Each channel provides a unique identity for users, such as a Twitter handle, Facebook ID, or email address (Slack/Team), call ID or phone number (IVR), and email/customer ID (SDK). The XO Platform creates a corresponding unique identity for each user, ensuring that a user is consistently identified across different channels when interacting with a specific bot.
When a user starts a conversation with a bot, the Platform checks if the user’s channel-provided identity matches any previous users who have interacted with that bot. If a match occurs, the user is marked as a ‘returning user’ by setting the isReturningUser flag to true in the ‘BotUserSession’ context object (context.BotUserSession.isReturningUser). If there is no match, the user is marked as new.
Bot developers can use the isReturningUser flag to provide personalized user experiences by implementing different business logic for new versus returning users.