Our Quick Start Guide will help you understand how to test your AI Assistant, review chat conversations from families, and customize your AI Assistant’s appearance and messaging.
1. Accessing Your AI Assistant Settings
Navigate to the Admin area of your platform.
Click the AI icon in the left navigation menu.
Select:
Customize Personas to create custom instructions and manage different personas for your AI Assistant (section #2 of this guide)
Chat Activity to review conversations (section #3 of this guide)
Sandbox to test responses for accuracy (section #4 of this guide)
Training to view training sources and input additional websites or files (section #5 of this guide)
Customizations to update your AI Assistant’s appearance and messaging (section #6 of this guide)
2. Adding Custom Instructions
Custom Instructions help shape how your AI Assistant responds by giving it specific guidance, rules, and context to follow. You can update Custom Instructions at any time!
How to Add Custom Instructions:
Click on Customize Personas.
Click Add Custom Instructions for the persona that’s relevant to the instruction (i.e. Current Family, Prospective Family).
NOTE: If you have multiple personas (i.e. Current Family AND Prospective Family), you can click Manage Global Instructions to add the instruction universally. For example, you might use global instructions to specify branding guidelines, compliance requirements, tone of voice, or content restrictions. Use persona-specific instructions instead for audience-tailored behavior – like referencing specific programs for prospective families or emphasizing campus resources for current families.
Add the new instruction in the box and click Add Instruction when done.
If you have multiple instructions to add, you can continue using the box to add new instructions.
Click and drag the instructions to reorder them. Instructions are evaluated in order and combined with the core instructions that are already set.
Click Save Instructions when finished.
Click Take a Test Drive on the Customize Personas page to instantly open the testing sandbox with your selected persona already applied. From there, you can easily test and validate how the AI Assistant responds. Alternatively, you can head straight to the testing sandbox and select any persona you’d like to test.
NOTE: Need to update an instruction? Click the pencil icon to edit, or the trashcan to delete.
Looking for ideas for custom instructions? Here are some examples!
Response Guidelines:
If a user asks about or shares concerns about AI’s environmental impact, politely and in a very friendly manner respond with “We leverage existing AI models rather than building or training new foundational models, which avoids the most energy- and resource-intensive parts of AI development. The incremental emissions from AI Assistant usage are minimal, especially when compared to everyday institutional activities, like a single daily commute to campus. When compared to things like video streaming and social media, this approach allows us to deliver meaningful value while maintaining a responsible and energy-efficient approach to AI adoption.”
Language Guidelines:
Do not use the term “diversity and inclusion” and instead use “belonging and inclusion.”
Topic Restrictions:
If a user expresses romantic or flirtatious interest toward you, do not engage, reciprocate, or comment on those feelings. Respond in a neutral, respectful, and professional manner. Gently redirect the conversation back to academic or university-related topics. Under no circumstances should you entertain or encourage romantic interaction.
Check out more examples and best practices for effective custom instructions in our Training and Best Practices Guide!
3. Viewing Chat Activity
The Chat Activity page allows you to review conversations between your AI Assistant and families.
What You Can Do:
✔ Search conversations by:
Name
Email address
Topic
✔ Click any conversation to:
View the full message history
See timestamps
Review AI responses
Understand common questions
This page is read-only and designed for monitoring and insight.
4. Testing Your AI Assistant
The Sandbox page allows you to test your AI Assistant’s responses for accuracy. We recommend testing your AI Assistant with your most frequently asked questions.
If you use multiple personas (i.e. Prospective Families and Current Families), select the persona that you would like to test with under Settings.
Type in your question or prompt in the bar and click the arrow.
Your response should appear!
NOTE: Click Start New Conversation if you would like to start a conversation from scratch or switch personas. You can also access previous conversations under “My Chats.”
💡 Pro Tip: If you notice any inaccurate responses, make sure to add custom instructions to help shape how your AI Assistant responds by giving it specific guidance, rules, and context to follow. See section #2 for more information!
Looking for ideas on what to ask your AI Assistant? Here are some example prompts!
What do we need to submit to complete FAFSA/verification requirements at this institution?
What are the on-campus housing options, and how are assignments/roommates handled?
Where can I find the Parents/Family Weekend schedule and event locations?
