5 Steps to Create Chatbots that Stick

Chabots have taken the business communication to another level. Now it is possible for us to mimic human communication in machines just by using some DIY tools. Now we have reached a point where just like a mobile app, chatbots have also become a mandatory touchpoint which businesses need to cater to. They offer a range of benefits like streamlining communication, reducing workload and enhancing customer experience. Though bots have a high potential, they usually fail to hook the users. Engaging users in an automated communication requires you to offer real value. In this blog, we will explore 5 steps to create chatbots that help your business’ communication.

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5 Steps to Create Chatbots the Successfully Engage the Users:

1. Define Your Goal:

The sole purpose of any chatbot should be to add value. This value can come in the form of customer support, content or a service say, ordering food or playing a song. Contrary to popular belief the artificial intelligence we know is not capable of replicating human behavior to its fullest. It can only excel in a niche domain. Trying too hard to make it multi-purpose might backfire resulting in ineffective responses and failures.

The more specific your goal is better will be the chances of success with the chatbot. If you are confused about the role of your chatbot then the best way to figure it out is to research on your consumers. Your consumers will be the ones to interact with the bot hence their needs should supersede any decision on the functionality of the bot. You can either interview them directly or look at the data to find possible loopholes in communication that can be filled using chatbots.

2. Set Up an Identity:

While it is obvious to the consumers that they are talking an artificial person, it by no means that the artificial person cannot have a personality of its own. If the users feel that their queries are handled by a machine they will lose the inclination to communicate further rendering your efforts useless.

You can give your bot a character that appeals to its target audience and feels human. The character you decide should be aptly reflected in the tone, language, icon, etc. A great example of such chatbot is the Ruuh bot. The bot throughout carries a subtle feminine tone and the character that keeps the user hooked for hours.

3. Determining Conversation Flow:

Once you know your bot’s objective the next step is to set up a model to achieve it. A chatbot achieves a certain goal using a communication flow. This flow moves a person from point A to point B and hence provides value. For instance, if it an eCommerce bot then the flow can be something like this:

1. Ask the user about his gender - male or female.
2. Define choice of clothing - shirt, t-shirt or trouser
3. Showcase different pieces from the chosen type.
4. If the user likes anything then proceed to checkout else showcase more items.

Tools like draw.io can help you visually represent such ideas to bring more clarity. It is recommended to create a visual flow to make it easy to understand. This becomes even more important if the chatbot is meant to help with complex tasks.

4. Level of Intelligence:

Today, you can create a chatbot using simple tools that won’t require a single line of code. These tools are ideal if all you need a simple chatbot that follows a predefined flow. But these prebuilt tools offer a limited scope of automation. In case you need your bot to be intelligent, you will need the help of developers who can enable artificial intelligence (AI) in it.

Whether or not to make an AI chatbot completely depends upon your individual needs, budget, and goals. While a certain level of intelligence does make a bot interesting it substantially increases the time and capital involved in development. You’ll need an AI bot if you need to make suggestions, learn from behavior or develop new responses based on data injected into the backend.

5. Nail Down Distribution:

Once you have a working bot ready the next step is to choose a channel like Facebook Messenger, Slack, Kik, etc. to launch your bot. The choice of the platform depends upon the distribution of your target users. After you decide the platform the final step is to market your chatbot to secure users. You can do this by using channels like email marketing, Facebook advertising, blogging, etc.

A lot goes into the backend of creating an AI chatbot. On the bright side, once created the cost of maintenance is fairly low. Hence you’ll not need an in-house team just to create a chatbot. Unless you are an IT company it is a practical choice to hire developers who can do this for you. If you do choose to hire a chatbot developer then feel free to get in touch. We have already created bots for many industries and can do that for you as well. In case you would like to see the POC then visit our chatbot section.