If you're reading this article, the odds are that you've already got a chatbot, and it's not giving you the results you were expecting. You're not alone! There is so much conflicting advice out there about how to make your messenger chatbot work for you. Don't worry - we have some advice that will help turn this around!
Because of how chatbots are so popular nowadays, there are a lot of expectations. There is so much hype about how these bots will work and how they'll interact with people on social media. You might think a press of a button's enough! But there isn't any magic formula for success here. In this article, we'll go over some common pitfalls or false expectations and how to turn it around!
Why Your Chatbot Isn't Working For You
There are a few common pitfalls why your chatbot might not be delivering what you expect it to. Do any of these sound familiar?
- Your customers who chat with your chatbot leave the conversation without finishing it.
- Majority of your customers are asking to speak to a human agent instead.
- No matter how many times you send a follow-up message, customers never respond or follow through.
- There are very little conversions (orders, leads, bookings, etc) coming from your chatbot.
- Your customers chat with your chatbot only once and never come back.
If any of these sound familiar, don't fret! These are common problems that many new chatbot owners (and older ones, too!) experience. The good news is that these problems can be fixed with a little time and effort!
If you want to make your chatbot work for you, knowing the pitfalls is half the battle.
We'll go through the most common problems below, as well as solutions on how to fix them!
Common Problem #1: Your Chatbot is Doing Too Many Things
As they say, it's possible to have too much of a good thing! This is a common mistake that many small businesses make for their first chatbot. It's understandable: you want to maximize the investment you're making! Your chatbot's pretty powerful, so you've got it handling order-taking, appointment-booking, customer service, marketing, and more.
Why is doing too many things at once a problem?
To be clear, we think chatbots can absolutely do all of these things at once and still deliver great experience for your customers. But a successful all-around chatbot doesn't happen overnight: it takes time, a lot of effort, and a lot of studying and research about your specific market.
If your chatbot is doing too many things at once, your customers might not even understand what your chatbot can help them with. Your customers need training, too. They can feel overwhelmed or intimidated by a chatbot they aren't familiar with.
For a new chatbot, focusing on only one or two major functions will help you maximize your immediate ROI for your chatbot. It will also help you pinpoint your customers' pain points and needs much faster, since they will all be focused towards a specific goal.
How can you fix this problem?
If you've already launched with everything, that's okay! It's never too late to fix things. You already have some valuable data because you've got some customers trying to chat up your chatbot.
Look through your chatbot's conversations and figure out what the most common goal is for the people chatting your business up. Does this goal match up with a business goal that will give you good returns? Focus on strengthening that aspect of your chatbot.
You may not need to remove the other features your chatbot currently has, but take a careful look at how you're delivering it. Is it clear from your chatbot messaging what they are primarily "trained" to do?
Consider this scenario from Chatbuddy's demo chatbot:
Your chatbot can handle pretty much everything you need: take orders for delivery, reserve the location for an event, answer questions, talk about the restaurant, talk about promotions, and so on. That's great! Having everything displayed in your chatbot menu tells your customer how full-featured your chatbot is.
But having these many options can overwhelm your customer, especially if they're new to using your chatbot.
If the majority of your online customers are chatting your chatbot up to order delivery, focus on that first. Make that experience the best there is before expanding on to other tasks for your chatbot. This will help focus your efforts on the most ROI for your chatbot.
If you don't want to remove the features you already have, you can just hide them inside a secondary menu. For example, you can encourage your customers to focus on online ordering by moving other, lesser-priority options under About Us, or other similar locations:
Having Order Now focused up front will highlight to your customers that your chatbot is there to take their orders. It will encourage them to do what you want them to do!
Common Problem #2: Your Chatbot is Too Robotic
...or it doesn't reflect your brand! I know, "chatbot" makes you think of a robot...but it doesn't have to be! If your chatbot is too formal or robotic, your customers might not feel comfortable interacting with it.
Why is a robotic tone of voice a problem?
