Bot & IVR Outbound Communication Skills

Overview

Velaro bots and IVR workflows can send transactional SMS and email directly to visitors during a conversation. This lets your AI handle follow-up without requiring a human agent to step in.

Two workflow skills are available:

• send_sms — sends a text message to any phone number
• send_email — sends a transactional email to any email address

Both skills are available as nodes in the Workflows editor and work in any AI node or IVR flow.

Enabling Bot Communications

These skills require a Pro or Enterprise subscription:

• Pro: Up to 50 SMS/hour and 25 emails/hour per site
• Enterprise: Unlimited (configured per account)

To check if your account has these skills enabled, go to Account → AI Settings and look for the "Bot & IVR Outbound Communications" section.

Using the Send SMS Skill

The send_sms skill lets a bot or IVR send a text message during a conversation.

What it's for:

• Sending order tracking links or confirmation numbers
• Delivering case/ticket numbers after a support interaction
• Sending CSAT survey links post-chat
• Providing follow-up instructions the customer can reference later

How it works in the bot:

1. The bot asks the customer: "Would you like me to text that to you?"

2. Customer confirms their phone number

3. Bot calls the send_sms skill with the confirmed number and message

4. Customer receives the text within seconds

Limits: Maximum 3 SMS per conversation, up to your plan's hourly site limit.

Using the Send Email Skill

The send_email skill lets a bot or IVR send a transactional email during a conversation.

What it's for:

• Sending a conversation summary or transcript
• Delivering case numbers, instructions, or documentation links
• Appointment confirmations
• Sending a CSAT survey or follow-up form

How it works in the bot:

1. The bot asks: "Should I email that to you?"

2. Customer confirms their email address

3. Bot calls the send_email skill with the address, subject, and body

4. Customer receives the email within minutes

Limits: Maximum 2 emails per conversation, up to your plan's hourly site limit.

Adding These Skills to a Workflow

1. Open Messaging → Workflows and open or create a workflow

2. Add an AI Node to the canvas

3. In the node's Skills panel, find "Communications" category

4. Enable Send SMS and/or Send Email

5. In the node's system prompt, tell the bot when to use these skills:

- "If the customer asks for a confirmation text, confirm their phone number first, then use send_sms."

- "After resolving the issue, offer to email a summary using send_email."

Best Practices

• Always confirm contact info before sending. The bot should say: "Should I send that to [number/email]?" and wait for confirmation.
• Keep SMS under 160 characters to avoid multi-part message charges.
• Use professional tone in email bodies — these come from noreply@velaro.com.
• Don't use for marketing — these skills are for transactional messages only. Promotional messages require the Email Campaigns feature.
• Combine with Click-to-Call — if a customer doesn't answer a Click-to-Call, the IVR can automatically send an SMS follow-up using this skill.

Safety and Rate Limits

Velaro automatically protects against runaway bots:

• Per-conversation cap: 3 SMS, 2 emails maximum per conversation
• Per-site hourly cap: enforced based on your subscription plan
• If limits are hit, the bot gracefully tells the customer it can't send right now

These limits prevent accidental spam if a bot gets into a loop or is misconfigured.