Unanswered

Charging multiple options question on Greeting topic

(0) Share

Report

Posted on by fernandosilva Super User 2024 Season 1

Hi there,

Why is Microsoft billing the session straight away when there is a multiple option question on the Greetings topic?

We have two chatbots in two different websites and one has a multiple option question on the Greeting topic and the other is just a normal question.

After 4 weeks analysing all the parameters of the "billing" option on the analytics, I found out that the most billed topic is the Greeting topic with the multiple option question.

Taking the options out, the session billed go down by half.

Could any employer of Microsoft explain clearly why we are been billed for having Multiple Options question as the first question?

Kind regards,

Fernando

Categories:

General

All responses (13)

Answers (0)

MattJimison 577 Most Valuable Professional on at

Like (1)

Report

Re: Charging multiple options question on Greeting topic

Hi, @fernandosilva , @HenryJammes .

Please let me know if I'm missing something but it makes sense to me why you are getting billed when a user interacts with the greeting topic and chooses an option that redirects to a custom topic. Even with greeting being a system topic in Classic PVA, the topics you're redirecting to in your screenshot would be custom ones, which would trigger the billable session.

Long term, I'd recommend migrating the bot to the new unified canvas anyways, at which point you'll want to use Conversation Start, as Henry mentioned, but even then, if you redirect someone from it to a custom topic, you're then working with an engaged (billable) session.

Find this post helpful? Please mark it as the solution and/or provide kudos so that it will help others in the future.

Cheers,
Matt
fernandosilva Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

Like (0)

Report

Re: Charging multiple options question on Greeting topic

Hi @HenryJammes , @MattJimison ,

See attached the analytics from May/2023 before implementing the multiple choice and after Jun/2023 till today.

Cheers,

Fernando

2023-06-28 16.05....

2023-06-28 16.07....
fernandosilva Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

Like (0)

Report

Re: Charging multiple options question on Greeting topic

I will ask my managers if I can change the topic for a week and measure the numbers, so I can show it to you the difference.

Cheers,

Fernando
fernandosilva Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

Like (0)

Report

Re: Charging multiple options question on Greeting topic

Yes, comparing with the previous month where there was not a multiple option question on the Greetings topic, the amount of billed session increased by at least 100%.

If I take the multiple option question out of the Greetings topic, the numbers of billed sessions will reduce drastically.

For reference, once we had the chatbot connected with Dynamics 365 Customer Service and the number of sessions billed was less than half the size we have now as well.

Seems like everything is pointing to the interaction on the options of the question, so as I said, I will have to change the Greetings topic to be just a message and no interactions from the topic in question.

Cheers,

Fernando
HenryJammes on at

Like (0)

Report

Re: Charging multiple options question on Greeting topic

Thank you @fernandosilva
So you're saying that this Greeting topic, in PVA classic, generates Billed Sessions, even if the user does NOT interact with the bot. Correct?

@mboninco can you have a look and advise?
fernandosilva Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

Like (0)

Report

Re: Charging multiple options question on Greeting topic

If the attachment is not clear, please see the new one in this reply.

Cheers

2023-06-28 14.44....
fernandosilva Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

Like (0)

Report

Re: Charging multiple options question on Greeting topic

Hi @HenryJammes ,

See attached my Greetings topic with the multi options question.

Thank you,

2023-06-28 14.17....
HenryJammes on at

Like (0)

Report

Re: Charging multiple options question on Greeting topic

If it's a classic bot, I don't think the Greeting topic would generate billing unless it uses premium features.
Do you have a screenshot of what the topic does?
Are you saying that even if the user doesn't select an option (so, no topic redirect happens), this leads to a billed session?
fernandosilva Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

Like (0)

Report

Re: Charging multiple options question on Greeting topic

Hi @HenryJammes ,

Thanks for you reply.
We use PVA classic and on the Greetings topic we have a Multiple Options question which each option leads to another topic.
Since we implemented this question, our billed session more than double in a months time.
If that's the reason, so then the Greetings topic will be just a message telling the user what to do next.

Thank you @MattJimison and @HenryJammes ,

Fernando
HenryJammes on at

Like (1)

Report

Re: Charging multiple options question on Greeting topic

Hi @fernandosilva, @MattJimison,
Tagging @mboninco

This is the definition of a billed session:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-virtual-agents/analytics-billed-sessions

"A billed session begins when a user topic or premium functionality is triggered."
That means that entering a custom topic leads to a billed session.
Same if you call a premium feature (e.g. a Power Automate flow) from a system topic.

Are you on PVA classic or PVA unified authoring?
In the unified authoring, Greeting is a custom topic.

It is supposed to be triggered when the user engages with the bot, for example by saying "Hello".
You can choose to disable it or even delete it.

If the bot proactively starts the conversation, this should be done through the Conversation Start topic:

Here, adding Quick Replies as suggested actions for the user shouldn't lead to a billed session if the user doesn't engage with the chatbot.