The chatbot is here to stay – with our business, our customers, and staff. How can you be sure that you use it correctly and do not make mistakes? Here’s how: learn from those who have already made mistakes and corrected themselves. Use the good practices we will share with you and avoid the mistakes to have a working AI solution – your chatbot, for the benefit of everyone in your business ecosystem.
69% of consumers worldwide prefer to use chatbots because they provide quick answers to simple questions, according to Salesforce research. Your staff deserves to be freed from the routine of frequently asked questions and requests. Your business needs savings in funds and resources, and an additional tool for marketing and sales – that’s all are benefits when implementing a chatbot. Proper planning of the chatbot is the first step to success in this project.
Why do businesses make mistakes when implementing an AI chatbot?
There are many examples of successful AI chatbot projects, but not everything is as rosy as it seems. Some projects start by making mistakes, while others don’t make any. We have heard about smart and very successful virtual assistants like Apple’s Siri, IBM Watson, Amazon’s Alexa and many others. These are huge projects with a lot of investment and efforts of big teams of professionals behind them to be so well known and used. Small and medium-sized companies when trying to follow the path of the successful ones, do not have the funds and resources of large corporations, so they must approach their chatbot projects intelligently by planning carefully. They must consider the experience of others in their industry who are already following the path of progress and have implemented the technology, not repeat the mistakes, and learn from the specialists in this field!
The desire of the managers and the enthusiasm of the team are not enough to make the chatbot as perfect as possible. Mistakes are often made when a process isn’t followed: detailed planning, attention to detail, seeking and taking feedback from staff and customers, etc. In the following paragraphs, we’ll share with you the most common mistakes to avoid becoming a leader that others want to follow and imitate to be successful. Keep reading to learn and avoid them in your AI chatbot project!
The 10 deadly sins of an AI chatbot project
When implementing a chatbot on a business’s site, there are a few mistakes that you need to keep in mind so that the chatbot works for the business in the best possible way.
1. Chatbot? We needed it yesterday, let’s do it today!
Without strategic and detailed planning, success is a matter of luck. Creating an AI chatbot is a long-term process and should be carefully planned according to the needs, goals, and resources of the business and the technological capabilities, not for the mere idea of having a chatbot on the site. A project that is not properly planned would not produce the desired results, and the business resources and time invested in the project would be inefficiently used. No need to search for sample AI chatbot project plans. We have prepared the information for planning a chatbot project and its implementation – readable and in detail, so that your business can be successful in planning and reaching its needs and goals with its chatbot. Keep in mind that the training of the conversational AI also is a continuous process so if the chatbot includes AI, it needs proper planning, training, and testing to fully answer the chatbot users’ inquiries and not make mistakes.
2. Once we do it, they will come
Chatbot promotion – why? The chatbot does not search for users on its own. The company needs to direct its customers to it from all social media, from emails, messengers, offline, or anywhere else – technology allows this to happen with 1 click or 1 scan via a QR code. Do you want to save money and resources, optimize the staff work, use the chatbot effectively in sales? How will you do it if your customers don’t know about it or are afraid of the technology? After you design and implement your chatbot, show it to the world – there are many ideas and possibilities for how to do it quickly, easily, and with minimal investment! Keep in mind also to tell people that they are communicating with a chatbot (EU regulations) and what to expect from it so to not make a bad impression of your brand. Prepare early to promote and popularize it to your customers and everyone who will use it so they know about it, have immediate access to it, start using it, and of course, know-how!
Remember, successful chatbot promotion brings many benefits to your company site as well, such as user retention, increased traffic, first- and zero-party data collection, improved customer service, and more.
3. No to Good Practices
Good practices are not observed and implemented according to the specifics of the chatbot. As strange as it sounds in our competitive world, very often after implementation AI chatbots are left to “age out” and after time become “old-fashioned”, as we see it happen with many business sites – we immediately feel that the site is old, it’s been a long time since its creation, and we decide that the information in it must be out of date…
There are always new and emerging good practices to attract potential customers, advertise in the chatbot, launch marketing campaigns with the AI chatbot or anything else that needs to be considered to improve, to upgrade the chatbot and its actions. Learn from those in your industry who are already doing it and are active! Take the time to follow the latest trends from trusted sources and experiment with your chatbot.
4. Too many cooks spoil the broth
No one on the team is involved or responsible for the AI chatbot and its further training and support. This is also, unfortunately, a common mistake. After the initial euphoria and enthusiasm, the chatbot goes to work and… it works, isn’t it? However, this is not enough. There should be a team or person who trains, maintains, and improves the chatbot by observing the customer interaction and behavior in the chatbot and taking necessary actions to develop it and keep it up to date with relevant content in all possible ways. Do all team members understand and support the chatbot implementation and know what their role is in its development and success? In addition to a person directly involved and responsible for the development of the chatbot, it is good for the company to have a balanced strategy for the joint work of the chatbot with the company’s team.
