Chat Playground
What Is the Playground?
The Chat Playground is a safe testing environment where you can test and refine your AI bot's responses without affecting live conversations. Nothing you do in the playground will send messages to real contacts or change any active chats.
Think of it as a practice room for your AI bot. You type messages as if you were a contact, see how the bot responds, tweak the settings, and try again - all without any risk. When you are happy with the results, you can save your changes and they will go live.
Accessing the Playground
Open any chat conversation in the Chat Interface.
Click the menu icon in the top-right corner of the chat detail panel.
Select Test in Playground.
The playground opens with the full context of that conversation loaded, including:
The complete chat history with the contact.
The campaign's current instructions and settings.
FAQ entries and resources configured for the campaign.
Nothing you do from this point affects the real conversation. You can type anything, edit any setting, and experiment freely.
Testing Bot Responses
Once in the playground:
Type a test message in the input field, as if you were the contact asking a question.
The AI generates a response based on your campaign's current configuration.
Review the response to see if it matches your expectations.
You can send multiple test messages to simulate an entire conversation. This helps you verify how the bot handles:
Common customer questions - "What are your hours?" "How much does it cost?"
Booking requests - "I'd like to schedule a consultation for next week."
Edge cases - "Can I get a refund?" or unusual requests your contacts might send.
Handoff scenarios - Situations where the bot should recognize it cannot help and alert a human team member.
Tip: Do not just test the obvious questions. Try misspellings, vague requests, and off-topic messages to see how your bot handles them. Real contacts rarely ask perfectly worded questions.
Reviewing and Modifying AI Behavior
The playground includes a side panel where you can view and edit your campaign's bot configuration. This is where you fine-tune how the AI behaves:
Bot instructions - The core directions that tell the AI how to behave, what tone to use, and what information to provide. For example: "Be friendly and professional. Always offer to book a consultation."
FAQs - The knowledge base entries the AI draws from when answering questions. For example, your pricing, hours of operation, or return policy.
Resources - Links and documents the AI can reference or share with contacts.
Additional information - Temporary notes or updates the AI should know about, such as a current promotion or holiday hours.
You can edit any of these directly in the playground and immediately see how the changes affect the bot's responses.
Making Real-Time Improvements
The playground's real power is its test-and-improve cycle:
Send a test message and read the AI's response.
Spot an issue - maybe the tone is too formal, the answer is incomplete, or the bot does not know about your new service.
Edit the instructions, FAQs, or resources in the side panel.
Send the same test message again and see how the response improves.
Repeat until the response is exactly what you want.
Example: You ask "Do you offer free shipping?" and the bot responds "I'm not sure about shipping details." You add a FAQ entry: "Q: Do you offer free shipping? A: Yes, we offer free shipping on orders over $50." Now you send the same question and the bot gives the correct answer.
This cycle lets you fine-tune your bot in minutes, without any trial-and-error on live conversations where real contacts are waiting.
Saving Changes to the Live Campaign
When you are satisfied with your adjustments:
Click Save to apply your changes.
Your updated instructions, FAQs, and resources are applied to the live campaign.
The AI will immediately start using the updated configuration for all future conversations with all contacts.
Important: Changes you save in the playground affect the entire campaign, not just the specific contact you tested with. Before saving, make sure your adjustments work broadly - test a few different types of questions to confirm.
Remember: Until you click Save, nothing changes in your live campaign. You can experiment as much as you want in the playground without any consequences.
Use Cases
Fixing Incorrect Bot Responses
A contact told you the bot gave them wrong information about your pricing. Open that contact's chat, go to the playground, type the same question, and see what the bot says. Then update the FAQ with the correct pricing, test again, and save.
Adding a New Promotion
You just launched a holiday sale and want the bot to mention it. Add the promotion details to the "Additional information" field (for example, "We are running a 20% holiday sale through December 31st"). Test a few questions like "Are there any current deals?" and verify the bot mentions the sale naturally. Save when it looks right.
Preparing for a New Service
Your business is adding a new service next month. Before contacts start asking about it, add FAQ entries in the playground that cover common questions about the new service (pricing, availability, what is included). Test various ways contacts might ask about it and make sure the bot responds accurately. Save your changes when you are satisfied.
Pre-Launch Campaign Testing
Before activating a new campaign, use the playground to walk through the entire experience a contact would have - from the opening message through asking questions, booking an appointment, and handling unusual requests. This catches issues before real contacts encounter them.
Tips for Effective Playground Testing
Test a variety of questions - Go beyond the obvious. Try edge cases, misspellings, and unexpected requests to see how the bot handles them.
Simulate multi-message conversations - Real contacts often send several messages in a row before the bot responds. Test how the bot handles message sequences.
Check tone and formatting - Make sure the bot's responses sound natural and match your brand voice. If your business is casual and friendly, the bot should not sound stiff and corporate.
Verify links and resources - If the bot shares links, confirm they are correct and working.
Test in the contact's language - If your campaign supports multiple languages, test questions in each language to confirm the bot responds appropriately.
Keep notes on what you changed - If you make several adjustments, jot down what you changed so you can undo specific things if needed.
Need Help?
If you have questions about the playground or need help optimizing your bot, reach out via our help form.
Last updated
Was this helpful?