Channel Overrides — How to Customize Bot Behavior Per Channel

Channel Overrides let you fine-tune how an AI bot communicates depending on where a conversation is happening — phone call, SMS, email, web chat, WhatsApp, and more. The same bot can speak concisely on IVR, write detailed paragraphs in email, and use numbered menus in SMS, all without changing the core bot prompt.

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How Prompt Assembly Works

Every AI bot response is built from three layers:

1. Global Prompt — account-wide instructions that apply to every bot and channel

2. Bot Prompt — instructions specific to this AI configuration

3. Channel Override — channel-specific instructions stacked on top (or replacing) the bot prompt

By default, Channel Overrides are additive: the bot follows its normal prompt plus the channel instructions. You can also set a channel to Replace the bot prompt entirely, or Suppress it completely.

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IVR (Phone) vs. Email — Understanding the Difference

This is a common point of confusion. There are two separate places where email appears in Channel Overrides:

IVR (Phone) — "Suggest emailing documents to callers"

This teaches the voice bot what to say during a phone call. When enabled, the bot can offer: "Would you like me to email that document to you?" The caller hears this through text-to-speech. It has nothing to do with how the bot behaves in an email thread.

Email channel override

This controls how the bot behaves when a customer contacts you through an email conversation. You can configure longer responses, proper email formatting, and limits on follow-up messages.

These two settings are independent by design. You might want the voice bot to offer emailing documents to callers, but keep the email channel using default bot behavior — or vice versa. Turning one on does not affect the other.

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IVR (Phone) Presets

IVR responses are read aloud by a text-to-speech engine, so they need special formatting.

• Don't read URLs aloud — prevents the bot from saying "https://..." over the phone; offers to send links via SMS or email instead
• Use numbered menus — presents options as "Say 1 for..., say 2 for..." with a maximum of 5 choices
• Keep responses concise — limits replies to 3 sentences; callers are listening, not reading
• Suggest emailing documents to callers — when a caller needs a receipt, confirmation, or detailed info, the bot offers to send it via email (requires email channel to be active on the account)
• Offer to send info via SMS — same as above but via text message (requires SMS to be active)
• Offer live agent transfer — bot offers to connect frustrated callers or complex issues to a human agent
• No emoji or special characters — TTS engines mangle emoji and symbols; keeps output clean for voice

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Email Channel Presets

• Allow longer, detailed responses — email readers expect thorough answers with context and links
• Use proper email formatting — paragraphs, bullet points, greeting, and sign-off
• Limit follow-up emails — prevents the bot from sending more than 2 automated follow-ups without a reply (recommended to avoid spam complaints)

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SMS Presets

• Keep under 160 characters — single SMS segment avoids extra charges
• Use numbered reply options — visitors reply with a number to select
• No markdown or rich formatting — SMS is plain text only
• Offer to call for complex issues — suggests a phone call when text is insufficient (requires IVR to be active)

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Override Modes

Use Replace when a channel needs completely different behavior. Use Suppress if you want the bot to respond without any configured personality on that channel.

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Quick Setup for Common Configurations

IVR + SMS active: Apply the IVR presets "Don't read URLs," "Concise," and "Offer to send via SMS." This gives callers a smooth voice experience with a text delivery option.

IVR + Email active: Apply the IVR preset "Suggest emailing documents to callers" so the voice bot can route detailed info to email. Then configure the Email channel with "Proper formatting" and "Limit follow-ups" for clean, professional email replies.

Email only: Apply "Allow longer responses" and "Proper email formatting." Add "Limit follow-up emails" to prevent automated spam.

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Tips

• Presets auto-check recommended options when you first expand a channel. You can uncheck any you don't want.
• Use "Preview Assembled Prompt" inside each channel to see exactly what the AI will receive.
• "Apply Recommended" at the bottom stages best-practice presets for all your enabled channels at once. Review them before saving.
• Changes only take effect after clicking Save Overrides.