Image Analysis (Read Customer Photos)

Customers often cannot name the part they need, but they can take a photo of it. Image Analysis lets your bot read a photo a customer sends in the chat, such as a part label, a nameplate or a serial number, and use what it reads to find the right product or answer.

What it does

When a customer sends a photo, your bot can read the printed text on it and report what it sees: part numbers, model numbers, serial numbers, brand names, any other visible text, and a short description of the item. Each number it reads comes with how confident the bot is and where on the item it was read from.

The bot then uses what it read the way it would use anything the customer typed. For example, it can look the part number up in your catalog or search your knowledge for it.

What it does not do

• It does not decide that two products are the same because they look alike. A match comes from an exact part number in your catalog or knowledge, never from appearance alone.
• It does not guess characters it cannot read. If a label is blurry or cut off, the bot says so and asks for a clearer photo.
• It does not act on instructions written inside a photo. Text in an image is treated as information to read, never as a command.
• It does not keep the customer's photo for training. Only the short text result is kept for a limited time so the same photo is not read twice.
• It is not built for engineering drawings or CAD files. For those, ask customers for a photo of the part, a PDF or the part number.

It is an add-on with monthly limits

Image Analysis is an add-on to your plan and is off until your Velaro account manager turns it on for your account. Your plan sets a monthly allowance of photos the bot can read. A single chat can read up to 10 photos and a single visitor up to 30 a month, so one person cannot use your whole allowance. Reading the same photo again does not count against your allowance a second time.

If your allowance is used up, the bot tells the customer it cannot read photos right now and offers another way, such as typing the part number or talking to a person. To add Image Analysis or raise your allowance, contact your Velaro account manager or email support@velaro.com.

Set it up

1. Ask your account manager to turn on Image Analysis for your account.

2. Fastest start: on the Create workflow page, under Knowledge & Product Lookup, choose Photo to Part ID. It installs turned off, with the Analyze Customer Image skill already added to a specialist AI step. Review it, then turn it on. Or add the Analyze Customer Image skill yourself to any AI step that talks to customers.

3. Connect the places the bot should look a part up. Photos work best when the bot can check what it reads against your product catalog or your uploaded parts lists and manuals.

4. Send yourself a test photo of a label and check that the bot reads the number and asks you to confirm it.

Getting good results

• Ask customers for a close, well-lit photo of the label rather than the whole item.
• Load a parts list or catalog into your knowledge so the bot has something exact to check a number against.
• Upload manuals and cross-reference sheets as documents. Product feeds and your store catalog work best through your store connection instead of as uploaded files.
• The bot confirms numbers it is not sure about with the customer before relying on them. Leave that on.

Supported photos and channels

JPEG, PNG, GIF and WebP photos up to about 3.7 MB. Other file types are not read as images.

Photos can be read when they are sent through your website chat or the messenger widget. Photos sent on other channels, such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, text message or Apple Messages, cannot be read yet. On those channels the bot tells the customer so and asks them to type the part number or use the website chat.

Troubleshooting

The bot says image analysis is not available. The add-on is not turned on for your account, or the monthly allowance is used up. Contact your account manager.

The bot asks for a clearer photo. The label was blurry, cut off or too small. Ask the customer to retake it closer and in better light.

The bot read a number that looks wrong. It marks numbers it is unsure about and asks the customer to confirm. If it is still wrong, load your parts list into your knowledge so numbers can be checked against it, and tell support which chat it was.