- write a greeting that tells callers who they are talking to and invites them to speak,
- write Additional instructions that give your agent your store’s tone and priorities without repeating or contradicting what RuleInside already handles,
- test a change and check it against real conversations.
Where you write them
Everything on this page is written in the agent editor: click Agents in the sidebar. The greeting is the First message card and the instructions are the System prompt card. What you can write depends on the agent’s edit level, shown as a badge in the editor header.
Only account owners can change an agent. Members can read every setting but cannot edit. Agents you create
yourself always start at Full control; your main agent keeps the level RuleInside set for it.
What is already handled for you
Your agent arrives with instructions and store tools set up by RuleInside. At the Instructions level the System prompt card says so: “Platform behaviour (memory, store lookups, call handling) stays managed.” Your Additional instructions are added in their own section, and the rest of the prompt is never touched. Before you write anything, open the System prompt card and click Show under Current agent instructions (managed). Read what is already there. Your job is to add what only you know: your store, your products, your tone. You do not need to describe the things below, and you should not contradict them.
Some behaviour is set by a setting, not by words. Call length, silence, interruptions, the language and the time
zone all have their own fields in Agent settings. We recommend using the setting rather than
writing an instruction for it: for example, set Maximum call length (minutes) under Call limits instead of
writing “keep calls under ten minutes”.
The greeting
The greeting is the First message: “The first thing customers hear.” It is up to 1,000 characters, and it is required when Agent speaks first is chosen.What a good greeting contains
- That the caller is talking to an AI assistant. Always include this. The portal does not stop you saving a greeting without it, but always include it.
- That the call may be recorded, when Recording notice is set to In the opening line. If you choose After the first exchanges instead, take the recording sentence out of the greeting, or it will be said twice. The greeting must still say the caller is talking to an AI assistant.
- Your store’s name, so the caller knows they reached the right place.
- One open question that hands the turn to the caller, such as “What can I help you with today?”
Keep it short for the ear
A greeting is heard, not read. Some advice:- Aim for two or three short sentences, about ten seconds when you read it aloud. Read it aloud before you save.
- End on the question, so it is clear that it is the caller’s turn to speak.
- Leave out web addresses, symbols, abbreviations and opening hours. They are hard to follow by ear, and are better given later, if the caller asks.
- If you want the recording notice always heard in full, switch on Callers cannot interrupt the greeting under Conversation behaviour.
- Write the greeting in the language your agent speaks.
Example greetings
Replace the parts in angle brackets with your own details. A fashion store:Greeting a customer by name
Personalization variables are values your storefront passes in when a call starts, such as the customer’s first name. Write a variable’s name in double curly braces, for example{{first_name}}. When no value is passed in, the default you set is used instead.
Choose a default that still reads naturally. With the default there:
The website assistant has its own Returning-shopper greeting, which uses
{name} with single braces and has its
own rules. See The returning-shopper greeting.Who speaks first
With Agent speaks first, the greeting is said as soon as the call connects. With Caller speaks first, the agent waits for the person to answer (“Hello?”), then says the greeting. Either way, the greeting is the same text and needs the same AI disclosure. Who speaks first needs the Instructions level.Writing Additional instructions
Additional instructions take up to 8,000 characters: “Added to your agent’s instructions. Leave blank to remove.” You do not need to use all of them. A clear page of instructions usually does more than a long one.A simple structure
We recommend five short parts, in this order. Plain labels in capitals, as in the example further down, keep it easy for you to find things later.- Who you are. The store’s name, what it sells and who buys from it.
- Tone. How the agent should sound, in a sentence or two.
- What to help with. The most common reasons people contact you, in order of importance, with the facts the agent needs for each.
- What to avoid. The topics that are out of scope, said once, in one place.
- When to hand over. What to do when the agent cannot help: your support email, or a transfer when transfers are on.
Write for the ear
Everything the agent says is spoken. Some advice:- Short sentences. Ask for replies of one or two sentences, then let the customer talk.
- One question at a time. “What size do you usually wear?” works better on a call than three questions in one breath.
- Two options, not ten. Ask the agent to offer two choices and then ask if the customer wants to hear more.
- No lists or formatting in what it says. Tell the agent to speak in sentences and never to read out bullet points, symbols or web addresses.
- Show how to say numbers. Give one example of how a price, a weight or a phone number should sound, such as “say 24.99 euros as twenty-four ninety-nine”. If you give your phone number or email address, write them the way they should be spoken.
- Help with names. If a brand or product name is easy to mishear, add it to Words to recognise under Conversation behaviour, so the agent catches it when a customer says it.
Be specific
“Be helpful” and “be professional” give the agent nothing new to do. Say what helpful looks like in your store.Do not add a “never” rule after every bad call
When a conversation goes wrong, it is tempting to add a line such as “never do that again”. After a few weeks the instructions become a long list of exceptions that is hard to keep consistent: rules start to overlap, and some contradict each other or the managed instructions. Instead, find the instruction that left the gap and rewrite it. For example, suppose the agent recommended a grinder to someone who had just said they buy ground coffee. Rather than adding “never suggest a grinder to people who buy ground coffee”, rewrite the original line:Referring to your documents
Facts that change, such as shipping rates, return windows, opening hours or a size guide, are best kept in Knowledge documents rather than typed into the instructions. When they change, you update one document instead of searching your instructions. In the instructions, say when to use a document, not what it says:Describing when to transfer
If RuleInside has switched transfers on for your account, each number under Transfer to a person has its own When to transfer box (up to 500 characters, required). Write the transfer conditions there, and be specific:- Keep the conditions in When to transfer, and keep your Additional instructions consistent with them. Two different versions of the same rule are hard to maintain.
