. 100) - once reached, the bot pauses for that contact until reactivated

      3. Under Send bot to sleep, toggle ON Manual Message and/or Workflow Message, if you want the bot to pause automatically when your team steps in

         1. Select Reactivate bot after > and set a time window for when your bot should reactivate after being sent to sleep

   5. Response Behavior - fine-tune how your bot communicates:

      1. Toggle ON Enable Response Style Settings > and choose your bot's response style: Concise, Balanced, or Detailed

      2. Choose if you want your bot to respond to Images and/or Voice Notes (available in Auto-Pilot mode only)

   6. Summary Settings - toggle ON Enable Conversation Summary if you want a summary generated at the end of each conversation:

      1. Set the Inactivity Time (in minutes or hours) - a summary is generated automatically once there's been no reply from the contact or the bot for this long

      2. Set the Minimum Messages for Summary - a summary is only generated once the conversation has reached both the inactivity time and this minimum message count

      3. (optional) Toggle ON Trigger a workflow when summary or transcript is generated > and select which Workflow to run

      4. (optional) Toggle ON Save to custom field > and select which Custom Field the summary should be saved to

      5. (optional) Toggle ON Receive email notification for conversation summary > and choose who should receive it: All Admins, All Users, Contact's Assigned User, Specific Users, and/or Custom Emails
         
         Note: You can select multiple recipients types, but selecting All Users disables the option to select the Contact’s Assigned User or Specific Users.

7. Click the [Save] button, in the top right corner, to save your bot configuration

1. From the main Ivorey™ menu, go to AI Agents > Conversation AI > Agents List > open your bot > and click to the [Deploy] tab at the top

2. On the Channels tab, you'll see a card for each available channel: SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Live chat, Chat widget (SMS/Email widgets), and Email > click [Configure] or toggle ON any channel > and click the ✏ pencil icon to configure it:

   1. From the drop-down, select which specific phone number, page, account, or widget this bot should respond to (where supported)
      
      Note: Email is locked to All emails, since only one primary sending domain is supported currently. Chat widget is locked to All widgets for SMS/Email Chat type widgets, specific-widget selection is only available for Live Chat type widgets.

   2. If you want this bot to share a channel with another bot, add a Has tags and/or Doesn't have tags condition so each bot only picks up the conversations meant for it (choose AND/OR if selecting multiple tags)
      
      For example: one bot assigned to All emails where the contact has tags VIP so it only responds to your VIP contacts, and a second bot assigned to All emails where the contact doesn’t have tags VIP so it only responds to everyone else.

   3. Click [Update] to save
      
      Note: If you try to assign a channel that conflicts with another bot's existing configuration (same channel, with no specified account or differentiating tag), you'll see an error with the name of the bot it conflicts with. Update or un-assign that bot from the channel first, or assign a specific account or tag to either bot.

3. On the [Working Hours] tab, you can optionally toggle ON Enable Active Hours to control exactly when your bot replies:

   1. Select which Channels the active hours should apply to - any that are left unselected will continue to be managed 24/7 by your bot

   2. Under the Time Settings drop-down:

      1. Select your bot’s Timezone - [Contact Timezone] (hours are based on each contact's own timezone) or [Business Timezone] (hours are based on your account's timezone)

      2. Set the Working Schedule for each day of the week:

         1. Tick the checkbox next to a day to make it available > and set its start and end time from the drop-downs

         2. Click the 🗑 trash icon to remove a time slot

         3. Click the [+] plus icon to add a second slot to the same day (e.g. leave a lunch break split)

         4. Click the [⧉] copy icon to duplicate that day's hours to another day > select All days or specific days > and click [Apply]

         5. Leave a day unticked to mark it Unavailable

   3. Under Advanced Settings drop-down:

      1. Toggle ON Continue ongoing conversations if you want the bot to keep replying in a conversation that's already in progress, even after working hours end:

         1. Set the Inactivity Timeout (in minutes or hours) - the bot stops replying once this much time has passed without activity

         Note: A conversation is considered active if the last bot reply was within this timeframe.

      2. Toggle ON Off-Hours Auto-Reply to send an automatic response when a contact messages outside working hours:

         1. Write your Auto-Reply Message (up to 500 characters) > and use 🏷 Custom Values to personalise the message

         2. Click [Configure] next to Send Notification, to alert your team when this happens:

            1. Under Email recipients, choose who gets notified: All admins, All users, Assigned user, Specific users, and/or Send to custom email addresses

            2. Under Tag the contact, select any tags you want added automatically when an off-hours message arrives - useful for sorting and following up later from your inbox

            3. Click [Save]

      3. Toggle ON Follow up when business hours resume to send a message once your bot’s working hours start again:

         1. Write your Follow-up Message (up to 500 characters) > and use 🏷 Custom Values to personalise the message

   4. Click [Save] in the top right corner, to update your bot’s Working Hours settings

Note: Working Hours settings are configured per bot, and only apply to the channels you select in this tab. A bot with no Working Hours enabled will respond to messages 24/7.

