8 MIN READ

Let’s have a look at the best characteristics a chatbot on Messenger should have!

See, it’s no secret that technology-driven innovations, like chatbots, shape and change the communication platforms we know today. These chatbots are even creating lucrative opportunities for business owners… Because chatbots do pave fun and interactive avenues in B2C and B2B relations.

Needless to say, the digital transformation chatbots bring is enhancing marketing channels for businesses around the globe. And while most businesses use bots to improve the way they showcase their brand, it are the chatbots on Messenger that have been redefining the digital marketing channels since they first came out.

When you have a chatbot on Messenger, you and your business enjoy the following benefits:

• Automate your business
• Convert followers into buying customers
• Enhanced conversions
• Remarkable and personalized customer experience
• Reduce your operational costs and ad spend
• Qualify leads
• Launch products at a fraction of the cost
• Personalization of customer experience

Moreover, chatbots also kindle the loyalty of customers by using chatbots in your business across your marketing, service, and sales departments. And with personalized experiences, you can address your buyers and prospects by name, and you can engage at the times they’re most likely to respond and take action.

Also, did you know chatbots also can deflect inbound customer calls? A chatbot on Messenger does this with ease by automating tasks. For example, tasks within your sales and service centers that usually need human attention can now be completely automated. This way, a bot can offer immediate (sales)support for businesses to help prospects and customers get what they want – fast!

7 Characteristics you should look for in a chatbot on Messenger

Let’s have a look at the characteristics of a great chatbot on Messenger

1. End Repetitiveness

A frustrating part of conversing with a chatbot is its repetitive tendencies. Using AI, or NLP, the chatbot can learn from its conversations and provide different answers in a different fashion. But, to implement AI is not the easiest solution. And, while you may think implementing AI in your chatbot is the only answer, you can actually get away with something much more simple. Because, with a good chatbot builder, you can make the chatbot appear smarter when answering questions based on Trigger Keywords using either conditions or a technique that randomizes the output.

For example, with Clepher, you are able to set up a Default Reply. In essence, a Default Reply is triggered whenever the input of a Messenger subscriber can not be matched with any keyword that’s set up. Now, by setting up your Flow using cards that randomize the Default Reply, you can actually show different output each time a subscriber triggers it.

Here’s how it looks inside Clepher: 

The 3rd card in the Flow, the pink one that says Random Path, is the card that distributes the answers thereafter at random. You can fiddle around with the weight settings to favor a path over another.

Pro Tip? Just make sure that the different answers you have the bot randomize through, say the same thing… Otherwise the subscriber gets lost in the conversation, and that’s something you want to avoid at all costs. 

Now, Clepher, of course, would not be called “Clever” if this was only possible with the Default Reply. You can actually use these Randomization Cards in other Flows as well, and they can work just as well with messages that are triggered by a keyword. I went with the Default Reply example as that’s where we use this method.

2. Personalized

Did you know that customers appreciate it when they own the chatbot conversation experience? Well, they do! And frankly, the best chatbots are those that can interact with them like they are friends. And what do friends do? That’s right… They call each other by their first name. So make sure you sprinkle those personalization features, like first name tags, throughout your conversations. But, don’t overdo this… I mean, when you’re having a conversation with your friends, you don’t start each phrase with their first name either, right?

Empathy is also important. And you don’t necessarily have to go for a complicated setup where your chatbot can do sentiment analysis on a conversation. You can actually achieve a lot by keeping things simple. How?  Well, aside from chatbots remembering personal information like your first name or your support questions, a good chatbot should be able to adjust their language and tone that’s ruling the conversation… And because you decide what happens when a user types something to the chatbot that triggers a message, you’re in 100% control

For instance, a chatbot dealing with unwanted flight cancellations should say; “I understand how the cancelation of your flight is inconvenient to you.” Saying like this will make the chatbot more ‘understanding’, and (usually) is better than a nonchalant Messenger chatbot saying; “Flight canceled? That sucks, dude!”

3. Interactive 

You can also design chatbots in such a way like they’re telling stories. Getting inspiration from Netflix, for instance, is one of the things you can do. Of course, this does not mean you will be turning the chatbot into an entertainment channel. Still, you can optimize the Messenger chatbot experience with “Choose-Your-Own-Adventure”-type stories. You know, like that Black Mirror: Bandersnatch spin-off from the original series.

In this flick, you’re able to choose where you want to go. You actually lead the character. What’s cool is that you can do the same with bots. In this way, your chatbot becomes not only interactive but really fun as well. Plus, the more engaging your story is, the deeper they go into the conversation… The better the retention, the more likely they are to complete the goals you want them to complete.  

