Listen
Use Listen blocks to offer buttons, capture replies, identify intents, collect images and forms, and show cards, carousels and lists in a workflow.
Listen blocks ask the customer for something and wait for the reply: a button tap, a typed answer, an image or a form. The workflow then continues down the path that matches what the customer did.
Find them under Listen in the workflow builder’s toolbar.
| Block | Use it to |
|---|---|
| Buttons | Offer a set of options to tap. |
| Capture | Save the customer’s typed reply, extract a detail from it, identify its intent, or pass it to an AI agent. |
| Upload Img | Ask the customer to upload images. |
| Carousel | Show a row of cards the customer can scroll through. |
| Card | Show one information card with buttons. |
| Form | Send a form to fill in. |
| List | Show a list of options. |
How the Buttons block works
Buttons shows a message with options. Each button has its own exit, so each choice can lead somewhere different, and can run actions, for example a handover to a person.
You can turn off the message box so the customer must pick a button.
On WhatsApp, up to 3 buttons are sent as reply buttons. With more than 3, they are sent as a list and each title is cut to 20 characters. On Facebook and Instagram, more than 3 buttons are sent as quick replies.
How the Capture block works
Capture waits for a typed reply and does one of four things with it:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Capture Entire Reply | Saves the whole reply in a variable. |
| Extract Entity from Reply | Pulls a specific detail, for example an order ID, into its entity. |
| Identify Intent from Reply | Works out the intent of the customer’s reply and tags it onto the conversation. |
| Forward Response to AI Agent | Passes the reply to the AI agent in this workflow, which decides what happens next. |
No reply or an unexpected reply
Listen blocks have two settings for this, each with its own exit:
- No Reply: set Trigger “No Reply” after (0 to 60 seconds or minutes) and the Maximum number of retries (0 to 10). Each time the wait runs out, Robylon sends the No reply message (by default “Hey, are you there?”). Turn on Re-send previous message? to send the question again after it, with its buttons. When the retries run out, the workflow takes the No Reply exit.
- No Match: when the reply does not fit any option, Robylon sends the No match message (by default “Sorry, we couldn’t get you, try again?”) and waits again, up to the Maximum Invalid Attempts (1 to 10). Then the workflow takes the No Match exit.
If the No Match exit is not connected, the reply goes to your AI agent when Trigger on ‘No Match’ is on in your AI agent settings. Otherwise, the workflow with a When a chat workflow gets a no match trigger runs.
How the Upload Img block works
Upload Img shows an upload button and waits for the customer to send files. Use it for proof of payment, photos of a damaged product, or identity documents. Images and videos are accepted. The files are saved in the {uploaded_images} variable.
How the Carousel and Card blocks work
Card shows one card with an image, a title, a short text and buttons. Carousel shows several cards side by side that the customer scrolls through, which suits product recommendations.
Build cards by hand, or generate them from a list, for example products returned by an API. For a generated carousel, choose the list variable and which fields to use for each card’s title, text, image and buttons, and which items of the list to show.
How the Form and List blocks work
Form sends one of your chatbot forms and saves the answers.
List shows a list of items, each with a heading, description and sub-text. Unlike Buttons, the customer can pick several items when Allow Multiple Items is on, choose a quantity when an item has an Integer Stepper, and then confirm with a button (Confirm Button Label). The choice is saved in the variable under Save To. Build the list by hand (Manual) or from a list variable (Dynamic), for example products from an API.
Carousel, Card, Form and List work in the Robylon chatbot. On WhatsApp, only Carousel is supported, and it needs an approved marketing template, which the Robylon team sets up once the template is approved. Other channels do not support these blocks.