Creating a Chatbot ?
Things to consider while making it.
With the rise in development of Chatbots and Big Companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and others entering into it. It makes us consider knowing few things about it even if we are not making it.
Why even build a Chatbot ?
Chatbots can have a major role creating an easy and better experience for both the users and the Companies building it. And considering the time an average person spends on the mobile using Messaging platforms, its a huge potential for the companies to reach their users. And this is better for the users also, it will make users get the information and the services they need easier and faster.
And considering the time an average person spends on the mobile using Messaging platforms, its a huge potential for the companies to reach their users.
And if you are not making a Chatbot, you will or are using a Chatbot currently. And since Facebook Messenger’s platform is opened for Developers and Google Assistant opening this December, there will be many bots coming.
So what are the things to consider while making a Chatbot ?
1. Create a personality for your Chatbot
Giving a personality gives a sense of trust and feels more natural to communicate with. A good example for this would be the Google Assistant. Not only the information it provides but the way it presents also make the conversation more enjoyable and natural.
See the way it responds to the request, its try’s to mimic the way an human responses to a question. This also makes the conversation feel like bidirectional conversational rather then you asking question and the Chatbot just showing the answers.
2. Don’t over answer the question/request
Answer only what is important to the user, don’t overload them with too many information. Make them feel comfortable with information. Remember how the Google Assistant in the previous point mimics to be human like, so similarly when asked to a human, we don’t give a ton of answers, some might do but not an average person. Give only required information as per the context.
3. Show previews not just links
There are many reasons of showing previews, and one of them is to make the experience better. Showing previews minimizes the users efforts to get the information and also reduces the back and forth moving between the platforms/apps.
Understanding the context and showing the appropriate preview makes the users save time, clicks and efforts. Lesser the efforts, more the engagement of the users.
4. Control the Answers
Controlling the boundaries of your answers is also an important factor while communicating with the user. Since many bots pulls resources from the internet searches, it makes the bot answerable to almost every answer. An example of limiting the answer can be this one. For example when in an depressed state, user can asks for the places to suicide or questions similar to it, the Chatbot should not respond showing him the places, rather limit the boundary of the answer and try to help the user.
5. User Experience is more important than the Technical things
The most important node to complete the process for conversation with your bot is the user. Understand the users need, context of the question/request and make an effective experience for the user. User don’t want to be bombarded with lot of information. Follow the 3C rule for better conversation, the answer should be Complete, Concise and Correct. Following this things will surely make your user’s experience with your bot alot better. Design the bot for the user and not just to provide a service.
There are many more things which can be used to improve your Chatbot, but following these 5 points will make you built a way better Chatbot.
Conclusion
Yes, Chatbots are coming to you very soon and will also improve the way we communicate with the Businesses. And with super intelligent learning and fast forwarding power of AI(Artificial Intelligence) combined with this Chatbots, can create a whole new way we communicate with each other and companies. And its also a huge opportunity for developers and businesses to engage with the audiences.
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You can connect with me (Raj Dedania) on Twitter. I am an UX Designer and a Developer, I read and write about Design and Technology. And also the Founder of Design & Code.
