7 Simple Ways to Improve Your Chatbot

I’ve seen a lot of chatbots that seemed quite promising at first but soon become quite disappointing.

Here are seven simple tips for taking an existing chatbot and making it a lot better:

1 — Use (More) Randomization

As a chatbot designer, you know full well that every single possible response given by a chatbot was designed ahead of time.

To the designer, nothing about the chatbot is truly random. Even so-called “randomization” is really just shunting the user between pre-programmed pathways.

But to the user, randomization is very real. A chatbot that responds in unpredictable ways is going to seem much more “authentic” and real to the user.

I like to start right with the very first “block” or interaction, which is often called the “Welcome Message.” Whatever you want to call it, the “Welcome Message” is the first “block” or interaction that the user has with your chatbot. And just like with interactions with (real) people that you meet, making a good first impression is crucial.

Most chatbot designers create a Welcome Message that looks like this:

Hi, {{first name}}!
I’m Example Bot. And I’m here to do X, Y, and Z.

Is that good? Well, it’s acceptable. But it’s not great. And adding some randomization right at the beginning is a great way to take your chatbot to the next level.