Introducing the flow bot builder for a code-free bot building experience

Conversation is the new user interface and conversations form the basis of all chatbot interactions. That is why we’ve launched a graphical tool to help you build conversation-based bots on the Gupshup platform. This product enables you to create fully functional chatbots and publish them to Facebook Messenger in few minutes. And the best part? You don’t need any coding skills to build one!

Chatbots are an interesting way to present data. It can be utilized to present results of a survey, answer questions about university courses, be your online resume or even enable a celebrity to engage with fans. Building conversation bots are simple and convenient with the Gupshup Flow Bot Builder. Here are some of the features of the Flow Bot Builder:

• Easy to use
• No coding required
• One-click publish to Facebook Messenger
• Support for all types of FB messages such as quick replies, carousel, and video
• Automatic hosting, monitoring, and tracking
  

To build a conversational chatbot using the Flow Bot Builder, follow these steps:

• Login to gupshup.io and click on ‘My Bots’ section
• Hit the ‘+’ button to create a new bot. Give it a name and a description and then choose the ‘Flow Bot Builder’ option
• To create a new message hit the ‘+’ button in the Messages section
• Choose from the dropdown the type of message you want to create. The options available are:
  • Welcome – This is the default welcome message for your bot. Your users will see this message when they first start to chat with your bot. Usually, this has an introduction and few words on how users can interact with your bot
  • Text – A plain text message without any buttons
  • Poll – A message in which a user can choose from two options
    
  • Survey – A message where a user can choose from upto three options. The developer can also choose to make a phone call or link to a URL upon clicking the button
  • Carousel – A message with a title, subtitle, image and a button. Each carousel can list upto 10 items
    
  • Quick Reply – Quick Replies appear prominently above the composer, with the keyboard-less prominent. You can add upto 10 quick replies in a message
    
  • Image, Audio, Document & Video – Enter the corresponding URL to be displayed to the user.

Each message has a Message Label that is used as an identifier. You can link buttons to other messages using this identifier, to build a conversational bot.

Testing and publishing the bot

To test out the chatbot that you’ve created, go to the Gupshup Proxy Bot on Facebook Messenger. Type out ‘proxy <botName>’ to invoke the bot you have just created it. You can read more about the Gupshup Proxy Bot here.

To publish your bot to Messenger, hit the ‘Save and Publish’ button. You will be asked to authenticate your FB profile. Once done, you will see the FB pages that you are the owner of. Choose the relevant FB page and hit the ‘Publish’ button.

There you have it. Use the Flow Bot Builder to create fun, interactive conversational bots. Happy Bot Building!

Here are some useful links to learn more about bot development and its growing importance:

1. Why Bots Matter
2. Bot Building Tools for Everyone
3. Five Tips to Create a Well-Behaved Chat Bot
4. Get Ready for the Chat Bot Revolution: They’re Simple, Cheap, and About to Be Everywhere
5. Good Reads: Gupshup Launches Its New Bot Builder Platform
6. Introducing the New IDE Bot Builder