4. Emotional Intelligence

Related to empathy remark under 2. Personalized, emotional intelligence is another characteristic of a good chatbot. Chatbots should be able to act like humans who empathize and relate to the buyer. All too often, people click the “Connect To Human” button, since they feel the chatbot cannot do its part. Now, obviously, when this happens, the chatbot did, in fact, not do its job. So, the first thing, after helping your customer, of course, is to see where your chatbot failed and fix it.

That said though. Adding technology like a “sentiment reader” can help. By adding this to your chatbot, and defining certain rules based on the sentiment the technology detects, it can spit out different answers, or change its tone. But again, how cool this all may sound… Chatbots and this “sentiment-tech” are something that still needs a lot of work. And why make things complicated when you can get just-as-good results with a simple approach? 

As you control what the chatbot says, you’re able to pre-empt certain questions or remarks. For example, if someone is unhappy with their purchase, you can have the bot deliver a message with an understanding-tone. When someone is searching for more information on your product or service, you can have the bot deliver your website in an exciting-tone. See? It doesn’t have to be complicated!

5. Analytics

Chatbots are now beyond serving the front-end users with their support questions alone. Good chatbots builders and marketing suites are now offering real-time data. This allows business owners and entrepreneurs to keep track of progress. A good chatbot on Messenger that’s created with the right chatbot builder, *ahem* Clepher *ahem*, provides the right statistics and data, as well as performance analysis. Data like this can help figure out issues when troubleshooting, or it will be helpful when enhancing your Messenger chatbot. 

6. Allowing to Integrate

The industry’s best chatbot builder should also allow integrations with the software you already use and love on a daily basis. What does this mean? Chatbots should integrate with your current marketing stack.

For example, if you have an autoresponder that you use to send emails to your subscribers… You probably would like a way to send over the email addresses you generate in the chatbot to your autoresponder, right? Or perhaps you’d like to send a confirmation SMS/TEXT message to someone whenever they leave their phone number with you.

Well, that’s exactly what a chatbot builder, like Clepher, should do for you… If you’re curious to see with which tools you can integrate with your chatbot, go here.

7. Accepting limitations

Look, I get it. You have access to this awesome new technology. And now you want to build the best chatbot in the world! Woohoo! Kudos to you! But, and I don’t want to rain on your parade, make sure you’re open to accepting limitations. As some things are just not possible (yet)…

See, let’s say you want to integrate NLP into your chatbot on Messenger. This tech is still at a stage where it’s just not that good… Well, it’s good but not as good as you expect. I mean the technology does do its job, but more often than not, it takes too long for NLP to understand what someone is saying and if it finally does… It still needs to craft a reply that actually makes sense to the end-user.

Now, of course, if you’re okay with letting your prospects and customers wait a couple of minutes for the bot to reply back using NLP, by all means, go ahead! But, in this day and age… We live in an on-demand society, we humans want things instantly – preferably, yesterday. And yes, that also covers answers to any question we humans may have.

That said, there are probably more ‘things’ you’d like your chatbot to do, but remind yourself that it simply might not be possible, yet.

Final Thoughts

No matter what business you run, or are working with… A chatbot, on its basis, will always deliver success. I mean, how could it not? It’s a top-notch self-service way for prospects and customers to get answers to their questions.

And the best thing? It’s all automated! And not only do chatbots on Messenger help deliver great results for support departments. They work wonders in lead qualification and automating sales as well. A good chatbot on Messenger is also simple. Always remind yourself – when creating your chatbot –  to not overcomplicate things.

That said, with this peek into the best characteristics of a chatbot on Messenger, why not give it try? See, if you’re looking to build a chatbot on Messenger, allow Clepher to join you in this venture.

Get to Know Clepher

Look, perhaps you love all this mumbo-jumbo about bots… But for some reason, you think it may take some time to set things up. If so, I’m the first to tell you that you’re right. Setting up a chatbot is fun and cool, but it takes continuous testing, back and forth, to really craft a good bot. We recognized this early on, and that’s why we started building chatbot templates.

We now have over 230 templates… At the moment of writing this blog, we’re not only the company with the most Integrations to Third-Party tools… But, also the company with the most pre-built chatbot templates and chatbot message Flows. (Yay! Mini dance!) This means that creating your very first chatbot has never been this easy. No matter what business you own, or work with, there is a perfect chatbot template you can use to shorten setup time.

Check us out here and see what we can do for you, and your business.

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