Bot Settings
A bot's settings are instructions: unlike a knowledge document, which is quoted rather than obeyed, the assistant follows them. Each tab saves itself, so a change on one never waits on a Save elsewhere.
Find the Setting You Want to Change#
Start from what you want the bot to do differently:
| What you want to change | The setting | Where it is |
|---|---|---|
| What the bot calls itself | Bot Name | Setup tab |
| The main website it runs on | Domain | Setup tab |
| The colour, launcher and layout of the chat panel | Widget appearance | Setup tab |
| How it sounds | Personality Profile | Personality tab |
| What it steers every conversation towards | Primary Goal | Personality tab |
| Which English it writes | Language | Personality tab |
| The first thing a visitor reads | Greeting Message | Conversation tab |
| Whether a model runs at all | Mode | Conversation tab |
| Which words start a workflow | Keywords and phrases | Triggers tab |
| The buttons offered under the greeting | A trigger marked as a conversation starter | Triggers tab |
| What the business does and sells | A knowledge document | Knowledge tab |
| When the assistant runs one particular workflow | That workflow's description | Workflows tab |
For what a knowledge document can and cannot change, see knowledge is not instructions.
Name the Bot and Lock Its Domain#
Bot Name is what the bot calls itself, and the heading on the chat panel.
Domain is the main website this bot answers on. It locks once the bot has been installed anywhere, so set it to the address visitors actually type. Language reads it as well.
The bot answers on its Domain and on the addresses in Additional domains, one per line on the same tab. www.example.com and example.com count as the same website. Every other subdomain is a separate website, so a widget on shop.example.com answers only when you add that address. Write each address the way a visitor types it: Chatleadr keeps the website part, so https://shop.example.com/pricing is saved as shop.example.com. Wildcards such as *.example.com are refused. Connecting a site with the Chatleadr WordPress plugin adds that site for you.
A new Avatar saves the moment you upload it, without the tab's Save.
The rest of the tab is widget appearance: brand colour, launcher style and chat layout, all on the website widget only. WhatsApp and Instagram use their own interface. See widget appearance.
Set How It Sounds and What It Steers Towards#
Personality Profile is one of four, each of which sets a matching avatar you can replace on Setup: Friendly (warm and welcoming), Professional (polite and efficient), Expert (technical and detailed) or Advisor (strategic and guiding).
Primary Goal is what the assistant steers every conversation towards:
| Goal | What the bot pushes for |
|---|---|
| Qualify Leads | Capture and qualify potential customers |
| Answer FAQs | Handle common customer questions |
| Drive Sales | Guide visitors toward purchases |
The goal changes what the bot steers towards, not what it collects. Lead capture is a separate switch on the bot's Lead capture tab, and it is on for every new bot, so the bot asks a visitor for the details listed there whichever goal you pick. Switch it off on that tab if you do not want a bot asking. See how a lead is captured.
Language controls spelling and idiom, and it does not translate. Automatic (from domain) gives .us, .gov and .mil American English, and every other domain, .com and .co.za alike, British English. Set British English or American English to override it.
Decide Whether a Model Runs at All#
Greeting Message is the first thing the bot says when the chat is opened. It is sent word for word as you wrote it, so the wording cannot drift.
Mode decides whether a model is involved in anything after that:
| Mode | What the visitor gets | What it ignores |
|---|---|---|
| AI | An answer in the bot's own words, and the workflow the assistant picks by description | Nothing on these four tabs |
| Keyword | Only text you wrote, and the workflow whose trigger phrase they typed | Personality, goal and the knowledge base |
Use keyword mode where improvised wording is a compliance problem, such as prize draws, closing dates and regulated terms. In exchange, the bot cannot answer anything you did not anticipate, and changing the three settings it ignores does nothing until the mode changes.
Set How a Conversation Starts#
Triggers are one list, Keywords and phrases. Each row is a phrase of up to 50 characters, the workflow that phrase starts, and whether the phrase is also shown as a conversation starter. In keyword mode, whatever a visitor types is matched against every row, marked or not. In AI mode the assistant picks a workflow by reading its description instead, so on this list only a row the visitor taps as a conversation starter runs one.
Matching ignores case and matches whole words only, so enter fires on "I want to enter" but not on "centre". For the same reason price does not fire on "prices", so add a plural as its own row. If several rows match, the longest phrase wins.
Up to three rows can be marked Show as a conversation starter, and those are the buttons a first-time visitor is offered, once per conversation. In keyword mode an unmarked row still runs its workflow when a visitor types the phrase, so a WhatsApp QR code or a wa.me link carrying that message can start a workflow no button shows.
On the web the buttons sit under the greeting. On WhatsApp and Instagram the person opens the thread, so they ride on the bot's first reply instead and render differently on each. See what differs per channel.
The list flags a row whose workflow was archived or switched off, two rows carrying the same phrase, and a row that has neither, which does nothing at all.
In keyword mode, when nothing matches, the bot replies with its greeting and offers the conversation starters again, on every channel.
Common Questions#
Does Changing the Personality Change Anything for Existing Conversations?#
It applies from the next message, including in a conversation already running.
Can I Write Custom Instructions for the Bot?#
No. The persona is the four personalities and three goals on the Personality tab. Two free-text fields existed here and both were removed after measurement showed they lowered answer quality. The one customer-written surface left is a workflow's description.
Why Are There Only Three Conversation Starters?#
Three is WhatsApp's limit for reply buttons, and a starter has to work on every channel the bot is on. Inside a workflow the limit does not apply: a Menu node holds up to ten options.
Do Trigger Keywords Do Anything in AI Mode?#
In AI mode the assistant picks a workflow by reading its description, so a phrase a visitor types does not route through this list. The list stays on screen because a row marked as a starter still runs its workflow when the visitor taps it. See why descriptions beat keywords.