Chatbots are not overhyped pseudo-AIs. The most advanced ones can help you get more sales, engage your users, and increase your productivity.
But you need to play your cards right.
With 12 of our chatbot best practices, you’ll create a chatbot that can propel your business into the stratosphere. We’ll delve into everything from design to how to make the user experience pop.
We’ll cover:
- Why do these practices matter for your business?
- 12 tips to make sure your chatbot beats the competition
Let’s get started!
Why do chatbot best practices matter for your business?
Following chatbot best practices leads to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty. Your customers will spend up to 67% more when they're engaged, according to an Intercom survey.
- Without guidelines, your chatbot risks annoying customers with repetitive, irrelevant questions. Yikes! Annoyed customers may stop engaging with your business altogether.
- Well-designed chatbots can handle up to 80% of routine customer questions, reducing costs. They work 24/7, so your human staff can focus on high-value tasks.
- Chatbots allow you to tailor conversations based on customer data. Personalized experiences make people feel valued and keep them coming back.
- By monitoring chatbot performance and reviewing conversational data, you'll gain insights to enhance the customer experience. Chatbots, like any technology, require ongoing optimization to achieve their full potential.
#1 Define your chatbot's objective and scope
What do you want your bot to achieve? Do you want it to handle customer service inquiries? Generate leads? Provide product information? Knowing your goal will determine how complex your bot needs to be. Start simple! A bot that can answer basic FAQs is better than an overly ambitious one that confuses customers.
Who is your target audience? Are you aiming to assist tech-savvy millennials or less digitally inclined seniors? Tailor your bot's personality and capabilities to your audience. If it's the former, feel free to get casual and even snarky. If it's the latter, keep things professional and avoid confusing them with too many options.
What topics will it cover? Decide on the key areas your bot must address to meet its objective. Try not to overload it, especially when you're first launching. It's better for a bot to do a few things well than try to be an expert on everything. You can always expand its knowledge base over time as it learns.
#2 Choose the right platform
Choosing a chatbot is like choosing an outfit for a job interview. You want something appropriate that also showcases your best qualities.
For businesses, that means a platform that:
- Matches your technical skills. If you can code, great! Build your own. If not, choose a user-friendly tool.
- Integrates with your other software. Look for options that play nice with your CRM, help desk, social platforms, etc.
- Provides robust analytics. You’ll want to track how your chatbot is performing to make improvements.
- Has a large library of pre-built content. The less you have to build from scratch, the faster you can get your chatbot up and running.
- Offers affordable pricing. Chatbot platforms range from free open-source tools up to enterprise-level options. Find one that fits your budget.
#3 Develop a chatbot personality
Chatbots may be software, but that doesn’t mean they have to be boring automatons. Give your bot some personality to connect with customers! Since you’re reading this, you’re probably not an AI yourself (...are you?). Customers will appreciate a chatbot with humor and personality.
Some ways to develop your chatbot’s personality:
- Give your bot a fun name like Lindy or Chip instead of “Customer Service Chatbot.” Names make bots seem more human and approachable.
- Program some jokes or witty comebacks into your bot’s repertoire. A little humor and levity can go a long way toward endearing customers to your bot. Have your bot use casual and conversational language. A friendly tone will make the experience of chatting with your bot more natural and engaging.
- Teach your bot to imitate empathy by saying things like “I understand this can be frustrating.” The illusion of emotional intelligence, even in small doses, creates goodwill.
- Give your chatbot a consistent personality. Is your bot an eager intern named Chip looking to help customers? A sassy bot named Claude with a sarcastic sense of humor? Keep the persona consistent to build familiarity.
- Sprinkling in jokes, puns, and clever comebacks will make your bot memorable. But don’t overdo it, or your bot may come off as obnoxious.
#4 Design excellent conversations
One thing you want to do is make conversations with your chatbot flow naturally. While this may seem hard, it only takes following a couple of pieces of advice.
