Chatbots have come a long way since they were first introduced in the 1960s. Today, they are highly intelligent and capable of producing human-like responses.
In business, chatbots can deliver a heap of benefits, but only if they are used correctly. If you want to guarantee success, follow these 3 crucial chatbot tips…
1. Identify the goals of your chatbot
The first thing you need to do to ensure your chatbot is a success is to identify its goals. Here are some common goals to get you started:
· Answer frequently asked questions
· Generate leads
· Automate repetitive HR tasks
· Engage your audience
· Ease pressure on your customer service team
These are all things that chatbots can help you with. Answering frequently asked questions can take up a lot of time. Having a chatbot there to answer the questions for you leaves you free to spend more time on other aspects of the business.
Write down the most important goal of your chatbot. This will help you to decide where to focus most of your energy.
2. Give your chatbot a name and voice
While chatbots can’t replace human to human interaction, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have some personality.
Give your chatbot a name and a unique voice. You can control what responses the chatbot gives, so why not do it with personality?
When a chatbot has a personality, it makes them a lot more fun to deal with. This in turn will boost engagement, as well as keep your customers satisfied.
3. Ask for customer feedback
The best way to ensure your chatbot is effective is asking for feedback. At the end of the chat session, give the customer the option to leave feedback about their experience.
Ask them what they liked and didn’t like about using the chatbot. How could it be improved?
Regularly assessing how well the chatbot is doing will enable you to make changes if required. The happier your customers are to use it, the more effective your chatbot will be.
If you follow these 3 tips, it will help to boost your success, as well as save you time in your business.
Common chatbot mistakes to avoid
Now that you’ve discovered some tips to help you get the most out of your chatbot, let’s look at some mistakes you’ll want to avoid. Here’s a few of the most common chatbot mistakes you won’t want to make…
Overly long messages
Chatbots provide quick communication with a brand, or at least that’s what they are supposed to do. If you write overly long messages, it’s going to frustrate your customers.
Keep the chatbot messages short and concise where possible. Don’t make your customers read through walls of text. Individual messages shouldn’t take up more than a third of the chat window.
If you find you need to give a long answer, think about how you can break the question down.
Not directing customers to a human operator
One of the biggest complaints about chatbots is that they don’t transfer to human operators. If the chatbot can’t help, it should redirect the customer to somebody they can speak to.
If they have an urgent question or a complex enquiry, make sure the chatbot gives them the option to speak to someone. Let them know when they can expect to chat to your customer service team.
For chat requests out of office hours, give the customer the option to leave their details. That way, you can get back to them as soon as you open.
Not testing and improving your chatbot
Did you know you can use your chat data to improve your chatbot? The thing about chatbots is that they become smarter over time. They continue to learn from the interactions they have with customers.
What this means is that they won’t always provide the right information. This is especially true if you are just setting one up. To fix the problem, you’ll need to test and improve your chatbot regularly.
Overall, chatbots can be an excellent addition to your local business. However, you do need to be done correctly if you want them to help, rather than hinder your business.