Introduction
Conversation templates define the structure of conversations in Perform & Engage 365. Templates contain the stages, sections, and elements that participants complete throughout a conversation. Once published, a template can be used to launch one or more conversation campaigns.
Templates are designed to be reusable, enabling organizations to create consistent experiences for performance reviews, career discussions, one-to-one meetings, engagement surveys, and other structured conversations.
Before you start
To create and manage conversation templates, you must:
- Have Organization admin permissions.
- Have the Conversations v2 feature enabled for your organization.
Navigate to conversation templates
1. Go to Organization > Conversations. The Conversation Plans Configuration page opens.
2. Select Explore Campaigns near the top of the page. The Campaigns tab opens on a separate page.
3. Select the Templates tab.
Here, you can see and manage your existing conversation templates via the Pre-built and My templates tabs.
NOTE
Conversations v2 uses a separate template system from the legacy Conversations experience. Templates created in the legacy experience don't appear in Conversations v2 and can't be used in Conversations v2 campaigns. If you want to use a legacy template design in Conversations v2, create a new template or duplicate and customize one of the available built-in templates.
For each conversation template, you can see the title, description, and how many stages and sections it has. On the My templates tab, you can see the current status of the template.
Create a conversation template
1. Navigate to conversation templates.
2. Select the My templates tab.
3. Select Create template. The Create template dialog opens.
4. Enter the Template title and Description.
5. Select Create.
The created template opens in the template editor. The editor contains two tabs:
- Content. This is where you configure the conversation structure, stages, sections, and elements.
- Workflow. This is where you configure stage flow, automation, participant access, notifications, reminders, and other workflow behavior.
Most template design activities take place on the Content tab. For more information about configuring stages, sections, and elements, see this article.
New templates contain one default stage and one default section on the Content tab.
You can now configure the template structure and content.
The Workflow tab
While the Content tab defines what participants see and complete, the Workflow tab defines how the conversation progresses between stages and participants.
The Workflow tab enables you to configure how conversations move through the stages of a template. It provides a visual overview of the workflow and allows you to define stage behavior, notifications, reminders, and automation settings.
Using the Workflow tab, you can:
- Add and manage conversation stages.
- Configure stage permissions and participant access.
- Designate calibration stages.
- Configure automatic stage completion and transition behavior.
- Enable options such as reminders, meeting invitations, and returning a conversation to a previous stage.
- Configure notifications that are sent when stages begin or end.
- Preview how the workflow will appear to participants.
The Workflow tab is commonly used when creating structured processes such as performance reviews, development discussions, calibration exercises, and annual review cycles.
Example: performance review workflow
A performance review process might contain:
- An employee self-review stage.
- A manager review stage.
- A calibration stage for HR or department leaders.
- A final review and sign-off stage.
Each stage can have its own permissions, notifications, and workflow settings, helping maintain a consistent and repeatable review process across the organization.
Navigate the Workflow tab
The Workflow tab displays the notifications and workflow events that can occur throughout a conversation.
The left-hand panel shows the workflow events that are configured for the template. Common examples include:
- Conversation assigned
- Employee review started *
- Manager review started *
- Discussion started *
- Conversation completed
- Conversation reopened.
* The available workflow events depend on the stages that exist in the template. Stage names such as Employee review, Manager review, and Discussion are examples only. Your organization may use different stage names depending on how the template has been configured. Regardless of the stage name, selecting a stage-start workflow event opens the Stage started panel.
For each workflow event, the Workflow tab displays the participants who can view that stage. For example, icons may indicate that the stage is visible to the Focus Person, the Reviewer, or both.
View workflow event details
1. Select a workflow event in the left-hand panel.
2. Review the panel that opens on the right-hand side of the screen.
Workflow events that represent the start of a conversation stage always open the Stage started panel. The stage names shown on the Workflow tab depend on your template configuration, but selecting any stage-start notification opens the same Stage started panel.
| Workflow event type | Panel |
|---|---|
| Conversation assigned | Conversation assigned |
| Any stage-start event (for example, Employee review started, Manager review started, or Discussion started) | Stage started |
| Conversation completed | Conversation completed |
| Conversation reopened | Conversation assigned |
The panel displays:
- The notification message that will be sent.
- When the notification is triggered.
- Which participants receive the notification.
- Whether the notification is currently enabled.
Use the toggle at the top of the panel to enable or disable the selected notification.
Edit notification content
The notification information displayed on workflow panels is read-only.
To modify the notification text or delivery settings:
1. Select Edit default content in Notification settings. The Default Notification Settings for Organization page opens.
2. Edit the notification content and delivery settings as required. For more information, see this article.
IMPORTANT
Editing default notification content changes the notification for all conversation templates and campaigns across your organization, including live campaigns.
Edit template details
You can edit the title and description of custom templates.
1. Navigate to conversation templates.
2. Select the My templates tab.
3. Select the ellipsis menu (...) for the required template > Edit details.
4. On the opened dialog, edit the Template title and (optionally) its Description.
5. Select Save.
Edit a template
Only unpublished custom templates can be edited directly.
To modify a pre-built template or a published custom template, duplicate it and edit the copy.
1. Navigate to conversation templates.
2. Select the My templates tab.
3. Select the template you want to edit or select Edit in the Actions column.
The template opens in the template editor.
You can now configure the template structure and content. For more information, see this article.