- Transfers work on phone calls only. For conversations on your website, tell the agent what to offer instead, such as your support email.
- If the card says “No transfer numbers. The agent never hands a call over.”, do not write instructions that promise a transfer.
At Full control: editing the whole prompt
At Full control the System prompt card shows the whole prompt in one box, up to 20,000 characters, instead of Additional instructions. All the advice above still applies. In addition:- Keep RuleInside’s sections. If your agent’s prompt contains RuleInside’s platform sections, they must still be there when you save, or the save is refused with “Your system prompt must keep its platform sections (…). Restore them and save again.” A blank agent you created has none.
- Copy the prompt before a big edit. Paste it into a document on your computer first, so you can put it back.
- Leave alone what you did not write. If you are not sure what a line does, keep it and contact RuleInside.
- The greeting (when the caller speaks first) and the recording sentence (when said after the first exchanges) are kept in their own sections. They are not shown in this box and are kept automatically when you save.
A complete example
Here is a full set of Additional instructions for a fictional WooCommerce coffee shop. It is about 2,900 characters, well under the 8,000 limit. Copy it, then replace every detail with your own. It assumes a Knowledge document called “Shipping and returns” is attached to the agent.Testing your changes
A change is only finished when you have heard it work. We recommend this routine:1
Save
Click Save changes in the bar at the bottom of the editor and wait for “Agent updated.” Closing a panel does
not save it.
2
Try it in Preview
Click Preview in the editor header. Preview talks to the real agent with its saved settings. Start with
Text to check the words, then try Voice to hear the greeting and the pace. See Testing.
3
Ask the questions your customers ask
Keep a short list of five or six real questions, such as “what’s your cheapest grinder?” or “how long does
delivery take?”, and ask the same ones after every change, so you can compare.
4
Read real conversations
After real customers have talked to the agent, open Calls and read a few transcripts. The
transcript also shows the actions the agent took and when it checked your knowledge base, which tells you
whether it used the document you expected.
5
Change one thing at a time
If you change the tone, the greeting and three rules at once, you cannot tell which change made the difference.
Make one change, test it, then make the next. Keep a note of what you changed and when.
Preview does not identify you as a customer, so store tools answer as they would for a guest. To check order
answers for logged-in customers, read real conversations in Calls.
Common questions
My instructions are ignored
My instructions are ignored
First check that the change was saved: you should have seen “Agent updated.” Preview uses the saved settings
only. Then click Show under Current agent instructions (managed) and look for anything that says the
opposite of your instruction. If your instruction is about orders, refunds or recording, it is already handled
for you (see What is already handled for you). Otherwise, rewrite the
instruction to be more specific, with an example of what the agent should say, and test again.
The agent reads out symbols or formatting
The agent reads out symbols or formatting
Check your instructions and documents for bullet points, symbols and web addresses the agent may repeat. Add a
line such as “Speak in full sentences and never read out symbols or web addresses”, and give one spoken example
for prices or phone numbers. At Full control, the Text normalisation setting under Voice decides how
numbers and symbols are turned into speech; contact RuleInside before changing it if you are not sure.
It talks too long
It talks too long
Ask for replies of one or two sentences, and for two options at a time rather than full lists. Make sure the
instructions do not ask for long explanations elsewhere. Callers can also cut in: with Callers can interrupt
the agent on (under Conversation behaviour), the agent stops talking as soon as the caller speaks.
Can I change what it says about orders?
Can I change what it says about orders?
Order look-up is one of RuleInside’s store tools, marked Managed, and you cannot change or remove it. It
answers a customer logged in to your store about their own orders, and anyone else only when they give the
order number together with the billing email and postcode on that order.
Your instructions can set the tone around it, but they cannot widen who gets order details. If you need
something changed, contact RuleInside.
Why is the box greyed out?
Why is the box greyed out?
Either you are a member rather than an owner, or the agent’s edit level does not include that field.
Additional instructions need the Instructions level; the whole System prompt needs Full control;
a View only agent cannot be changed at all. See Edit levels.
The recording notice is said twice
The recording notice is said twice
You chose After the first exchanges but the greeting still contains the recording sentence. Take it out of
the greeting and keep the AI disclosure.
The greeting says 'Hi there' instead of the customer's name
The greeting says 'Hi there' instead of the customer's name
No value was passed in for that variable, so its default was used. Check the default under Personalization
variables, and check that the name in the greeting matches the variable’s name exactly.
Can I tell the agent to give discounts or approve refunds?
Can I tell the agent to give discounts or approve refunds?
Not refunds: a person approves every refund, and the agent only records the request. For discounts, the agent
can tell a shopper whether a coupon code is valid. We recommend not writing instructions that promise discounts
your store has not set up.
How do I remove my Additional instructions?
How do I remove my Additional instructions?
Empty the box and click Save changes. Saving it empty removes your section; the managed instructions stay
as they are.
Next steps
Agent settings
Every field in the agent editor, including the first message and the system prompt.
Testing
Try your changes with Preview before customers hear them.
Knowledge
Add the documents your agent answers from.
Calls
Read real conversations and see where the agent can improve.