Why channels need different designs

Each channel handles input and output differently. Web chat shows buttons and quick replies. Apple Messages shows tappable lists and pickers. SMS is plain text, so options become "Reply 1, 2, or 3". Phone (IVR) is voice, so callers either speak or press keypad digits (DTMF), and nothing can be clicked.

Build the conversation around what the channel can do. A button that is perfect on web chat has no meaning on a phone call, and a free-form prompt that works in chat can ramble when read aloud. This guide helps you choose between a fixed menu and AI free text, add a channel to a workflow you already have, and decide how to orchestrate the pieces.

Menu or AI free text: when to use which

Use a deterministic menu when:

• The choices are few and known ("Sales, Support, Billing").
• A wrong turn is costly, such as routing to the wrong team.
• Callers on a phone line need a fast, predictable path.
• A step must happen in a fixed order, such as a required disclosure.

Use AI free text or speech when:

• The request can be phrased many ways.
• The visitor may give several details in one sentence.
• The topic can change mid-conversation.

Menu building blocks:

• Web, Apple Messages and SMS: an Ask Question node with choices. Apple shows a tappable list, SMS lists numbered replies.
• Phone: an IVR Phone Menu node. It speaks your prompt ("Press 1 for Sales, press 2 for Support") and waits for a key. It has retries, a timeout branch and an invalid-key branch.

Adding IVR or another channel to an existing workflow

Reuse the workflow you already built, for example one made for Apple Messages. Do not clone it.

1. Trigger: on the Conversation Opened trigger, turn on the new channel pill, or leave all channels on.

2. AI nodes: open the node, expand Channel Overrides, choose the channel, and pick a mode. Additive appends instructions, Replace swaps the bot prompt for that channel, Suppress removes the bot prompt and leaves only the global prompt. Additive is the right choice most of the time.

3. Menus: where the Apple version uses an Ask Question list, add an IVR Phone Menu branch for voice. Use the channel dropdown in the editor toolbar to preview each channel.

4. Preview: click Preview Assembled Prompt on each override.

If more than about a third of the nodes need overrides, a separate workflow is easier to maintain.

What to change for voice

Callers listen instead of read, so write for the ear.

• Use short sentences and keep replies brief.
• Read options as numbers: "Press 1 for orders."
• Never read a link aloud. Offer to text it instead.
• Leave out emoji and symbols.
• Offer a path to a person, such as "Press 0 for an agent."
• Put these rules in an additive IVR override so the same bot still works on other channels unchanged.

For SMS, keep messages short and plain text, and number the options.

Orchestration: menu in front, AI behind, flow back

A reliable pattern for many businesses:

1. A deterministic menu up front handles the first decision (web buttons, Apple list, or IVR Phone Menu).

2. Each choice leads to a focused AI node for that topic, such as a NetSuite AI node for orders, invoices and account questions.

3. Each AI node has jump targets back to a Section Entry for the main menu or a general-help AI, with a plain-English "jump here when the customer..." line such as "done with orders, has a different question".

4. When a specialist finishes, the visitor lands back at the menu or concierge instead of a dead end.

For a fixed sequence in the middle of an AI conversation, such as identity checks, jump to a Section Entry whose children are ordinary nodes. It hands back to the AI node when it finishes.

One general AI or concierge plus specialists

One general AI works when:

• You connect one or two systems.
• The skills are few and the tools are clearly different.
• The channel is simple chat or SMS.

Use a concierge with specialists when:

• You connect several systems, such as NetSuite for orders and a store platform for products.
• A wrong tool call has a real cost, such as a refund against the wrong system.
• Account data needs the visitor verified first. Put that check at the entry of the specialist section.
• Voice is involved, where a short menu and a narrow specialist keep calls fast.

Give each specialist only the skills it needs. Say which system owns which topic, so returns phrasing does not go to the wrong node.

Ask Moshky: example prompts

• "My workflow works on Apple Messages. How do I add IVR without copying it?"
• "Should I use a menu or let the AI handle this on the phone?"
• "Write an additive IVR override for my support bot that sounds good on a call."
• "Design a concierge with a NetSuite AI specialist and a general help AI."
• "How do I get back to the main menu after the order lookup finishes?"
• "Review my workflow and tell me what breaks on voice."