Capturing information from a user in a Apple Messages for Business chat conversation

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Capturing information from a user in a Apple Messages for Business chat conversation

    The Assistant Designer Asset library in ServiceNow’s Zurich release enables you to design conversational blueprints that capture user information during Apple Messages for Business chat interactions. These blueprints facilitate automated, interactive conversations between virtual agents and users, enhancing engagement within the native Apple Messages for Business environment.

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    To enable notifications for users, administrators must activate them at the channel level, and users must explicitly opt in. Users can grant notification consent either by typing Notification in the chat to receive subscription options or through an administrator-configured subscription portal.

    Supported User Input Controls

    ServiceNow supports a variety of input controls within Apple Messages for Business chats, allowing users to provide information in different formats. These controls include:

    • Text: Users enter plain text responses.
    • Static Choice: Users select from a predefined list of options.
    • Dynamic Choice: Users select from dynamically generated lists, such as their own cases.
    • Boolean: Users respond with yes/no type answers.
    • File Picker: Users can upload and send files.
    • Date Time: Users select dates and/or times via a calendar interface.
    • Carousel: Users select a single item from a carousel display.

    These input controls enable highly interactive and user-friendly data collection within chat conversations.

    Supported Bot Responses

    The virtual agent can respond with multiple types of messages to enhance the chat experience:

    • Text: Sends plain text messages.
    • Image: Sends images to users.
    • Link: Sends web links (URLs must be added to the allowed domain list for security).
    • Table: Displays organized information in tabular format, useful for showing data like service changes, holidays, or contact info.
    • Card: Displays selected record information visually, including record cards, video cards, or image cards of various sizes.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    By leveraging these input controls and bot response types, ServiceNow customers can create rich, intuitive chat experiences in Apple Messages for Business that efficiently capture user data and deliver information. This improves engagement, streamlines data collection, and supports timely notifications once users opt in, all within a familiar messaging environment.

    Assistant Designer Asset library is a diagram tool for creating and managing topics, which are blueprints for conversations between a virtual agent and user.

    Use the collection of input controls provided by the Assistant Designer Asset library to prompt and capture information from a requester in a Apple Messages for Business chat conversation. For more information, see Getting started with Assistant Designer Asset library.

    For more information about displaying images along with external links, see Using link unfurling in Virtual Agent.

    Apple Messages for Business has an array of interactive features that are native to the app. For more information about these interactive features, see Conversational Integration with Apple Messages for Business.

    User notification consent

    Note:

    Notifications are turned off by default for the Apple Messages for Business channel. Make sure to enable notifications at the channel level.

    Users must opt in to receive notifications. No notifications can be delivered until the user grants consent.

    There are two ways for users to grant consent to receive notifications:
    • The user can enter Notification into the Apple Messages for Business chat to get a bot response with the option to subscribe or unsubscribe from receiving notifications for your business on Apple Messages for Business.
    • As the administrator, you can set up the option for users to subscribe or unsubscribe from notifications from your portal. See Subscription-based notifications for more information.

    User input controls

    The Conversational Integration with Apple Messages for Business application supports the following user input controls in Assistant Designer Asset library.

    Table 1. Supported user input controls
    User input control Description
    Text User enters a plain text string in the conversation.
    Static Choice User selects an item from a predefined list.
    Dynamic Choice User selects an item from a list that is created dynamically. For example, the user can select from a list of cases that they opened.
    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.
    Date Time User selects a calendar date, time (hours and minutes), or both.
    Carousel User selects a single item from the carousel.

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

    The Conversational Integration with Apple Messages for Business application supports the following bot responses in Assistant Designer Asset library.

    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:
    Any URLs must be added to the allowed domain list (sys_cs_hostname_allow_list) table.
    Table

    Bot sends information in a table format so that users can see information in a more organized way.

    For example, you can organize and display information such as the following:
    • Planned service changes
    • Company holidays
    • Contact information
    • Testing sites
    Card Bot uploads and displays selected information from a record on your instance. You can choose a record card, video card, or small or large image card.

    For more information about configuring bot responses, see Assistant Designer Asset library bot responses.