How do I use the Virtual Advisor?

The Virtual Advisor helps you automatically respond to common questions from contacts.

It includes a predefined library of common institutional questions and answers. You can activate questions from this library and customize the response Message sends when a contact’s message matches an activated question or a supported variation.

The Virtual Advisor is designed for predictable answers to common institutional questions. It is not a general-purpose conversational assistant, so messages that do not match an activated question remain available for your team to review.

How the Virtual Advisor Works

• The Virtual Advisor checks incoming messages against your activated questions.
• When it identifies a supported match, it sends the saved response.
• The conversation moves to the No Action Needed folder after an automated response.
• When Message does not identify a match, the conversation moves to the Action Needed folder.
• The Virtual Advisor waits up to 10 minutes before responding, so it does not interrupt an active conversation with a contact.
• By default, the Virtual Advisor responds across your account. You can configure a separate Virtual Advisor for an individual program.

General Answer Setting

The Respond with a general answer if the Virtual Advisor cannot answer the question setting provides a fallback response for incoming messages that do not match an activated Virtual Advisor question.

This setting can apply to any unmatched inbound message—not only messages phrased as questions. For example, a contact might send a question, statement, update, or acknowledgment that does not match an activated question.

The Virtual Advisor will not send the fallback response if someone from your team has messaged the contact within the previous 10 minutes.

Because this response may be sent after different types of unmatched messages, write it broadly and avoid referring specifically to a question, the Virtual Advisor, or a particular topic.

Example: Thanks for reaching out. We’ve received your message and will review it. A member of our team will follow up if additional assistance is needed.

Set Up Your Virtual Advisor

Go to the gear icon at the top right corner and click Settings. 

Next, click Virtual Advisors from the menu at the top. 

Click edit to view the list of standard questions. By default, you are brought to the Answered Questions tab. 

You can filter this list by topic using the dropdown at the top of the screen, search for specific questions using the search bar to the right, and edit/delete answers by using the icons at the end of each question. 

From the Available Questions tab, you can view additional questions that don't have answers programmed in. To activate a question, click on the plus sign, type your response (you can even include emojis) and click Save. Any question left blank will be ignored by the Virtual Advisor, and will not be answered.