Capturing information from a user in a Facebook Messenger chat conversation

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Capturing information from a user in a Facebook Messenger chat conversation

    This guidance explains how ServiceNow customers can use the Virtual Agent Designer to capture user information during Facebook Messenger chat conversations. Virtual Agent Designer is a diagram tool for creating and managing conversational topics that serve as blueprints for virtual agent and user interactions. The Conversational Integration with Facebook Messenger application supports various input controls and bot responses, enabling rich and interactive conversations.

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    Supported User Input Controls

    ServiceNow customers can prompt users in Facebook Messenger with the following input controls:

    • Text: Users enter plain text up to 5000 characters.
    • Static Choice: Users select from a predefined list of options shown as quick replies. Each label supports up to 20 characters and a maximum of 13 quick replies are shown per page. Pagination is used for more options, configurable via the snvafbmessenger.maxquickreplies system property.
    • Boolean: Users respond with a yes/no type answer.
    • File Picker: Users can send files (JPG, PNG, BMP images up to 10 MB; MP4 videos up to 200 MB).
    • Date Time: Users select calendar dates and times. Time zone display depends on administrator settings.
    • Carousel: Users select an item from a carousel of images, with each image having a 40-character title and 60-character description limit. Up to 10 images display per page with pagination controlled by snvafbmessenger.maxcarouselcards system property.

    Supported Bot Responses

    The virtual agent can respond with the following types in Facebook Messenger conversations:

    • Text: Sends plain text messages.
    • Image: Sends images to users.
    • Link: Sends clickable web links displayed as URL buttons.
    • Card: Sends selected information from records within the ServiceNow instance.

    Additionally, when no relevant topics are found, AI Search can be used to return search results as bot responses, enhancing user experience.

    Practical Use for ServiceNow Customers

    By leveraging these input controls and bot responses, ServiceNow customers can design interactive and user-friendly conversational experiences in Facebook Messenger. This helps efficiently gather user inputs such as text, choices, dates, files, and selections, while delivering rich responses including text, images, links, and record cards. System properties allow customization of pagination limits for quick replies and carousel cards to optimize user interaction.

    Use the collection of input controls provided by the Virtual Agent Designer to prompt and capture information from the user in a Facebook Messenger chat conversation.

    Virtual Agent Designer is a diagram tool for creating and managing topics, which are blueprints for conversations between a virtual agent and user. For more information, see Getting started with Virtual Agent Designer.

    The Conversational Integration with Facebook Messenger application supports the following user input controls in Virtual Agent Designer.

    Table 1. Supported user input controls
    User input control Description
    Text User enters a plain text string in the conversation.

    The maximum character limit is 5000 characters.
    Static Choice User selects an item from a predefined choice list.

    In a quick reply, the label has the maximum character limit of 20 characters. At a time, a user can view only 13 quick replies. If there are more than 13 quick replies, the pagination format is used to view more options. The default value of the maximum number of replies for a page is set in the sn_va_fb_messenger.max_quick_replies system property (location: System Property [sys_properties] table).
    Boolean User enters a Boolean response to the bot. For example, the user can reply Yes or No in a chat conversation.
    File Picker User sends a file to the bot.

    The supported file types are JPG, PNG, BMP, and MP4.

    Note the following points about the maximum size limit for a file type:

    • For images, the maximum size limit is 10 MB.
    • For videos, the maximum size limit is 200 MB.
    Date Time User selects a calendar date, time (hours and minutes), or both.
    Note:
    If your administrator has set the option to request time zone from the customer, the selected date and time reflect customer's time zone. Else, they appear in the UTC time zone. For more information about the time zone setting, see 1.f.
    Carousel User selects a single item from the carousel.

    In a carousel, the title for an image has maximum limit of 40 characters and the text for the image has maximum character limit of 60 characters. At a time, a user can view only 10 images. If there are more than 10 images, the pagination format is used to view more options. The default value of the maximum number of images in a carousel for a page is set in the sn_va_fb_messenger.max_carousel_cards system property (location: System Property [sys_properties] table).

    For more information about configuring user input controls, see Virtual Agent Designer user input controls.

    The Conversational Integration with Facebook Messenger application supports the following bot responses in Virtual Agent Designer.

    Table 2. Supported bot responses
    Bot response Description
    Text Bot sends a plain text string to the user.
    Image Bot sends an image to the user.
    Link Bot sends a web link to the user.
    Note:
    The web link appears as a URL button in the conversation.
    Card Bot sends selected information from a record on your instance.
    Note:
    You can also return search results as bot responses in Facebook Messenger chat conversations when there are no relevant topics to display to end users. For more information, see Improving the user experience with AI Search.

    For more information about configuring bot responses, see Virtual Agent Designer bot responses.