Do you vary your bot responses?

People do not answer the same way every time. Neither should your agent.

✅ Figure: Good example - Different welcome messages from SophieBot

How do you add variation?

You no longer write this yourself. In Copilot Studio, a Message node accepts multiple message variations and the agent picks one at random each time the node runs. Question nodes take variations too, with a Randomize variant selection setting that switches between random and in order.

A few strings and a rand() call was the old answer, and it still applies on a platform that has no built-in support.

Which messages should stay the same?

Generative answers already vary, because the model writes them fresh every time. This rule is about the messages you author, and some of those should be identical on every run.

• Errors and failures - people search the exact wording, and support scripts match on it
• Compliance and disclosure text - anything legal, privacy, or AI disclosure related
• Confirmation of an action taken - "I have cancelled order 1234" should read the same way every time

Vary the greeting. Do not vary the receipt. For what to say when the agent has nothing to offer, see Do you have generic answers?