5. Did the chatbot have stats, really?
The content of the chatbot and its assistance are not developed and adapted according to the analysis of the customer behavior data in the chatbot and the feedback that is collected in it. If customers are looking for information that is not included in the chatbot, it should be added. If customers are looking for a product or service not provided by the business, offer them alternatives so you don’t miss out on opportunities. This may include tracking how many people talk to your chatbot daily, weekly, or monthly, what topics they tend to search most frequently, how many inquiries are made per topic, etc. This data helps companies identify where issues need more attention – like if a certain topic does not have satisfying answers for users, customers are searching for something you do not provide or else. It is good practice to use negative responses as an opportunity to provide the customer with information about available alternatives. Instead of saying your business doesn’t provide a certain service or product, write a response that focuses on the alternative and the benefits your business will provide the customer with it. Consider what your customers are searching for most and their true needs to meet their expectations with your chatbot and for sure you will keep them for long.
The chatbot is a superior first and zero data collection tool that makes the most of the collected information to upgrade customer communication and customer service dynamically, and always be one step ahead of the competition.
6. Everyone makes mistakes, that’s how it is on social media
But not in your company’s AI chatbot. Grammatical errors in a text give a bad impression of the brand and can turn off spelling-conscious customers. After adding all the information to the chatbot, review for mistakes, punctuation, etc. Customers notice them immediately. Be careful and double-check everything.
7. Our business was founded in 705…
This is not just a mistake only in the text of the Japanese hotel Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, which is the oldest hotel in the world and has been run by the same family for 52 generations. In your company’s chatbot, this would be an annoying and confusing factual mistake. Mistakes in facts, illustrations, figures, symbols, and other details are not only annoying and confusing but can also lead to losing customers or at the very least to their disappointment! Imagine mistaking the currency sign for the percent sign in the latest chatbot ad… Oops!
Always check what is shown in the chatbot. On the one hand, it must be true and benefit the business and its products and services. On the other hand, information and images should be clear and unambiguous, appropriate to the customers’ culture and expectations, so that they can clearly understand the responses received by the chatbot, what products and services you offer, and other content in the chatbot.
8. Look before you leap
Checking links, forms, the connected elements in the chatbot, settings, and more are important for the proper functioning of the chatbot. Always check before launching the chatbot and after every update that the buttons, links, forms, redirects, or other functionality are working properly and directing customers where you want them to go. Imagine you’ve prepared a registration request for a webinar or promotion, launched a great ad, but forgot to set the registration form to which email to send the collected registrations. Customers fill out the form and wait for your confirmation. At your side… silence. The secret to success is in detail!
9. Not integrating the chatbot into your existing business systems and processes
Integrating your chatbot with existing systems and processes can provide your customers, partners, or employees with a seamless and convenient experience. By combining technologies, you can create a smooth and simplified process for chatbot users to complete the desired action. For example, you can connect your chatbot with a CRM system, reservation system, payment system, or others to provide a unified experience from end to end. By connecting your systems, you can manage the process better, ensuring customers can easily complete the desired action all in one place. Doing so can help you unlock new opportunities for sales and conversions. Consider the current needs of customers when connecting your chatbot with these systems to ensure a smooth user experience, the best customer service and support along with improved marketing and sales and optimized business processes.
10. Not measuring the effectiveness of the chatbot
Measuring the performance and KPIs of your AI chatbot is essential if you want to reach its full potential. By tracking metrics such as customer satisfaction, user retention rate, conversion rate, click-through rate, and others, you can identify opportunities for improvement and ensure that your chatbot stays up to date with worldwide trends. By establishing clear objectives and goals for your chatbot, you can measure its success more accurately. This will help you determine which areas need improvement and how changes will affect the overall performance of the chatbot. With a careful measurement of your AI chatbot performance and users’ behavior and activities, you can meet its full potential and provide your users with an excellent experience.
Test it. When you are sure everything is OK, test again!
The rule of learning from our mistakes does not apply to an AI chatbot. Fix bugs before you launch your chatbot – testing will be great with your team members, friends, focus groups, and selected partners. After launch, observe what happens in the chatbot to react in time if you missed something important. If customers find bugs or issues before your team does, act quickly to keep customers happy with their experience. Regular testing and maintenance are key in keeping your chatbot running smoothly and accurately. Companies need to ensure that their chatbot is working properly and meeting user expectations after deployment, which requires manual testing and monitoring (daily, weekly, monthly). To avoid any issues, it’s very important to regularly check the chatbot and make sure it is functioning properly and at its best.
To have a successful AI chatbot project, partner and consult with experts in this field. The Umni platform offers the opportunity to make an AI chatbot yourself, very quickly and easily, without technical knowledge and skills. You can directly contact us to help you shine in front of your customers and competitors. Hurry to be a leader in your industry!