Introduction

A stuck conversation is one where the bot repeatedly fails to respond to the consumer’s message. A conversation can become stuck for a variety of reasons. For example, this might be due to a long delay in receiving a response from a third-party system.

As a best practice, a Messaging bot should resolve stuck conversations. This helps the bot to re-engage the consumer when the conversation isn’t progressing as expected.

This feature is only supported for Messaging bots. Don't add the custom configuration fields described farther below to a Voice bot.

Retrying the consumer's last message

In a conversation, when a bot fails to respond to the consumer, the consumer’s last message can be resent to the bot one or more times. However, you must manually add support for this retry flow.

Adding support

To retry the consumer's last message, edit the bot's agent connector and add these custom configuration fields:

  • messageResendMaxRetries: This is the maximum number of times to send the consumer's message to the bot. The number represents the total tries, not the retries alone. So, to add support for the retry flow, add this field, and set it to 2 or higher:

    • For 1 retry, set it to 2. (1 for the original try + 1 for the single retry)
    • For 2 retries, set it to 3. (1 for the original try + 2 for the two retries)

    LivePerson recommends you add support for this retry flow by setting this to 2 or 3, but no higher than 3.

    The default value of this field is 1, which means the consumer’s message will be sent only once. This means if you don’t want to add the retry flow, there’s no need to add this field.

  • retryMessageInterval: This is the amount of time to wait before resending the consumer's last message. The default value is 60000 milliseconds (60 seconds). To customize the timeout interval, add this field, and set it as desired.

Resolving stuck conversations

When the retry flow described above is added, it is always attempted to re-engage the bot. Once the flow is fully completed, if the bot still fails to respond to the consumer, the conversation is identified as “stuck."

You can resolve stuck conversations by:

  1. Asking the consumer to resend their original query: If you configure this, the conversation starts anew, and the consumer is sent, “I’m sorry. Something went wrong, so let’s start fresh. Could you restate your question in a few words?” You can change the bot message if desired.
  2. Transferring the conversation to a human agent

You must manually add support for this flow. You can add just Step 1 or both Steps 1 and 2. You cannot add Step 2 alone.

For an optimal consumer experience, LivePerson recommends that you configure both steps.

If you configure both steps, the flow works as follows: Step 1 starts a 10-minute timer. If the conversation is identified as "stuck" again within the 10-minute window, Step 2 is performed immediately. If the conversation is identified as "stuck" after the 10-minute window has expired, Step 1 is performed again.

Be aware that, in the case of Step 1, the consumer's response after starting the conversation anew might not match any intents or patterns in the bot; this will trigger the fallback response.

Adding support

Like with the retry flow, adding support for resolving stuck conversations involves editing the bot's agent connector and adding various custom configuration fields.

To configure Step 1 (start anew with the consumer's original query), use:

To configure Step 2 (transfer to human agent), use:

  • escalateOnStuckConversation: Add this field, and set it to “true.”
  • escalationSkillIdOnStuckConversation: You must add this field, and set it to the appropriate human agent skill ID to which to transfer the conversation. Without this value, the transfer will not occur. Specify only one skill ID.
  • escalationMessageOnStuckConversation: The default message that’s sent to the consumer just before the transfer is, “I’m having some trouble. Let me connect you with an agent.” To change the message, add this field, and set it as desired.

Tips

  • If you have multiple agent connectors configured for a single bot due to traffic considerations, remember to update each agent connector accordingly.