1. From the main Ivorey™ menu, go to AI Agents > Conversation AI > Agents List > and open the bot you want to test

2. On the Build tab, use the Test your agent panel on the right hand side, to simulate conversations as a real contact would

   1. Type your message in at the bottom > and press Enter or click the [↗] send icon to submit the message

   2. Click the [↺] arrow icon at the top right, to refresh and start a new conversation

3. Speak with your bot as a real contact would - ask questions, give different responses, and test the full chat flow:

   1. Ask the questions your real contacts are most likely to ask, including the most common ones and edge cases

   2. Try giving incomplete or unexpected answers to see how the bot handles them

   3. Test the full booking flow if you've connected a calendar (try cancelling or rescheduling if you've enabled those)

   4. Test Knowledge Base answers by asking questions it should and shouldn't know

   5. Try triggering a bot transfer if you've configured one

   6. Pay attention to pacing, tone, and naturalness

4. After each test, review the results:

   1. Read through exactly what was said on both sides > and look for any gaps or unexpected responses

   2. Click the ✨ sparkle icon below a response to open the AI Response Info panel, and see exactly how that reply was generated:

      1. AI Response - which bot and mode generated the answer, and the exact answer composed

      2. Prompt & Intent - the specific prompt pulled for that question

   3. Rate each response to help train your bot and improve accuracy

      1. 👍 thumbs up - confirms the response was correct, and reinforces the bot’s training

      2. 👎 thumbs down - opens a Train Bot window, where you can edit the question and answer > select a Knowledge Base > and click [Train Bot] to save it as a new FAQ, so your bot learns the right answer directly from the conversation

   4. Check any Actions that fired - did the right workflows trigger? Were contact fields updated correctly?

5. Refine your bot:

   1. Update your prompt to address any gaps or improve responses

   2. Add content to your Knowledge Base if the bot struggled with specific questions or gave outdated information

   3. Adjust settings if the pacing or response style felt off

   4. Repeat testing after any significant changes

6. Once you're happy with how your bot performs, update its Mode to [Suggestive] to start reviewing real replies before they're sent, or [Auto-Pilot] to go fully live

1. From the main Ivorey™ menu, go to Messaging > and open any conversation on a channel your bot is assigned to

2. At the bottom right of the message window, next to the Send button, you'll see a ✨ sparkle icon if a bot is active on that conversation > click it to:

   1. See which bot is currently Assigned

   2. Use the drop-down to switch the bot between Active and Inactive for this specific conversation

   3. If you’d like to disable the AI bot for a specific conversation (e.g. an Auto-Pilot bot), so you can take over - set it to Inactive > tick Reactivate bot after > and choose a duration (in hours) - you will see the exact date and time the bot will resume

3. If your bot is in Suggestive mode, when a new message comes in, an AI Suggested Reply card appears above the reply box with your bot's suggested response:

   1. Click [Send] to send the suggested reply as-is

   2. Click [Edit] to pull the suggested reply into your reply composer > so you can tweak the wording > and click Send

   3. Click [Reply] below the suggestion to ignore it entirely > and write your own response from scratch, as usual
      
      Note: Suggestions are always drafts, nothing is sent automatically in Suggestive mode. This makes it a good middle ground while you're still building trust in your bot's responses, before switching to Auto-Pilot.

4. If your bot is in Auto-Pilot mode, your bot replies automatically, with no manual action needed:

   1. Messages your bot replies to automatically are easy to spot - look for the small ✨ sparkle icon in place of the usual profile picture, at the top left of a message

   2. If you've set up an email signature or template for your bot, you will see that as well

   3. Click the ✨ sparkle icon in the top right corner of any auto-sent AI message to open AI Response Info (the same as in testing), to see exactly how that reply was generated:

      1. AI response - which bot and mode generated the answer, and the exact answer composed

      2. Prompt & Intent - the specific prompt pulled for that question, with an [Edit prompt] link to jump straight to editing it

      3. Chat History - the full conversation context the bot used to generate its response

   4. Rate each response directly from the conversation (the same as in testing):

      1. 👍 thumbs up - confirms the response was correct

      2. 👎 thumbs down - opens an Edit Response window, where you can edit the question and answer > select a Knowledge Base > and click [Train Bot] to add it as a new FAQ
         
         Note: This means your bot keeps learning and improving even after it's live - any live reply you correct becomes new training data for future conversations.

5. For a deeper look at how your bot is performing on a technical level, check the ✨ Agent Logs tab in the right-hand sidebar:

   1. You’ll see a log of all of the message threads where an AI bot was involved (either on Suggestive or Auto-Pilot mode)

   2. Use the search bar to find a specific conversation > or apply filters to narrow the list

   3. Click into any logged conversation to open the full Agent conversation view:

      1. See the full back-and-forth between the contact and your bot

      2. Review the Execution Timeline for each message - expand any entry to see the User message, the bot's response, and its Output, along with response time and token count

      3. Click further into a specific message for full details: Model used, Type, Latency, a full Tokens used breakdown (Input, Output, Cache read/write, Total), and Timestamp

      4. Review the Metadata table for that message - including timezone, channel, agent name, employee mode (Suggestive or Auto-Pilot), conversation ID, and message ID
         
         Note: This is especially useful for troubleshooting unexpected responses, understanding your bot's token usage for billing purposes, or confirming exactly which model handled a specific reply.