They are:
- Ask open-ended questions to keep the conversation flowing. Say, “Tell me more about that.” Or “How can I help further?” Rather than dead-end questions.
- Keep it concise and focused: People don't converse in long paragraphs, so break up your chatbot's responses into short, easily digestible chunks of information. Aim for sentences that mimic how a helpful person would speak during a real conversation.
- Vary sentence structure and language: Avoid monotony by using a mix of simple, compound, and complex sentences. Include questions and exclamations where appropriate to make the interaction feel more dynamic and engaging.
#5 Choose the right technology
Chatbots come in all shapes and sizes these days. Do you want a basic bot that can handle simple questions, or an AI-powered bot that understands complex queries? For most businesses, an AI chatbot is the way to go.
Here’s why choosing the right technology is so crucial:
- You can find bots that actually understand. Choose smart bots that can interpret and respond to natural language for a better customer experience.
- The right platform will go a long way. Go with a platform that aligns with your needs and integrates well with your existing systems.
- Balance cost and complexity. Avoid overly expensive solutions for simple use cases, but consider enterprise-level tools for handling sensitive data or complex transactions.
- Prioritize user-friendliness. Look for no-code or low-code platforms with easy implementation, free trials, intuitive interfaces, drag-and-drop conversation design, and straightforward data connections.
#6 Train your chatbot
Don't just throw your chatbot out into the wild and expect it to swim — take the time to train it first! Think of your chatbot like a new employee (who happens to be software). You need to teach them the ropes before unleashing them on your customers.
Some tips for effective chatbot training:
- Feed it plenty of data. The more examples of Q&As, FAQs, and customer interactions you provide, the smarter your chatbot will get. Think thousands of examples, not hundreds.
- Teach it context. Help your chatbot understand how conversations flow and provide examples of responses that depend on what was said before. Context is key!
- Expose it to different styles. Include data with casual, friendly language as well as more formal exchanges. Your chatbot needs to adapt to different communication styles.
- Test and retest. Try out your chatbot yourself with new questions and requests to make sure it's learning properly. Get friends or co-workers to test it too. Repeat until satisfied!
- Keep training ongoing. Don't stop feeding data to your chatbot after the initial launch. New questions come up every day, so keep teaching it, and its knowledge will continue to grow.
#7 Use quick replies for faster service
Chatbots are all about speed and efficiency, right? So why make your customers type out long responses when quick replies can do the trick? Adding some pre-written response options allows customers to tap and go, getting answers in a flash. Talk about instant gratification!
Quick replies are a win-win. Your customers get lightning-fast service, and you get higher satisfaction scores. It’s a no-brainer.
Some examples to get you started:
- I need help getting a refund!
- Where are you located?
- I need to make an appointment
- What are your business hours?
#8 Optimize the user experience
Now it’s time for the fun part — optimizing your chatbot to create the best experience for your users. After all, if your chatbot frustrates customers more than it helps them, what’s the point?
We’ve covered keeping responses short and sweet to avoid annoying users. But here are other tips to follow:
- Be transparent about your chatbot's capabilities: Let users know upfront that they're interacting with a chatbot, not a human. This sets realistic expectations and helps avoid misunderstandings.
- Offer personalization options: If possible, allow users to customize how they interact with the chatbot. This could include options for different conversation speeds, levels of formality, or even preferred topics of discussion.
- Give options to speak to a human: Even the most advanced chatbots can’t handle every customer question or concern. Provide the option for users to be transferred to a live agent if needed. Your customers will thank you.
#9 Test regularly
Don't just set it and forget it! Chatbots are software, and we all know that software has bugs.
Test for things like:
- Does your chatbot understand common questions and provide good answers? If not, add to its knowledge base. Chatbots can come across as dimwitted if they don't understand basic queries.
- Check that your chatbot isn’t giving snarky or rude responses. The last thing you want is a chatbot with an attitude problem.
