5 Mistakes People Make When Creating a Chatbot
Chatbots are now appearing on almost every website to help visitors with tasks from support to appointment bookings and even shopping.
With many companies rushing to add chatbots to their sites there are some common mistakes being made.
Below we list the most common mistakes and provide some advice on how to avoid them.
Making chatbots hard to use
For a chatbot to work it must be easier to use than the alternative. If someone can call you or complete a web form easier than talking to your chatbot then they will. Your chatbot needs to be easily accessible, refrain from asking unnecessary questions, flow naturally and most importantly be able to assist the user.
To avoid this common mistake, follow these rules:
- Make your chatbot easy to find and access. It should be the first thing that a user sees when they visit your website or contact page. It should be clear how users start a conversation e.g. have your chatbot say, “Hi how can I help you?”
- Ensure your chatbot only provides assistance where it adds value. Don’t try to make your chatbot do everything, pick some high value, suitable tasks and focus on adding those.
- When your chatbot asks users for information make it clear what format you want the information in. For example, use date pickers where you want a date.
- When your chatbot asks a question limit what response users can give, this will make it easier for them to give a suitable answer and make it easier for your chatbot to react to that answer. E.g. If you ask a user what type of mobile phone they want, you should consider giving them a list rather than a free text field.
Asking open ended questions
Open ended questions can be great for a chatbot, but you need to be careful where you use them. If your chatbot is searching a knowledge base to provide information to a user, then open ended questions can be useful. However, if you have a limited number of services and your chatbot is asking what a user needs help with then open ended questions are a bad idea. Just because you call your services A, B and C does not mean your users do and they may become frustrated if your chatbot just keeps saying “Sorry I don’t recognise that request”.
Bad error handling
Have you ever been talking to a chatbot and you get a message like “An exception has occurred”? It provides no information to the user and will just put them off using your chatbot in the future. Think about how you will manage cases where the chatbot cannot help or where it does not understand what the user is asking. Should the chatbot handover to a live operator, should it email a service desk or should it give the user a meaningful message? There are many options and different approaches work for different audiences, be sure to choose one that suits your needs.
Context switching
Let’s say you start a conversation with a chatbot, “Hello, I need to order a new computer.” The chatbot then asks “Sure, what model would you like?” and shows you a list of available computers. What you really wanted however is a laptop, so you say, “I need a laptop”. The chatbot then responds, “I am sorry, I did not understand that, what model would you like?” and then shows you the same list of computers.
You need to think about how to deal with users changing their minds or with a chatbot misunderstanding the request.
Making them human
Some companies try very hard to make their chatbots sound human. Whilst this might seem like a good idea it can have the opposite effect to the one expected. The expectation is that it makes customers feel more comfortable and allows them to discuss topics in a more natural fashion. The reality is that the moment the user is misunderstood the thin veneer of humanity is washed away and frustration seeps in. The users will complain to the chatbot as if it were a person and when the chatbot is unable to respond appropriately the user experience is ruined. Research shows users would rather know that they are talking to a chatbot and will often change the way they interact accordingly. Most people are not put off an interaction just because it is with a chatbot rather than a person.
