Create and configure touchpoints

For an intro to touchpoints, see Understand touchpoints.

Create a new touchpoint

1. Navigate to Settings by clicking the hamburger menu in the top left and selecting "Settings".

2. Under "Assistant", select "Touchpoints".

3. Click "Add touchpoint".

4. Name the touchpoint. This is an internal-only name for your reference; it will not be shown to end users.

5. Select the type of touchpoint to create.

6. If the touchpoint is not a Site, choose the starting flow that the touchpoint should connect to. (Sites have their content configured a different way.)

7. The touchpoint is created and you are prompted to configure it. Configuration options depend on the type of touchpoint; see below for details.

Configure a touchpoint

Web assistant touchpoint

For web assistant touchpoints, you can configure the following:

1. Name: An internal-only name for your reference, not be shown to end users.
2. Start flow: The Mavenoid flow where self-service will begin when this touchpoint is used.
3. Start language: What language the assistant will start in. You can choose to auto-detect based on the user's browser or pick a specific language to match the website where this touchpoint is used. Either way, the user can manually switch to any other available language.
4. Appearance: Where to position the assistant on the user's screen.
5. Open assistant automatically when page loads: If this is toggled off, the user needs to click on the assistant widget to expand it. If this is toggled on, the widget will expand automatically.
6. Show minimize/close button: Whether to show a button in the corner of the assistant to minimize or close the assistant. If this is toggled on, you can also choose the button icon to be either an arrow or a cross, and what close button action should occur when the button is clicked. The button can close the assistant, navigate to a specified URL, or take no action.
7. Theme: If you have multiple visual themes, which one this assistant should use.
8. Session restoration: What should happen if the user leaves the assistant and then returns to it. If they return after a period less than the duration of Automatically resume session within (seconds), they will automatically be taken back to their previous conversation at the point they left off. If they return after a period longer than that but shorter than Ask users if they want to resume session within (hours), they will be prompted to choose whether to resume or start a new conversation. If they return after a period longer than that, they will automatically start a new conversation.
9. Write data: If toggled on, you can specify keys and values to set form data for any conversation started from this touchpoint, similar to starting the flow with a write data node.

You can use the special identifier $search to reference the URL's query string. For example, if the touchpoint is used from a page with a URL like https://example.com?error_code=foo and you use write data to set the key "error" to the value {{ $search["error_code"] }}, in the resulting conversation the key "error" would have the value foo.

You can test your configuration by clicking "Preview". This will open the assistant in a separate tab with the same behavior the end user will see, though the background will be a default page rather than your actual website.

Once ready, you can click "Publish" to finish configuring the touchpoint. If this is the first time you have published this touchpoint, this will result in the embed code being displayed.

Copy the displayed HTML and JavaScript code and include it just before the closing </body> tag on any web page where you want this touchpoint to appear. This only needs to be done once; further changes to this touchpoint's configuration do not require any changes to the embed code or the web page.

Mobile app touchpoint

For mobile app touchpoints, you can configure the following:

1. Name: An internal-only name for your reference, not be shown to end users.
2. Start flow: The Mavenoid flow where self-service will begin when this touchpoint is used.
3. Start language: What language the assistant will start in. You can choose to auto-detect based on the user's browser or pick a specific language to match the website where this touchpoint is used. Either way, the user can manually switch to any other available language.
4. Appearance: Where to position the assistant on the user's screen.
5. Open assistant automatically when page loads: If this is toggled off, the user needs to click on the assistant widget to expand it. If this is toggled on, the widget will expand automatically.
6. Show minimize/close button: Whether to show a button in the corner of the assistant to minimize or close the assistant. If this is toggled on, you can also choose the button icon to be either an arrow or a cross, and what close button action should occur when the button is clicked. The button can close the assistant, navigate to a specified URL, or take no action.

Our default Swift, Kotlin, or Java embed code recognizes navigation to the special URL close: as a signal to close the webview containing the assistant. This is therefore suggested as the default URL to navigate to when the close button is clicked.

7. Theme: If you have multiple visual themes, which one this assistant should use.
8. Session restoration: What should happen if the user leaves the assistant and then returns to it. If they return after a period less than the duration of Automatically resume session within (seconds), they will automatically be taken back to their previous conversation at the point they left off. If they return after a period longer than that but shorter than Ask users if they want to resume session within (hours), they will be prompted to choose whether to resume or start a new conversation. If they return after a period longer than that, they will automatically start a new conversation.
9. Write data: If toggled on, you can specify keys and values to set form data for any conversation started from this touchpoint, similar to starting the flow with a write data node.

You can use the special identifier $search to reference the URL's query string. For example, if the touchpoint is used from a page with a URL like https://example.com?error_code=foo and you use write data to set the key "error" to the value {{ $search["error_code"] }}, in the resulting conversation the key "error" would have the value foo.

You can test your configuration by clicking "Preview". This will open the assistant in a separate tab with the same behavior the end user will see, though the background will be a default page rather than your actual website.

Once ready, you can click "Publish" to finish configuring the touchpoint. If this is the first time you have published this touchpoint, this will result in the embed code being displayed.

This code block can be copied into your app project. This only needs to be done once; further changes to this touchpoint's configuration do not require any changes to the embed code or the mobile app.

Site touchpoint

Site touchpoints use the Mavenoid dynamic help center to provide a standalone website providing a full-screen portal with assistant webpages, searchable by Google and other search engines. While their configuration has been joined with other kinds of touchpoints, they are still configured the same way as before.