- Consistency is queen. You don’t want it giving different answers to the same question. That’s confusing for users and makes your business look disorganized.
- Double check that any links or CTAs your chatbot provides actually work. Broken links reflect poorly on your business and frustrate customers.
- Monitor how people are interacting with your chatbot. Look for conversations that go off the rails so you can make improvements. The more you test and optimize, the smarter your chatbot will get at handling conversations.
#10 Be smart with analytics
Don’t waste your valuable data! Analytics reveal how customers interact with your chatbot, allowing you to craft targeted engagement strategies.
Here’s what you can do:
- Map the journey, step by step: Chatbot analytics illuminate the customer journey, helping you refine your understanding and optimize each touchpoint.
- Numbers tell the story: Analytics quantify customer behavior, providing insights into where they spend their time and how they engage.
- Track form submissions for smarter lead generation: Analyze form completion to refine wording and timing for optimal lead conversion.
- Use data to pivot your strategy: Customer data lets you identify what works and make informed adjustments to boost success.
#11 Plan for human handover
You’ve designed the perfect chatbot. It’s friendly, helpful, and has a sense of humor. But at some point, your bot will inevitably face questions it wasn’t designed to handle. When that happens, it will need to quickly transition the conversation to a human agent.
To ensure a smooth handoff:
- Train agents on your bot’s capabilities and limitations so they understand which types of questions should be escalated.
- Have agents monitor bot conversations in real time, so they can jump in when needed.
- Give customers an easy way to opt out of the bot and speak to a human, like saying “Agent” or “Human, please.”
- Once escalated, have the agent pick up the context from the bot conversation so the customer doesn’t have to repeat themselves.
#12 Promote your bot
With all the time and effort you put into building your chatbot, you can’t just sit back and expect customers to find it. That’d be like opening a new restaurant but not telling anyone or putting up a sign!
You’ve got to spread the word about your bot’s existence:
- Advertise your bot on social media. Post about its launch on platforms where your customers hang out. Mention how it can make their lives easier and encourage them to give it a spin.
- Embed your bot on your website. Add a chat window so visitors can instantly start a conversation. This visibility will drive more people to interact with your bot.
- Send an email newsletter announcing the bot. Explain how it works and what it can do for subscribers. Give them a call to action to go chat with it.
- Get media coverage of your bot. Pitch the story of how you built an AI chatbot to help your customers. Reporters and bloggers love covering emerging tech like chatbots. The publicity and links will increase awareness and traffic.
Summing up
Follow these 12 chatbot best practices, and you'll be well on your way to chatbot success. Stay focused on your objectives, personalize interactions, and don't be afraid to iterate.
Always keep it simple and friendly, have a plan for when your bot doesn't understand, and make sure it's easily accessible across devices.
Next steps
Lindy transcends the limitations of typical chatbots. Its conversational AI is engineered for adaptability, combining efficient support with deep understanding.
The kicker: Multiple Lindy agents can collaborate to pool knowledge, share data, and conquer complex tasks with unprecedented speed. That's the revolutionary power Lindy offers.
Here's how Lindy goes the extra mile:
- Instant inbox support: Lindy tackles customer queries directly within your support channels or its own dedicated inbox, delivering lightning-fast resolutions and boosting satisfaction.
- Always-on assistance: Lindy provides 24/7 support, ensuring customers never face frustrating delays.
- Conquering language barriers: With fluency in over 13 languages, Lindy expands your reach and opens new markets.
- Effortless website integration: Add Lindy to your site with a simple code snippet, instantly enhancing visitor engagement.
- Plays well with others: Lindy seamlessly integrates with over 3,000 tools (like Stripe and Intercom) for streamlined workflows and maximum efficiency.
- Scales to meet your needs: Lindy handles any volume of requests and even teams up with other instances to tackle the most demanding scenarios.
Try out Lindy for free.
