Conversation flows for your voice agent, when to use one and when a single prompt is enough

When you create an agent in Lera you choose between Single prompt and Conversation flow. The difference is who decides the order of the call.

A single prompt is one text with the instructions, like what you would explain to a new receptionist on their first day. The agent decides at each moment what to ask and what to do.

A conversation flow splits the call into phases, which the panel calls nodes, joined by arrows. Think of it as a booking form that gets filled in by talking, in order.

At a hotel, with a single prompt you write “ask for the dates, check whether there is a room, ask for the name and book it”, and the agent usually follows it. With a flow, each step is a phase, and the call does not move on until that phase has what it needs.

A single prompt works well when the call is a conversation, such as answering questions, taking a message or screening calls. It can also check your system or hand the call to a person, but the agent decides that as it goes.

A flow is the right choice as soon as the call has to end with a task completed, such as a booking, a claim or an enrolment. It gives you three things that instructions alone cannot promise.

It does not leave a phase without what it needs. If the dates are missing, it stays in the dates phase, and when in doubt it stays where it is.

It does not treat a task as done until it is done. A Function node carries it out as soon as the call reaches it, and while it is pending the agent will not hang up on its own, unless the caller clearly says goodbye.

And the flow decides when the call ends, when it reaches the End node. Within each phase the agent still talks in its own words. What is fixed is the order, not the sentences.

On the canvas, each node is a card and each exit is an arrow. The arrow carries either a Condition, a sentence such as “wants to book a room” that the agent judges, or an Exact rule, which Lera checks against the details already collected, such as having the dates.

The Hotel template comes with the route already drawn. A reception phase finds out what the caller needs and answers their questions. A dates-and-room phase asks for check-in, check-out and how many guests, looks up free rooms in your system and offers two at most. The next phase asks for the guest’s name and a phone number.

A confirmation phase reads back the dates, the room and the phone number and waits for their yes, as explained in the article on collecting data over the phone. Then a booking phase makes the reservation in your system as soon as the call enters it.

The agent only gives the booking reference if your system replies that the booking went through. If not, the call goes to a phase that takes a message so reception can call back.

Conversation talks and runs nothing. It is the fastest, so use it whenever the phase only needs to talk.

Subagent talks and can also call your functions. A function is the message the agent sends to your system in the middle of the call, for example to find out which rooms are free. It takes a little longer to reply, so keep it for where it is needed.

Extract data collects details from what has already been said, without speaking. The Conversation before it asks for them, and its Else sends the call back there if one is missing.

Function runs a function as soon as the call enters it. Branch routes the call according to the details. Transfer hands the call to a person. End finishes it.

Some things do not happen at a fixed point, such as asking to speak to a person, saying goodbye or changing the dates. That is what global nodes are for. The call can reach them from any phase without an arrow. That is why they sit on their own on the canvas, with the Global badge, and they are not broken.

To create one, open the node, tick “Global node (reachable from any phase)” and write when to jump there, for example “asks to speak with a person”.

The Hotel template comes with three, one to hand over to a person, one to say goodbye and the dates-and-room phase itself. If halfway through the booking the caller says “actually, we would arrive a day earlier”, the call goes back to the dates, checks again what is free and carries on. Its “Available until” rule makes that shortcut disappear once the booking is done.

And if halfway through the booking they ask about parking? General instructions and your knowledge base apply in every phase. The agent answers and goes back to what was missing, because the phase is not finished. If a question needs its own phase, make it global and fill in “Allow going back to the previous phase”, for example with “that is it, let us carry on”.

If a global node jumps in when it should not, add examples under “Phrases that SHOULD and should NOT jump here” instead of rewriting the condition.

Go to Agents, click Create agent and choose Voice agent. Under Type, Single prompt is selected. Choose Conversation flow and pick the Hotel template, under Hospitality, or From scratch, which starts with three phases.

On the canvas, the Node button adds a phase. To connect two, drag from the dot at the bottom of one card to the other, or click the + next to Next.

Keep General instructions for who the agent is, how it speaks and the hotel’s details. The steps go in the phases, and the greeting is said by the node with the Start badge.

In Tools, enter your booking system’s address in the template’s two functions. Until then, tests use a sample response. And add your number to the hand-over node, which comes without one.

If you already have a single prompt agent, open More actions, the three-dot button, and click Convert to conversation flow. Lera creates a new one with the same settings, yours keeps answering, and Maite, the panel’s assistant, opens in the new one to draw the flow.

Administrators and Editors create and edit flows, and Viewers can see them. If you would rather we create it for you, we will send you a quote.

Try it with Test before you publish. While you talk, the canvas highlights the phase the agent is in and the ones it has already been through.

Once real calls come in, the Conversation phases table in Analytics shows which phases calls go through and where they are when they hang up.

When you save, if a phase is missing something, the panel flags it on its card.

Flows are included in every plan. If you take out a plan, the functions that call your system are available from Professional.

Which one should I choose if I am not sure? If the call has to end with something done, such as a booking, a flow. If it is for answering questions or taking a message, a single prompt.

Can I switch from one to the other later? Yes, from More actions. A new agent is always created and the original stays as it was.

Do I have to draw the flow from scratch? No. The voice templates come with their flow ready, and Maite can draw it or change a phase if you ask her.

Does a flow sound more rigid? Not necessarily. Within each phase the agent talks in its own words.

How much does it cost to try? €20 free credit, no card needed. Create the agent from the Hotel template and test it in the panel before you decide anything.