Write great instructions

The instructions (the System Prompt field under Prompt Configuration) are the single biggest factor in how well your agent answers. Write them the way you would brief a new colleague on their first day. Customers never see them.

What to include

1. Who it works for: your business and what you do.
2. What it helps with: the tasks you expect it to handle.
3. The facts it may use: opening hours, address, services, prices you are happy to share.
4. When to hand over: the situations where a person must take over.
5. What it must never do: for example give medical or legal advice, promise refunds or discuss competitors.

Ten tips for great answers

• Use short, plain sentences, one rule per line.
• Give real facts, not "our usual hours".
• Tell it never to invent information and to offer a colleague or take a message when it does not know.
• On calls, ask for one detail at a time and keep answers short.
• Say how to read out phone numbers, e-mail addresses and dates if it matters to you, for example "read phone numbers in groups of three digits".
• Describe the tone in words: "warm and brief", "formal, use siz in Turkish".
• Give an example of a good answer for your most common question.
• Tell it what to do at the end: "Ask if there is anything else, then say goodbye."
• Keep long reference material in the Knowledge Base, not in the instructions.
• Test after every change, and improve the line that caused a bad answer.

Help me write this

Not sure where to start? Click Help me write this at the top of Prompt Configuration.

1. Describe what the agent should do in your own words. Or click the microphone (Speak instead), talk as long as you like, and click Stop recording.
2. Click Write it. The result appears under Written instructions, where you can edit it.
3. Click Use these instructions, Write again for another version, or Cancel.

When the agent already has instructions, give short orders instead: "Make the answers shorter", "Also take bookings for Saturdays", "Remove the part about prices". Only the requested change is made, and What changes shows the lines added and removed. Example chips under the box give you ideas.

Give your agent a name callers hear

1. Below the System Prompt, click Give your agent a name callers hear.
2. Type a name, for example Elif, and click Add to instructions.
3. The line "Your name is Elif. Use this name when you introduce yourself." is added to the top of the instructions, and the button now reads Introduces itself as Elif. Click it to change the name, or Remove name to take the line out.

The First Message

The First Message is the first thing callers hear or chat visitors read, for example "Hello, this is Elif from Bright Dental. How can I help you today?". Put the agent's name here if callers should hear it straight away. Leave it empty to let the caller speak first.