A chatbot script is the response that this Artificial Intelligence would give to the user when both interact, and it is the companies that must design it so that this tool offers a professional, empathetic and as human as possible conversion. To achieve this, there are a series of steps to follow that you must not forget. And that is what we want to talk about in this article. Are you thinking of implementing a chatbot on your website or application? Well, you are in the right place.
The 6 steps to design a chatbot script as effective as possible
Generally, chatbots are used to answer frequently asked or simple user questions in written form and thus avoid, on the one hand, not to saturate the customer service team, and on the other hand, to offer the public a more agile service. However, if the Artificial Intelligence is not able to answer the customer’s question, the customer should always be given the option of contacting a person if he/she wishes to do so.
Before we start with the steps to follow, we want you to know that, actually, creating a chatbot script is very simple. In fact, it is not necessary to have a high knowledge in computer science or coding to be able to create an efficient chatbot. Chatbot platforms have very intuitive editing functions that allow you to implement very extensive conversation flows.
Now that you know a little more about this tool, let’s go on to tell you the step by step.
1. Establish the purpose of your chatbot’s script
The first thing you need to be clear about is the purpose for which you want to create your chatbot script. Once you define it, you will be able to create a more effective script. And, of course, it doesn’t have to have only one purpose, but can be several at the same time, such as:
- Provide customer service 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
- To give support to users when they make a purchase.
- To have a help system in case of any problem or doubt.
The uses of a chatbot can be many, and it is up to you to know what your customers’ needs are in order to solve them with this tool. That is to say, there will be functionalities that you can implement, but that are not useful for your audience. Choosing the right ones and discarding the less useful ones will be the first task.
2. Choose the tone you want to give it
For a chatbot to be a tool that truly helps you connect with the customer and that users want to use, you must not forget that it is just another part of your brand. As such, it must also be aligned with your communication style. Otherwise, users will tend to distrust and think that this option is just a stopgap for when they can’t really be served by a human.
The more human, friendly and natural the chatbot seems, the more successful it will be and the more likely it will become a tool that differentiates you from the competition, especially if you have an online store.
3. Think about all the possible options
Now comes the time to think about the different possible scenarios that can occur when someone consults your chatbot, that is, the different questions they will ask. Some of the most frequent and general ones are:
- How much does shipping cost?
- Are returns allowed?
- Is there a warranty?
- Why hasn’t my product arrived?
Of course, this is just an example, but I’m sure it will serve as a guide to start your list of frequently asked questions. Something we recommend to succeed when making this list is to perform what is called social listening, that is, an analysis of what users say on social networks about your brand to find out what are the most frequent questions. But you can also ask your customer service team to tell you what are the most frequent queries they usually ask. With these two techniques you will already have a lot of material with which to start building your script.
4. Prepare the human touch
We have already talked about the importance of giving the chatbot a human touch to its answers, but it is important to point out one aspect. By this we don’t mean that you have to hide its artificial nature so that the user thinks he is talking to a human, but you have to try to make the interaction as fluid and natural as possible so that the customer feels comfortable and understood.
Making a conversation more human is not about overloading and making the answers longer, but about including empathetic touches and close phrases. Here is an example to show you what we mean:
- Overly robotic response: “We’re sorry you had a negative underwriting experience, would you like us to put you in touch with an agent?”.
- Humanized response: “I’m sorry your experience wasn’t good, but if you’d like, I can put you through to a colleague for more personalized help.
5. Customize the conversation
You can also design your chatbot to adapt to the customer’s conversation style. That is, depending on how they asked their first question, the tool can be predetermined to answer in one way or another. In this way, the conversation also manages to be a little more human.
6. Create options for problems and setbacks.
As much as you design a multitude of possible questions and scenarios, you must not forget that setbacks can also arise, and your AI tool must be prepared for them. One of the most common problems are spelling mistakes and, for cases like this or similar, it is crucial to have an error response like: “I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand your problem. Can you write it again? Or if you wish, I can put you through to an agent”. And then you can offer him two buttons with both options for him to click on one of them.