Introduction

Need the same details from every caller (a name, a policy number, a callback time)? A capture form has the assistant collect them during the call and puts the answers in your team's hands the moment they're complete.

What it is#

A capture form is a set of questions your assistant asks when a situation you define comes up: a caller wants a callback, wants to make a booking, reports a problem. The assistant introduces the form with wording you choose, works through your questions in order as part of the conversation, and sends the completed answers to the people you pick (as a formatted email, a text message, or both).

What you can do with it#

• Take callback requests properly: name, best number to reach them on, and what it's about, delivered to your front desk's inbox before the caller has hung up.
• Require the essentials: mark a question as required and the answers aren't sent until the assistant has it; anything the caller misses, the assistant asks for again.
• Route answers to the right people: each form has its own recipients, so booking requests can go to the front desk by email while urgent issues text the duty manager.
• Send results in your own words: the standard email and text work out of the box, and you can supply your own subject line, email and message wording instead, so what lands in your team's inbox carries your own branding with the caller's answers filled in.
• Run different forms for different situations: one assistant can carry several forms, each with its own trigger, questions, and recipients; a form can also be switched off without deleting it.

How to set it up#

There are two ways in, and they configure the same form. The OnCore dashboard has a Capture Forms tab on each assistant where you write the questions, choose the recipients, switch the form on, and see what the email and the text message will look like before anyone receives one. The REST API is the same form as JSON, and it is what you use to script the setup or build form editing into your own product.

Either way you are defining the same few things for each scenario: the situation that should trigger the form, what the assistant says to start it, the questions in order with their answer types and required flags, and the email addresses and/or phone numbers that receive the results. You can also write the email and text message yourself, so results arrive in your own wording and branding rather than the standard layout.

The dashboard walkthrough is in Edit forms in the dashboard, the API flow is in the Capture forms guide, and every endpoint is detailed in the Capture Forms API reference. The assistant a form belongs to is covered in the Assistants guide.

Limits & FAQ#

• Answers can be free text or numbers.
• Every form needs at least one recipient (an email address or a text-capable phone number) and can have several of each.
• A form can be deactivated at any time; a deactivated form never runs, and its setup is kept so you can switch it back on later.

When do we receive the answers? As soon as the assistant finishes collecting them, during the conversation. You don't wait for the call to end.

What if the caller skips a question? Optional questions can be skipped, and skipped answers are simply left out of the delivery. Required questions can't be skipped: the assistant asks again for anything required that's missing before the answers are sent.

Can one assistant have more than one form? Yes. Add a form for each scenario you want to capture; the trigger you write on each form tells the assistant which one fits the conversation.

Next steps#

• Manage capture forms: create, update and delete forms through the API.
• Create and configure an assistant: attach a form to an assistant.