Behaviour

The system prompt

Setup › Behaviour

The system prompt is a set of instructions that applies to every conversation. It does not add knowledge: it shapes how the chatbot uses the knowledge base.

You can write up to 10,000 characters, but a clear half page is usually enough.

What a good prompt covers

Role

Who the chatbot is and who it helps, for example the support assistant of your company.

Tone

Formal or casual, short or detailed answers.

Scope

Which topics it handles, and which it politely declines.

Unknown answers

What to do when the knowledge base has no answer, for example say so and link to your contact page.

Hand-over

When to refer visitors to a person, with the right link, email address or phone number.

Example

A starting point for a customer support chatbot. Adapt it to your business:

You are the customer support assistant of Example Ltd, a Swiss internet provider.

Tone: friendly, clear and concise. Address customers formally.

Rules:
- Only answer questions about Example Ltd's products, services and support.
- Only use information from the knowledge base. Never invent prices, dates or policies.
- If you don't know the answer, say so and refer to https://www.example.com/contact.
- For contract changes or complaints, refer customers to support@example.com.
- Keep answers short. Use numbered steps for instructions.

Test and improve

• Save, open the live preview and ask your test questions again.
• Change one thing at a time so you know what made the difference.
• Longer is not better. If the chatbot ignores a rule, make the rule more specific instead of adding more text.
• Missing facts belong in the Knowledge Base, not in the prompt.

Handover by email

Setup › Behaviour

When the chatbot cannot help any further, it can pass the conversation to your team by email, so a person can follow up with the visitor. The handover is off by default.

1. 01

   Switch it on

   Owners and admins tick Enable handover by email and save. The recipient is prefilled with the owner's email address. You can enter another address, such as a team inbox. If the field is left empty, emails go to the owner.

2. 02

   The chatbot offers a handover

   It does so when it cannot answer from your knowledge base or a visitor asks for a person. It first asks for the visitor's name and an email address or phone number.

3. 03

   Your team gets an email

   It contains the contact details, the request and the conversation. The chatbot tells the visitor that their details were sent.

• Each conversation is handed over at most once, and each chatbot sends at most 50 handovers in 24 hours. Once that limit is reached, the chatbot suggests that the visitor contacts you directly.
• The email comes from DoNotReply@swai.chat, in the language the owner uses in the dashboard.
• If the visitor left a valid email address, the email has a reply button and replies go straight to the visitor. If they only left a phone number, call them back.