1. From the main Ivorey™ menu, go to Automations > Workflows > and open an existing workflow or click [+ Create Workflow] > and select [+ Start from Scratch] to create a new one

2. Give your workflow a relevant Name up at the top > and add a Trigger (e.g. Inbound Email > with filters for a specific mailbox or contact tag) - this is what will trigger the Conversation AI bot to take over the conversation

3. Click [+] to add a new action > search for and select the [Update Conversation AI Bot and Status] action:

   1. Give the action a clear Name

   2. Under Change Assigned Conversation AI Bot, select the AI bot you want to assign to take over this contact's conversation (e.g. a bot built specifically for managing this inbox, or a certain type of client)

   3. Under Update Bot's Status To, select [Active]

   4. Click [Save Action]

4. Add any other actions you need to your workflow

5. Toggle your workflow to [Publish] in the top right corner > and click [Save]

6. Test your workflow by completing the trigger (e.g. send an email to the specific inbox):

   1. Check your workflow’s Execution Logs tab to see if there were any errors

   2. From the main Ivorey™ menu > go to Messaging > and open the test conversation > at the bottom right of the message window, next to the Send button, click the ✨ sparkle icon to see which bot is is currently assigned

Note: You can add this action into any workflow to assign a specific bot to take over the conversation (e.g. a lead nurture sequence), as long as the bot you're assigning supports the channels used in that workflow. If a workflow includes SMS and Email steps, make sure the assigned bot has both channels selected in its own Mode > Contact Assignment Channels settings, or it won't respond to any of those replies.

1. From the main Ivorey™ menu, go to AI Agents > Conversation AI > on the Dashboard tab:

   1. Use the filters at the top to narrow results by Channel, Date Range, or a specific Agent (bot)

   2. Review your key metrics:

      1. Total Unique Contacts - how many distinct contacts engaged with your bot > click to view:

         1. Total Unique Contacts over time, Total Messages and Average Messages per Contact

      2. Total Actions Triggered - actions completed during or after conversations > click to view:

         1. Actions Triggered over time, plus totals for Appointment Link Shared, Workflows Triggered, Contact Info Updated, Stop Bot Triggered, Cancel Appointment, Reschedule Appointment, Transfer Bot and Human Handover

      3. Total Appointments Booked - appointments booked during conversations > click to view Total Appointments Booked over time

      4. Time Saved - an estimate of the time your bot has saved through automation

   3. Below the metrics is a conversation log table - at the top of the table, use the drop-down to search for or select a specific Contact > for each conversation logged in the table, you can view:

      1. Contact Name

      2. Channel Name

      3. Agent Name - which AI bot handled the conversation

      4. Last Message Date & Time - click the arrow icon to sort by date and time

      5. Click the [Summary] button to view a short summary of the conversation

      6. Click the 📄 page icon to view the full transcript

2. On the Agents List tab, you'll see all your bots:

   1. View their Status and when they were Last Updated

   2. Click the [⋮] three dots next to any bot to Edit, Duplicate Bot, Open in a new tab or Delete

If a message is received on a channel that your Conversation AI bot is not assigned to, nobody responds automatically. The message sits in your inbox like a normal conversation until a team member replies, or until a workflow assigns a bot to it.

No, deleting a Conversation AI bot is permanent and can’t be undone. All settings, prompts, and conversation history are lost. If you want to stop a bot from answering messages without losing its configuration, change its Mode to Off in the bot’s Mode settings instead - this effectively disables it while keeping everything intact.

Yes, the Update Conversation AI Bot and Status action just assigns which bot handles the conversation, but that bot's own Mode setting (Suggestive or Auto-Pilot) still applies as normal.

Yes. Actions are configured separately from response mode, so they aren't restricted to Auto-Pilot. A bot in Suggestive Mode can still book appointments, capture contact info, or trigger workflows whenever the action’s conditions are met. The only thing Suggestive Mode holds back is the reply message itself, which needs manual approval before sending.

For a multi-step conversation where every message depends on the last, this means the exchange can stall waiting on your approval even while an action has already fired. Auto-Pilot is the better fit if you want the full conversation and its actions to run without any manual involvement.

Yes. Conversation AI is billed on token usage. The cost comes from processing the received message and generating the reply itself, whether it's a suggested response you review or a message sent automatically in Auto-Pilot. Both count the same way.

No, by default your bots don't share context or communicate with each other directly, each bot works independently. However, any bot that's active on a conversation always has access to the full conversation history, not just the latest message, so no important context should be lost.

If you use the Transfer Bot action or assign a bot to a conversation via workflows, the new bot picks up right where the last one left off. It'll have access to the same conversation history, so your contacts won't need to repeat themselves.