We will be winding down Google Business Messages on July 31, 2024. Read more
here.
Agent
Stay organized with collections
Save and categorize content based on your preferences.
An agent is a conversational representation of a brand. For example, Growing
Tree Bank might be an agent for the financial services company Growing Tree.
Users see and interact with Growing Tree Bank when they have conversations about
banking with Growing Tree.
Often, only one agent represents a whole brand, but sometimes it's useful to
have more than one agent. For example, imagine Growing Tree starts a credit card
service and wishes to handle inquiries about credit cards separately from
banking inquiries. They can then create a Growing Tree Credit Cards agent to
talk to customers about credit cards.
Entry points
Users start a conversation with your brand through an entry point like your
business's page in Google Maps. You can customize your agent's behavior based
on the entry point and monitor which entry points drive the most visibility for
your agent.
Locations
An agent can be associated with one or more locations. For example, if Growing
Tree has bank branches in both New York and Chicago, they can associate the
Growing Tree Bank agent with both locations. The agent can respond differently
depending on which location the user's conversation is about.
Representative
A representative is the individual or automation that composes a particular
message on behalf of the agent. Business Messages supports BOT and HUMAN
representatives.
A HUMAN representative is a live agent, while a BOT representative is any sort
of automation. Messages with BOT representatives appear with a small icon that
helps set users' expectations for the types of interactions they might engage
in.
Representatives may either be the primary interaction type or the secondary
interaction type for an agent. The primary interaction type is the first
experience the user gets when they initiate a conversation with the agent. For
example, if the primary interaction type is BOT, the user automatically starts
their conversation with a BOT representative. If the user wants to speak with a
HUMAN representative, they can trigger a
handoff from bot to live agent
by requesting to speak with a live agent representative.
Different representatives can have different operating hours. For example, a BOT
representative may be available at all hours, while a HUMAN representative may
only be available from 9am-5pm Monday-Friday.
- Entry point. A button or other mechanism through which a user starts a conversation with an
agent.
- Location. A physical location of a brand or business.
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2024-11-14 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2024-11-14 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eAn agent is a conversational interface representing a brand, allowing users to interact with businesses like Growing Tree Bank for banking inquiries.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eBusinesses can utilize multiple agents to handle different services, such as a separate agent for credit card inquiries in addition to general banking.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers initiate conversations with agents through entry points like Google Maps, which can be customized and monitored for effectiveness.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAgents can be associated with physical locations, enabling tailored responses based on the user's location, like Growing Tree Bank serving both New York and Chicago.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAgents utilize representatives, which can be automated bots or human agents, to handle conversations, with options for primary and secondary interaction types and varying operating hours.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# Agent\n\nAn agent is a conversational representation of a brand. For example, Growing\nTree Bank might be an agent for the financial services company Growing Tree.\nUsers see and interact with Growing Tree Bank when they have conversations about\nbanking with Growing Tree.\n\nOften, only one agent represents a whole brand, but sometimes it's useful to\nhave more than one agent. For example, imagine Growing Tree starts a credit card\nservice and wishes to handle inquiries about credit cards separately from\nbanking inquiries. They can then create a Growing Tree Credit Cards agent to\ntalk to customers about credit cards.\n\nEntry points\n------------\n\nUsers start a conversation with your brand through an entry point like your\nbusiness's page in Google Maps. You can customize your agent's behavior based\non the entry point and monitor which entry points drive the most visibility for\nyour agent.\n\nLocations\n---------\n\nAn agent can be associated with one or more locations. For example, if Growing\nTree has bank branches in both New York and Chicago, they can associate the\nGrowing Tree Bank agent with both locations. The agent can respond differently\ndepending on which location the user's conversation is about.\n\nRepresentative\n--------------\n\nA representative is the individual or automation that composes a particular\nmessage on behalf of the agent. Business Messages supports BOT and HUMAN\nrepresentatives.\n\nA HUMAN representative is a live agent, while a BOT representative is any sort\nof automation. Messages with BOT representatives appear with a small icon that\nhelps set users' expectations for the types of interactions they might engage\nin.\n\nRepresentatives may either be the primary interaction type or the secondary\ninteraction type for an agent. The primary interaction type is the first\nexperience the user gets when they initiate a conversation with the agent. For\nexample, if the primary interaction type is BOT, the user automatically starts\ntheir conversation with a BOT representative. If the user wants to speak with a\nHUMAN representative, they can trigger a\n[handoff from bot to live agent](/business-communications/business-messages/guides/how-to/message/conversations/bot-live-agent-handoff)\nby requesting to speak with a live agent representative.\n\nDifferent representatives can have different operating hours. For example, a BOT\nrepresentative may be available at all hours, while a HUMAN representative may\nonly be available from 9am-5pm Monday-Friday.\n\nRelated guides\n--------------\n\n- [Quickstart](/business-communications/business-messages/guides/quickstarts/echo-agent#create_a_brand_and_an_agent)\n- [Create an agent](/business-communications/business-messages/guides/how-to/agents)\n- [Entry points](/business-communications/business-messages/guides/concepts/entry-point)\n\nRelated concepts\n----------------\n\n- [Entry point](/business-communications/business-messages/guides/concepts/entry-point). A button or other mechanism through which a user starts a conversation with an agent.\n- [Location](/business-communications/business-messages/guides/concepts/location). A physical location of a brand or business."]]