Tailor the Starting Welcome in Copilot Studio

Every Copilot Studio agent sends a welcome message when a user starts a chat. This greeting is defined in the Conversation Start system topic. While the default text works for many scenarios, you often need to adjust it to match your brand, save costs, or immediately guide users into structured tasks.

In this article you’ll see three solid ways to handle that initial message, using a practical example.

Scenario: Contoso Helpdesk Bot

Imagine a support bot for Contoso Electronics. Users open the chat and see the standard Copilot Studio greeting: “Hi! How can I help you today?”. That’s fine, but the team wants to:

• Greet users in a more personal way, or
• Turn off the greeting entirely to save money when the bot only answers knowledge‑base questions, or
• Immediately ask what the user needs and redirect them to the right flow.

We’ll walk through each method with the same Contoso bot.

Method 1 – Replace the Welcome Text

The quickest change is to edit the text of the Message action inside the Conversation Start topic.

1. In Copilot Studio go to Topics and open the Conversation Start system topic.
2. You’ll see an On Conversation Start trigger followed by a Message action. Click that action.
3. Replace the default text with your own. For Contoso, we might use: “Welcome to Contoso Electronics support. How can I assist you today?”
4. Save the topic.

Next time a user opens the chat, the new greeting appears.

Method 2 – Disable the Welcome Message

Every message sent by the agent consumes resources and incurs cost. If your bot only retrieves answers from a knowledge base or performs no interactive tasks, you might prefer to start the conversation silently.

To disable the welcome:

• Go to the Topics page.
• Locate the Conversation Start system topic.
• Turn off the toggle next to it.

Now, when a user opens the chat window, the agent does not send any greeting. The conversation starts only when the user types something.

Performance note: This can slightly reduce response latency because the initial message is skipped. It also lowers consumption if you pay per message.

Method 3 – Ask a Question and Redirect

When your agent’s purpose is to guide users through a structured process (e.g. create a ticket, check order status), you can replace the simple Message with a Question and then redirect to the appropriate topic.

Step 1 – Modify the Conversation Start Topic

Inside the Conversation Start topic:

• Delete the existing Message action.
• Add a Question action that asks: “What would you like to do?”
• Provide choices like: “Create a support ticket” and “Check ticket status”.
• Store the user’s choice in a variable, for instance userSelection.

Step 2 – Add a Condition

After the Question, add a Condition action that checks userSelection and then redirects to the matching custom topic.

If(
  userSelection.Value = "Create a support ticket",
  'Create a Support Ticket'()  // redirect to the topic
)

Repeat the same for the second choice, calling a different topic.

Step 3 – Build Your Custom Topics

Create two new topics:

• Create a Support Ticket – asks for description, urgency, and contact details.
• Check Ticket Status – asks for the ticket number and returns its current stage.

Their names in Copilot Studio will look like:

Make sure the redirect call uses the exact topic name from your agent.

Step 4 – Test the Flow

A user starting a conversation now sees:

What would you like to do? [Create a support ticket] [Check ticket status]

After selecting an option, the bot jumps straight into the relevant topic.

Security, Delegation & Performance Considerations

• Cost management: Each interaction consumes capacity. Method 2 eliminates the cost of the initial message; Method 3 adds one extra question but may reduce back‑and‑forth later.
• Data privacy: If you collect personal data (e.g. email, ticket numbers) in the redirected topics, ensure your agent’s authentication and data handling comply with your organisation’s policies.
• Delegation: Copilot Studio handles the routing automatically; no custom delegates needed. Keep topic names consistent to avoid broken redirects.
• Performance: The redirect happens inside the same conversation – no noticeable delay.

Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting

• Topic not saved: Always save after editing. Unsaved changes are lost.
• Incorrect topic name: The redirect call must match the topic’s name (not the display name). Check it in the topic list.
• Condition never true: Verify the variable name and value used in the If function. Use Test in the topic editor to debug.
• Toggle disabled unintentionally: If you disable the Conversation Start topic, the welcome message disappears. Remember you can toggle it back on later.

Final Recommendation

• Use Method 1 when you want a friendly, personalised greeting.
• Use Method 2 if your agent is purely a knowledge‑based answering bot and you want to reduce message costs.
• Use Method 3 when your agent must guide users through a series of structured tasks – it provides a clearer path and can improve completion rates.

Experiment with each approach to find what best fits your users and your business goals.

References

• Original source article: Matthew Devaney, Change The Copilot Studio Agent Welcome Message
• Microsoft Learn: System topics in Copilot Studio
• Microsoft Learn: Redirect to another topic