How to start with a chatbot: Part 3

This is the third and final part of the chatbot topic, revealing the role of chatbots in digital marketing. If you have missed the previous two parts, take a moment and take a quick look to be on the same page with us. 

Being a successful business is not about implementing the latest technologies, but about creating value and making an impact on the community. Gaining loyalty among customers and your partners means you are always available and close to them, ready to support them with any issue. The necessity of chatbots arose from the demand for customers' appreciation and the desire to always be connected. Implementing this technology means you are on top of customer support. Of course, there are tons of other advantages of integrating chatbots into business processes, and you can check them out here.

What to consider before starting with a chatbot

We keep repeating that chatbots are an excellent tool to boost sales, improve customer engagement, and increase retention rates. Still, the implementation of chatbot technology should be justified and based on research and an understanding of business goals.

Give answers to the following questions before integrating chatbot software into your workflow. 

• What is the purpose of the chatbot?
• Who is the chatbot for?
• Which type of chatbot is suitable for your business?
• What questions should the chatbot answer?
• How to build a comprehensive knowledge base?
• What is the personality of the chatbot?
• How to integrate a chatbot into the ecosystem?

How to implement the chatbot into your business?

Finally, you are one step closer to integrating chatbot technology into your business and starting to measure customer engagement results.

Planning

1 List the business problems and objectives 

Any new technology is implemented to solve challenges, make business processes more effective, and help generate more revenue. The usage of chatbots should be justified by their KPIs and the ability to cover the issues. To get a clear picture of business objectives and problems, start by creating a list of issues by priority and determining- whether they can be solved with a chatbot. 

Problem mapping

2 Choose communication channels

The planning stage is supposed to determine communication channels. For example, if it will be a Facebook Messenger chatbot, it is best to choose a Facebook marketing solution. There are multi-platform chatbot frameworks for cross-channel communication that will smoothly work and operate from one place.

Chatbots benefits per channel

3 Select the right chatbot software

Chatbot integration’s next stage is choosing the right chatbot solution. There are dozens of software and platforms for communication automation, but which one is the best? This stage requires extensive research and time to shortlist the top names, test them, and find the most optimal solution. Use the list of business objectives and issues when testing the chatbot and find out whether they cover the problems or not. 

Problem-solution mapping

4 Set up chatbot KPIs

To measure the efficiency of chatbots and understand their profitability, the planning stage should include a definition of chatbot KPIs. Of course, chatbots cannot achieve all the goals at once, so it is wise to set short-term KPIs that may be aligned by time and track chatbot performance. 

Chatbot KPIs

5 Plan chatbot story

Once you have chosen the chatbot, it is time to create a script for a chatbot. The more detailed it is planned, the easier it will be to launch and create value successfully. The wireframe of the chatbot story will help rethink and rearrange the script to get the final version. 

User journey

It's not as complicated as it may seem. 

Let's connect, and we can guide you through the chatbot integration process. 

Building

1 Set up chatbot greetings

A greeting message is the customer's first experience with the chatbot. The compelling welcome message is the strategy to make a good impression on the user. Various greetings and CTAs can be used on different pages to look more contextual and “push” customers to take action. 

Chatbot greetings

2 Design chatbot personality

A chatbot is more than an additional function for customers to reach out to. It is a powerful tool to start immediate interaction and increase retention. Customize your chatbot and create it with a unique personality matching your brand, and users will be more open and willing to answer the bot’s questions. Here are the rules for customizing your chatbot. 

Don’t give the chatbot a human face: chatbots with human faces confuse users who may not realize they are talking to a robot. 

Tell the users they are talking to a chatbot: giving a name to your chatbot may also be confusing, so tell the users first that they are talking to a bot.

Define chatbot tone and voice to be aligned with target audience research: it is essential to set the universal language for the chatbot. It can be formal, informal, or conversational. 

Chatbot design

3 Show the value

Regardless of the chatbot’s purpose, it should clearly show its purpose and how it can help customers. The message can be displayed after the greeting to let customers know what they can do with the chatbot.  

Button-based menu

4 Add eye-catching buttons

Keeping in mind a customer-oriented approach, chatbots are customized to be simple, compelling, and interactive. Eye-catching buttons make them visible and easy to navigate. Clear and eye-catching buttons reduce the chances of confusion and misunderstanding. 

Add contextual copy: besides Yes/No options, you can also use contextual messages that look more human. 

Add emojis: stickers and smileys are great options to make your conversation with the chatbot sound more human and optimistic.

Streamline navigation: give the users an option to go back to the beginning of the conversation with the menu button if they have another inquiry. 
 

Interactive buttons

5 Add conversation delays

Being always available, fast, and responsive is the benefit of chatbots, but is it really good to be so fast? Common practice shows that customers need a little time to read all the messages and understand what to choose. The chatbot testing will indicate how long the conversation delay should be to let the customer absorb the information. 

Conversation delays

6 Manage conversations with the right fallback message

Even a robot can make mistakes, especially if the inquiry is unclear to him. If that happens, the chatbot should have a proper fallback message so as not to lose customer interaction. Here are three significant steps to creating successful fallback messages.

Don’t use generic answers: think of something more creative besides “I don’t understand” or “Repeat the question, please.” The creative fallback message will add personality to your bot.

Create different variations: not to sound like a robot repeating the same message repeatedly, you can create additional fallback messages.

Shift the user’s attention: offer other solutions to customers to shift the attention from failure. The chatbot may offer to paraphrase the message or transfer it to a human agent. 

Fallback message

7 Test the chatbot

The final building stage tests the chatbot, functionality, and productivity with beta testers. The chatbot is tested on the scenario, watching how the chatbot leads the user through the issue and whether the users are satisfied with the experience. Carefully process feedback and make updates. 

Monitoring 

Once done with building and deployment, the efficiency of the chatbot should be constantly monitored to understand the strong and weak points, verify the chatbot’s KPIs, and work on future updates.

Observe trends: track the conversations to understand the trending topics and reveal low-performing ones. This information will help redo the chatbot scenario or add missing elements.

Respond to users’ shifting needs: the constant monitoring will help see what type of questions the users ask. If the chatbot still doesn’t answer those questions, rewrite scenarios, including trending topics. 

Stay up to date: monitor and update chatbot scenarios based on service and product updates, user needs, and developing trends.

Finally, removing the software is unnecessary if the chatbot results are not satisfying. It means your chatbot is missing a core function that’s stopping it from creating value. Continue digging deeper to find the problem and fix the performance.

User activity and Engagement

Is it really worth starting with a chatbot?

That was a long ride, but you made it to the end. Even though we still think that chatbots are extremely productive technologies that may bring value to a business, there are cases when investing in chatbot development is not timely. Before you start with chatbot development and integration, research and analyze all the aspects that should be and may be improved with a chatbot. If the game is worth the candle, you'd better trust the development to a reliable vendor who will handle chatbot software development.