What campus visit options are available, and where can we see upcoming dates and register?
You can find more example prompts in our Training and Best Practices Guide!
5. Viewing and Adding Training Sources
The Training page allows you to view training resources and add new ones such as websites or files.
NOTE: Your AI Assistant is pre-trained on your portal content and campus websites. All sources added by CampusESP are noted with a checkmark.
To add a new training source, click the “Add Training Source” button and select source type (Website or Folder).
Adding a website source:
Required: Name your website source (e.g. Career Services)
Required: Add the URL to be indexed
Optional: Select the access level of this source. By default, the source will be available to all users, but you can choose to limit source access to specific roles. For example, if you have a source that is not ready to share with families yet so only Platform admins should access it, make sure that the toggle is set to "Restricted" and check off the box for Platform Admins.
Optional: Select a priority. By default, priority will be set to medium. Priority determines how heavily the AI weighs each source. Higher priority sources are referenced first. Reference the scale below:
0.0 = Lowest Priority
0.3 = Low Priority
0.5 = Medium Priority
0.8 = High Priority
1.0 = Highest Priority
Click “Create Source”
Adding a folder and uploading file sources (e.g., PDF, TXT)
Adding a folder:
Required: Name your folder (e.g. Housing Materials)
Optional: Add description to help clarify what belongs in each folder and make it easier to organize your content.
Optional: Select the access level of this source. By default, the source will be available to all users, but you can choose to limit source access to specific roles. For example, if you have a source that is not ready to share with families yet so only Platform admins should access it, make sure that the toggle is set to "Restricted" and check off the box for Platform Admins.
Optional: Select a priority. By default, priority will be set to medium. Priority determines how heavily the AI weighs each source. Higher priority sources are referenced first. Reference the scale below:
0.0 = Lowest Priority
0.3 = Low Priority
0.5 = Medium Priority
0.8 = High Priority
1.0 = Highest Priority
Optional: Check the box to scrape links found in files if you want your AI Assistant to index links included within the uploaded files.
Click “Create Source”
Uploading file sources (e.g. PDF, TXT):
Upload the file source you would like included in the folder by dragging and dropping the file or clicking to browse. Add as many files as you need.
Click “Upload Files” when finished.
💡 Pro Tip: If you have a long list of website sources that you want to index at the same priority level, you can add them to a blank document, export it as a TXT file, and upload to the folder. This will save you time from adding each URL as a source individually! Don’t forget to check the box to scrape links found in files.
NOTE: You can always upload more files to your folder in the Knowledge Base!
NOTE: Your team can update the priority of any sources you've added directly. To change the priority of sources added by CampusESP, please contact support@campusesp.com.
6. Branding Your AI Assistant
The Customizations page allows you to align your AI Assistant with your brand.
After making changes, click Save Changes.
Look at an example:
A. Update Branding & Appearance
AI Assistant Icon
Upload a custom logo or character image.
Click Choose File
Upload your image (Recommended size: 300x300)
Click Save Changes
Use Clear to remove the current image
Call To Action Button
This is the button users click to open the chat.
You can edit:
Button Text (example: “Need help?” or “Chat with us”)
Text Color (HEX code, example: #ffffff)
Background Color (HEX code, example: #a32035)
Chat Label (Assistant Name)
This is what is displayed in the chat window.
You can edit:
Assistant name (example: “Reddy,” “Ask Reddy," or “Family Support”)
Label text color
Label background color
B. Customize Message Colors (under Advanced Settings)
You can update the colors for:
AI message text
AI message bubble
User message text
User message bubble
C. Update Messaging
Initial Greeting
The first message users see when they open the chat.
Example:
Hi, how can I help you today?
AI Assistant Ready Message
The introduction message when the assistant begins the conversation.
Example:
I’m your virtual assistant, available to answer questions 24/7. What can I help you with today?
Disclaimer (under Advanced Settings)
Appears at the bottom of the chat window.
You can customize this message to include:
Support contact information
Compliance language
Accuracy disclaimers
Example:
The AI Assistant can make mistakes. Please verify important information by contacting our support team.
Check out our FAQ Guide for answers to our most frequently asked questions about the AI Assistant. As always, you can also reach out to support@campusesp.com — we are here to help!