Without a personal connection, customers will interact with your chatbot purely on a transactional basis. While this is not a bad thing, this can lead to higher expectations. They will be more critical about how fast they accomplish their goals (whether it's ordering online or booking an appointment). If they don't accomplish it as expected, their frustration will also be more prominent.
Additionally, you're passing up an opportunity to build a stronger relationship with them. Don't keep them at arm's length with a robotic, impersonal bot. A bot with personality is more memorable and can strengthen your brand in their eyes.
How can you fix this problem?
Think about what personality you'd like to impart to your brand. What do you tell your sales agents when training them to talk to your customers? How about support staff? Your chatbot is no different: you need to train it on what it should say.
A good rule of thumb here is, "What would I say if I were talking face to face with my customer?"
Go through your chatbot's script and think about what you would tell your customer at that point of the conversation. Change it up! Check out these suggestions:
| Original script | Warmer script |
|---|---|
| Welcome to Business XYZ, Guest! | Oh, hey there, Guest! 👋 |
| We make home-cooked meals available to order anytime. | Are you curious about our home-cooked meals? Maybe you can try some of our favorites! 💛 |
| We deliver Mondays to Fridays, 9am - 6pm. | We'll get food to you Mondays to Fridays, 9 to 6! |
| Choose an option: | What do you think? |
| About Us | Order Now | Talk to Us | Sure, I'll order now! | I want to find out more |
Wouldn't the script on the right make you a bit more curious to give Cafe XYZ a shot?
Here are a few tips you should keep in mind while going through your chatbot's script:
- Keep your brand in mind when coming up with your script. How would you like your customers to feel about your business? Are you hip and fun, or dependable and professional?
- Make sure you use words that your market understands. Having similar vocabulary will help make your chatbot feel more "human". But don't be too "trendy", either: your chatbot might end up feeling outdated sooner or later.
- Think about breaking paragraphs into chunks or sentences instead of sending it all in one message, just like a message from a real human being. You can also use images, GIFs, and videos to break apart the wall of text!
Common Problem #3: Your Chatbot Isn't Fast Enough
...in getting your customers what they want. Chatbots can be pretty quick to respond to your customers, and they'll be up and chatting away whether it's the weekend or 4am in the morning. But how fast your chatbot responds isn't going to help if your chatbot is going around in circles.
While it's true that humans tend to beat around the bush, don't do the same for your chatbot.
Why is your chatbot being "too chatty" a problem?
When you're talking to someone, you don't want to repeat yourself or have to go through a long winding conversation to get the job done, right? Chatting with a chatbot is the same. If it's taking your customer too long to check out their order with your chatbot, chances are, they'll give up.
Sure: a chatty, super powerful AI-generated conversation can be a novelty. It can get your customers excited about your chatbot. But at the end of the day, majority of your customers will be there to get something done, whether it's ordering from your business, booking a reservation, or asking something important.
Don't make them wait too long or go around in circles.
How can you fix this problem?
As a rule of thumb, customers will want to have finished what they set out to do anywhere between 5-15 steps: the shorter, the better.
While this can be challenging if you have a complicated product available to order, you can consider the following options:
- Restructure your categories so there's less clicks for your customer to get to where they want
- Consider offering only a subset of your most popular items on the chatbot
- Think about offering ready-made sets they can quickly check out
- Connect customers to a human agent instead for highly customized orders
- Consider investing in natural language solutions for your chatbot
- Use quick response functionality to minimize your customers' typing into the response box and encourage specific responses
Final Thoughts
Chatbots are an excellent way to reach your customers on a more personal level. They can be used in any industry, and have the potential for great success if they're implemented correctly.
If you're going through some growing pains with your chatbot, don't fret--it's normal! It's easy to get back on the right track. Remember the following:
- Improve your chatbot faster by focusing on improving only one or two goals at a time. There's time to do the rest!
- Give your chatbot some personality so that your customers feel more attracted and attached to it.
- Don't make it too difficult for your customer to do what they want to do through your chatbot.
A bit of time and effort can help you and your chatbot reach your business goals. Remember these tips to make your messenger chatbot work for you!