Choose effective trigger phrases
In Copilot Studio, the context-setting words that a user provides to begin a conversation are referred to as trigger phrases. You might be familiar with such alternative terms as queries, questions, requests, and prompts. They're often presented at the beginning of a conversational experience, but they might appear anytime a user's intent changes. Trigger phrases can be one word, a group of words, a sentence or question, or even a paragraph.
Your conversational user experience (CUX) must correctly identify and understand the user's trigger phrase to match it to an intent and present the correct response. The more effective your trigger phrases are, the more likely it is that your conversational experience will provide the right information or assistance to the user. In this article, you'll learn tips for creating effective trigger phrases that help users get the information they're looking for.
Create unique trigger phrases
As you build a conversational experience, develop a library of trigger phrases that are unique to each of your identified user intents. Such a library allows you to capture the correct conversation when users present any form of the trigger phrases that pertain to a specific intent. In most cases, start with three to five unique trigger phrases per intent. Adjust the library over time as users interact with your CUX.
Brainstorm trigger phrases
When creating trigger phrases, think about the different ways that users might express their intent. Here are some tips to help you brainstorm trigger phrases:
Try saying it out loud. How might a user phrase their question or request if you were speaking with them in person or over the phone? Try roleplaying scenarios to identify natural-sounding trigger phrases.
Try to think like a user. What words would you use if you were looking for the information or assistance that your CUX provides? What questions would you ask?
Make sure to identify any common slang, contractions, acronyms, synonyms, or other variations for terms that a user might use.
Keep track
Monitor your user data and make sure to refine and update your trigger phrases as necessary over time. Remove or rephrase any that are causing confusion.
Identify user intents first, trigger phrases second
As a rule of thumb, you should identify the user intent before you start to develop trigger phrases. Learn more in Identify customer intents.
Here are a few things to keep in mind as you begin compiling trigger phrases for a user intent:
Think about the different ways that users might phrase the same intent—that is, build variations on a theme. For example, users who want to know the weather might ask, "What's the weather like today?" or "What's the forecast for today?" or "Is it going to rain today?" or "Do I need an umbrella today?"
Anticipate similarly worded trigger phrases with different intents. For example, "How do I return my purchase?" could be a request for a refund, an exchange, or a store credit. If you identify multiple intents that are similar or related to one another, they need to be clearly differentiated. Make sure that your natural language model is well trained and can distinguish between different intents. You can also use disambiguation questions to help narrow down the meaning of the user's true intent. Learn more in Disambiguate customer intents.
Identify critical differentiation words. When you're identifying the key words or phrases for a trigger phrase, think about which words are important to help set context and differentiate between intents. Think of how a single word changes the meaning of these two trigger phrases:
- I want to book a flight to Shanghai.
- I want to book a flight from Shanghai.
Clarify ambiguous trigger phrases
A trigger phrase like "I need help" might not be specific enough to match a predefined intent with certainty. You can gather extra context with disambiguation questions that help guide the user in refining their intent. Learn more in Disambiguate customer intents.
Examples
Here are two examples of developing potential trigger phrases for two separate user intents in the same scenario: troubleshooting laptop display issues.
Example 1: Laptop display is only in black and white
Scenario: Troubleshooting laptop display issues
User intent: Display color troubleshooting
Potential trigger phrases:
- Screen color is missing
- Display is in black and white
- Display isn't showing color
- Change screen to show color
- Screen stuck in grayscale
- Color settings for screen
Example 2: Laptop doesn't connect to external display
Scenario: Troubleshooting laptop display issues
User intent: Monitor connection troubleshooting
Potential trigger phrases:
- Can't extend laptop screen
- Troubleshoot external display issues
- Can't connect laptop to external display
- External display doesn't work with laptop