Two simple secrets of a perfect bot experience
Designing the perfect bot experience is actually pretty easy.
There are two things you need to care about.
So, a bot is simply a tool that automates a certain task. I will compare it with another tool that has the same goal: A vending machine.
- Every user knows which products they can buy from a vending machine. They can clearly see it through the glass! No one expects to buy coffee from a vending machine that’s full of snacks.
- This is where things get tricky with bots. You need to show users what’s behind the glass. It should be transparent. Not a black glass that you can’t see through.
1- Clearly identify the content domain up front:
- Users get frustrated if their product gets stuck in the machine. They need to know how they will be compensated.
- Same thing happens when a bot can’t answer properly. You might not be able to foresee every question, but you still need to handle the situation.
2- Don’t just say "I didn’t understand that." Also remind the user of the content domain, and collect feedback about the experience, and maybe contact information to update them as soon as the answer is available.
If you do so, you will be able to improve your content, and prevent frustration.
Attempts for challenging the bot’s knowledge by asking "the meaning of life" (trying to buy coffee from a snack vending machine) will also go unfulfilled. Reasonable people already know, and challengers will also learn that bots are just tools to make their life easier, and nothing more than that.
Why should you listen to our advice? Because we have developed more than 40 bots. Some of them for big corporations with higher expectations, such as Coca Cola, PwC, various brands of Johnson&Johnson and Unilever. And when it comes to designing a bot, experience is everything!
You can visit our website, follow us on Twitter or read our recent blog post about Facebook Messenger Bots for startups.
