10+1 tips for great chatbot experience

Loukia Tsagkli -

If you work in a large organization with a variety of processes, systems and tools, chances are you have already come across a chatbot. If not, well, you soon will be. Not taking advantage of AI and chatbots at this time, will definitely get you left behind. And you shouldn’t.

Chatbots should be included in your organization’s strategic plan towards digital transformation, no matter what stage you’re at.

Chatbots save you time and money, by providing 24/7 the answer you are looking for and pointing you straight to the reference source. Employees can easily find the answers to their questions, without taking the time of other employees. They do help a lot in creating a smooth onboarding process, but also in the management of day-to-day activities, especially in companies that have various processes and tools.

The fact is that chatbots help to organize information in a better way. But as with all technologies, it is important to make the best use of them. So, what are the best practices in terms of content to achieve maximum results from your chatbot? It all lies down in curating the content right. Below you can find some useful tips to get you started:

  1. Select a chatbot provider who can help you and guide you to ensure they develop a solution that is right for your needs. At Helvia we have a wealth of experience with chatbots serving a variety of organizational needs.
  2. Establish the main areas that you want the chatbot to take over. Look into the most common areas and start documenting the most frequent search queries/questions that come through.
  3. Collect all the information available in any knowledge base you might have, including employee feedback on the most common repetitive questions they might be receiving.
  4. Get the information organized ensuring there is a good hierarchy and structure. To achieve this, ensure the main stakeholders who have access to the vital information are involved in the process.
  5. Curate the provided FAQ content into "FAQ themes". Each theme is (slightly) larger than a single FAQ and groups together FAQs that are better handled as one. This helps the NLU (Natural Language Understanding) system match better user messages with chatbot answers.
  6. Add "Menu" FAQs with buttons that help users navigate to the available FAQ themes.
  7. Ensure you include links pointing to the source of information within the answers.
  8. Monitor the usage and the responses on a timely basis. At Helvia we provide real-time reports to ensure you can set the right KPIs tailored to your needs.
  9. Add a feedback mechanism to ensure you get users’ input to loop back into the process.
  10. Ensure you keep the content accurate by revisiting the information often. This is a dynamic process and nurturing your bot with information, will ensure it will maximize response effectiveness.
  11. Last but not least, avoid phrases like "sorry I didn't' get this, can you rephrase?" as fallback questions :)

Need more help? Get in touch with us at hello@helvia.io