View template details
You can't edit a custom template once it's published. When you publish a template, the Edit action changes to View details.
1. Navigate to conversation templates.
2. Select the My templates tab.
3. Select the template you want to view or select View details in the Actions column.
The template opens in the template editor.
Preview a pre-built template
You can preview a pre-built template.
1. Navigate to conversation templates.
2. Select the Pre-built tab.
3. Select the required template, or select the ellipsis menu (...) > Preview.
The template opens.
Duplicate a template
Pre-built and published custom templates can't be edited directly. You can duplicate both pre-built and custom templates to create a new variation, then use the new template when creating campaigns.
Duplicating a template is particularly useful when:
- Updating an existing template design.
- Creating similar templates for different audiences.
- Making changes to a published template.
Duplicate a custom template
1. Navigate to conversation templates.
2. Select the My templates tab.
3. Select the ellipsis menu (...) for the template you want to duplicate > Duplicate.
A duplicated template with the same title and the (Copy) suffix is created in the My templates tab, and with the Draft status.
4. You can now edit the template and its details.
5. Publish the duplicated template, when ready.
6. Use the published template to create a campaign. For more information, see Use a published template in a campaign.
Duplicate a pre-built template
When you duplicate a pre-built template to create a new variation, the duplicated one is saved in the My templates tab, where you can use it when creating campaigns.
1. Navigate to conversation templates.
2. Select the Pre-built section.
3. Select the ellipsis menu (...) for the required template > Use template. The Use pre-built template dialog opens.
Alternatively, you can select the required template, then choose Use template in the top right-hand corner of the page.
4. On the opened dialog, edit the Template title and (optionally) its Description.
5. Select Use template.
The duplicated template is created in the My templates tab with the Draft status.
6. You can now edit the template and its details.
7. Publish the duplicated template, when ready.
8. Use the published template to create a campaign. For more information, see Use a published template in a campaign.
Publish a template
Only published templates can be used when creating campaigns.
Published templates can be used in future campaigns. You can't change the template used in current (live) campaigns.
Once a template is published, you can no longer edit it. If you want to make changes to a published template, you can duplicate it to create a new variation.
Once you've configured the conversation template, you can publish it and use it in a campaign. To publish a conversation template:
1. Complete the template configuration steps. For more information, see this article.
2. Navigate to conversation templates.
3. Select either the Pre-built or My templates tab.
4. Select the template you want to edit. The template opens in the template editor.
5. Select Publish near the top right-hand side of the template editor. The Publish template? dialog opens.
If Publish isn't available, the template might contain invalid elements. A common cause is a reference element that references a deleted or invalid source element. Resolve any validation issues, if prompted.
6. Select Publish to confirm, or Cancel.
Published templates display the Published status on the Templates tab.
Published templates can be used when creating campaigns. For information about using a published template when creating a campaign, see Use a published template in a campaign.
Published templates are read only. To edit a published template, unpublish it first. When you publish a template, the Edit action changes to View details.
Use a published template in a campaign
Published templates can be used to create conversation campaigns. You can start the campaign creation process from either the template list or the template editor.
From the templates list
1. Navigate to conversation templates.
2. Select the My templates tab.
3. Select the ellipsis menu (...) for the required published template > Create Campaign.
The campaign creation flow opens.
For information about configuring and launching campaigns, see this article.
From the template editor
Published templates can be used directly from the template editor.
1. Navigate to conversation templates.
2. Select the My templates tab.
3. Select the template you want to use. The template opens in the template editor.
4. Select Use in Campaign near the top of the page.
The campaign creation flow opens.
For information about configuring and launching campaigns, see this article.
Unpublish a template
Unpublishing a template makes it editable again and removes it from use in new campaigns until it is republished.
Existing campaigns that already use the template aren't affected.
1. Navigate to conversation templates.
2. Select the My templates tab.
3. Select the published template you want to unpublish. The template opens in the template editor.
4. Select Unpublish near the top right-hand side of the template editor. The Unpublish template? dialog opens.
5. Select Unpublish to unpublish the template, or Cancel.
The template becomes editable and can no longer be selected when creating new campaigns.
NOTE
Unpublishing a template doesn't affect campaigns that are already using it. Existing campaigns continue to function normally and recipients can continue completing their conversations.
Delete a template
This action can't be undone.
Both published and unpublished custom templates can be deleted from the Templates list. You can't delete pre-built templates.
Before deleting a template, consider whether it is currently being used by active or future campaigns.
NOTE
If you launch a campaign and then delete its associated template, the campaign continues to function normally and recipients can continue completing their conversations. Active campaigns aren't affected by later changes to the template, including editing, duplicating, or deleting it. The campaign uses the template configuration that was in effect when the campaign was launched.
1. Navigate to conversation templates.
2. Select either the Pre-built or My templates tab.
3. Select the ellipsis menu (...) for the template you want to delete > Delete. The Delete template? dialog opens.
4. Select Delete to confirm, or Cancel.
Next steps
Once you've created and published your template, you can:
- Use the template to create a campaign.
- Configure campaign participants and scheduling.
- Launch the campaign.
Related articles
- Introduction to Conversations
- Configure stages, sections, and elements in conversation templates
- Create and launch conversation campaigns
- Manage conversation campaigns
- Complete a conversation
- Conversations FAQs