Topics and routing
1. Topics and routing
In this video, I'll show you how topics give an agent the same reliable answer every time, and how it picks the right one. Customers ask about returns in a dozen different ways, and leaving the answer to improvisation is a gamble. Instructions set an agent's overall behavior, but a topic is narrower: a scripted path for one request that needs pinning down.2. Open Topics
The Topics tab sits behind the overflow button at the end of the agent's tab row.3. Add a topic
Select Add a topic, then Add from description with Copilot. You could start from blank, but Copilot will happily write the first draft for you.4. Describe the topic
Name it Returns, and describe it in one plain sentence: Let a customer care colleague check how returns work, including the return window and when a receipt is needed. Select Create, and Copilot drafts the topic in a few seconds.5. Read the trigger
Close the Edit with Copilot panel, since it covers the topic. The Trigger node at the top says The agent chooses: the agent reads every topic's description and picks the best fit, so nobody has to use exact words.6. Check the examples
Below it is the "Describe what the topic does" box. Copilot filled it with example questions, different ways someone might ask about returns. The agent reads these to decide which topic fits. Let's try adding one at the end: exchange a sweater for a different size.7. Save the topic
Select Save at the top right, because topics don't save themselves.8. Check both topics
There's already a second topic, Gift Cards, made the same way. Back on the Topics tab, the Custom filter lists both, next to a few starter topics every agent gets. Keep their examples apart, because overlap confuses routing.9. Test the routing
Let's test it. Select New test session, then ask in words the examples don't use: a shopper bought the wrong size online, can they bring it back to our store? The main pane switches to the activity map, and its heading names the topic that ran: Returns. No example matched those words exactly, so the agent chose from the description.10. Test a second topic
The topic has already asked which item it's about, and it would capture your next message. So start another New test session, then ask: how does a customer check what is left on our gift card? This time the heading reads Gift Cards, and that topic takes over the chat.11. Ask something else
One more New test session, with a request no topic covers: can you help me word an apology for a late delivery? The main pane stays empty because no topic ran, so the agent wrote the apology from its instructions. If requests like that keep coming and need a fixed answer, that's your cue to add a topic.12. Let's practice!
Now add a couple of topics to your own agent, and check in the activity map where each question lands.Create Your Free Account
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