Some clients require a very personalized and highly detailed assistance regarding their requirements as well as specific responses to their queries. Chatbots, in contrast with human beings, never lose their temper and are always well-disposed. However, it is necessary to plan the user experience and your bot programming in order to avoid failing.
Chatbots are being introduced in the digital strategy of companies belonging to several industries. One may say that they are one of the first steps used to introduce artificial intelligence and to maximize its performance, especially regarding customer service.
From service companies with their own online platform or banking bots which provide information about the foreign exchange market to trendy brands which introduced them in their ecommerce, chat robots are becoming popular.
The fact is that chatbots not only have more productivity than any seller’s group (they can handle up to 30 potential clients at the same time, 365/7/24), but they also are always polite, willing to satisfy clients’ queries and requirements and one of the features that goes unnoticed is that: they never lose their patience! They are there to give more and more.
The online conversational interaction via chatbot is a new and constantly developing technology. In order to avoid mistakes or malfunctioning of these conversations, planning and designing of user experience (UX) becomes imperative; that is to say, to implement a user centered design methodology, from its own needs and not from those of the designers or the company.
This is an iterative process which implies designing, making direct trials, adjusting, redesigning and performing the whole process again until achieving the exact content for our chatbot.
On the other side, we also need to plan ahead. And if chatbot is unable to answer a question? This difficulty could result in a negative user experience. Having an effective way out for these situations will make the difference. That means that the bot could never say: “I don’t understand”, as it could generate a negative feeling towards our brand.
A solution could be the derivation to the interaction with a real person or to offer a selection of alternative choices in the screen as, “call us now”, “we’ll be back with your response in a few minutes”, or “we’ll be back in a few minutes” and to transfer the case. The options for users not to find themselves lacking of understanding from the bot or any other friction during the process are the key for a positive and effective UX.
