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Your chatbot is told to answer from your content. When your content does not have the answer, it replies with your Fallback Message. You can make this stricter with instructions, and you can limit how long a conversation can be. Know these limits before you start:
  • The chatbot does not browse the internet. It only reads your content, your instructions, and the conversation.
  • “Answer only from your content” is guidance, not a hard block. The AI model can still use general knowledge it already has. Clear instructions reduce this. They cannot remove it fully.

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Before you start

  • Role: Manager or higher. See Team members.
  • Plan: any plan. The message limit per conversation needs the Growth plan or above. See Plans and limits.

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Set the fallback message

The fallback message is what the chatbot says when your content does not answer a question. The default is:
I’m sorry, I don’t have enough information to answer your question, but I’m happy to assist with any other questions you may have.
1

Open the Instructions page

Go to Settings > Instructions. You can also select Chatbot Instructions in your chatbot’s sidebar.
2

Write your message

Under Fallback Message, type the message you want. For example, add how to contact your team.
3

Save

Select Save Fallback Message.
When the chatbot replies with the fallback message:
  • The question is added to Unanswered questions on the Analytics page. This list needs the Growth plan or above.
  • Follow-up suggestions are not shown under that reply.
The chatbot is told to use your fallback message as written. If it rewords the message, the question may not be added to Unanswered questions.

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Tell the chatbot to stay on topic

Add rules to your active instructions. See Write instructions for the steps. These are examples. Change them to match your business.
Example: answer only from your content
Example: redirect questions outside your topics
Example: sensitive topics
Only one instruction set is active at a time. Put all your rules in the same set.
Follow-up suggestions can still show after the chatbot declines an off-topic question. To turn them off, see Follow-up suggestions.

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Limit messages per conversation

A message limit stops very long conversations. When a conversation reaches the limit, the visitor must start a new conversation.
1

Open General settings

Go to Settings > General.
2

Turn on the limit

Turn on Limit Messages Per Conversation.
3

Set the number

In Max Messages Per Conversation, enter a number from 1 to 1000.
4

Save

Select Save Changes.
For this limit, each answer from the chatbot counts as one message. A lead form message that contains an answer also counts. Failed replies and replies from your team do not count. This is not the same as your monthly message allowance, where the visitor’s message and the chatbot’s reply each count. See Plans and limits. When the limit is reached, the visitor sees “You’ve reached the maximum number of messages for this conversation.” and a Start a new conversation button. To change this text, see Language and text. This setting follows the plan of the chatbot owner. When the owner’s plan includes it, every team member who can change settings can change it. Your own plan does not count. When the owner’s plan does not include it, the settings show a lock icon, and nobody on the team can change them. The limit then does not apply, also when it was turned on before. SiteGPT keeps the saved number. When the owner’s plan includes the setting again, the limit applies again. See Plans and limits. The limit works in the chat widget on your website, on the hosted chat page, and for visitor messages sent through API v0 and API v2. In the API, a message to a conversation at the limit fails with 429 MESSAGE_LIMIT_REACHED, and the chatbot does not answer. To continue, start a new conversation. The limit does not apply to WhatsApp, Messenger, Slack, the other chat integrations, or email, because visitors there cannot start a new conversation. Replies from your team are never limited.

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What happens with harmful messages

SiteGPT can block messages with harmful content. You do not need to set this up. When a message is blocked, the visitor sees:
I’m not able to respond to that. Please try rephrasing your question.
You cannot change this text. The blocked message is left out of the context for later answers in that conversation.

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Check that it works

Open the chat button in the corner of your dashboard and start a new conversation.
  1. Ask a question your content does not cover. The chatbot replies with your fallback message.
  2. Ask a question outside your topics. The chatbot redirects you as your instructions say.
  3. If you set a message limit, keep asking questions. After the limit, you see the limit message and the Start a new conversation button.