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A channel is a way customers reach your agent. WireDesk has three: Website chat, Phone and Email. They all reach the same agent, with the same knowledge, instructions and actions. You don’t build a separate bot for each channel. You turn channels on for the agent you already have. Manage them under Agents → your agent → Channels. Each channel has a card there with a switch, plus a page of its own for settings that only apply to that channel.

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The three channels

For setup, see website chat, phone and email.

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Turning a channel on and off

Each channel card on Channels has a switch. Switching a channel off keeps its setup, so you can switch it back on without losing anything:
  • Website chat off: the bubble stops answering. The snippet can stay on your site.
  • Phone off: calls to the number go unanswered. You keep the number.
  • Email off: mail sent to the address is ignored. The address stays yours.
Which channels start switched on depends on how you created the agent. An agent built from your website starts with the channels you ticked under Where should it answer?. A blank agent starts with all three switched on. Its phone channel does nothing until it has a number. The Overview page shows each channel as a tile marked on or off, with the snippet’s status, the number, or the address.
To stop the agent answering everywhere without deleting it, switch its channels off. See delete an agent.

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What the channels share

These settings apply to every channel:
  • Name, greeting and instructions, under How it talks. The greeting is the first thing the agent says on every channel.
  • Knowledge. Every channel searches the same pages, notes and files.
  • Remember callers, under How it talks, lets the agent keep notes about a person from one conversation to the next. See remember callers.
  • Actions. Each action has Channels checkboxes (Voice, Chat, Email). By default an action is available on all three.
  • Conversations. Every channel’s conversations appear together in Conversations.

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What’s different on each channel

Style. WireDesk adapts how the agent writes to the channel. On the phone it’s short and spoken, with no lists or symbols. In chat it uses short replies, bold for key details, simple lists and links. By email it writes a full plain-text email with a greeting and a sign-off. You don’t need to write instructions for any of this. Phone only, on Channels › Phone:
  • Voice: the voice the agent speaks in. There are ten to choose from.
  • Transfer live calls to (optional): the number a live transfer rings. It must not be the line customers dial, or the transfer loops back to the agent.
  • On phone calls, say it’s an AI and the call may be recorded: off by default. When it’s on, the agent says “Quick heads-up: you’re speaking with an AI assistant, and this call may be recorded.” before the greeting. See AI and recording notice.
Website chat only: the look of the bubble and panel, the chat’s opening message, and suggested questions. These are set in the Playground. See widget appearance. Email only: the sender name and reply-to address. See email.

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Wording for one channel

Each channel’s page has an Instructions card. By default, Sync with the agent’s instructions is on, and the channel uses the instructions under How it talks. Give a channel its own instructions when it needs to say something different, for example “on the phone, always offer to book an appointment”. A channel’s own instructions replace the agent’s instructions on that channel. They don’t add to them. Once a channel has its own, changes under How it talks no longer reach it. WireDesk’s own rules on honesty and style still apply. See wording per channel.

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Browser voice

Browser voice also appears in Conversations. It isn’t a channel customers use. It’s the voice test you run yourself from Test by voice, and you can’t switch it on or off. See test your agent.