Believe it or not, chatbots are still the go-to communication tool. Even though they are easy to design and you just need a good drag and drop platform, making a plan on how your bot should look and work can be tricky.
The first thing that you need to think about is, of course, conversational flow.
However, it depends if you have a simple or conversational menu ─ let`s see why:
Menus Or Conversations?
Menus
At first sight, this is the logical step. Adding buttons and menus will help the conversation to be more engaging. The user will just select from the menu, instead of typing. If you think about it, this is easy for both users and chatbots. It will shorten the time of communication and users will get their answers faster.
On the downside, a menu is made of a so-called “tree” plan process. That means that one question is “nested” with other questions, or one word is triggering the next word in a particular order.
This is challenging because you can only add a certain number of questions and words which will limit the conversation.
The good side of buttons is that they are really easy to use. You don`t need to type answers, as the chatbot will give you answers to choose from with the end goal to answer the user’s query.
Enterprises that are using chatbots with buttons and menus are reported to have bigger usage as people like the menus and buttons as options.
This is because chatbots receive too many hard-to-understand or random words from users, so having button and menu options minimize this problem and drive the conversation forward.
Conversation
Even though Artificial Intelligence and NLP are a standard part of every smart chatbot, that doesn`t mean that everything will run smoothly.
Chatbots with NLP and AI may have better conversational flow and look more human-like, but that doesn`t mean that they won’t run into many problems, such as having troubles with understanding the conversation.
The good thing about NLP and AI in your chatbot is that it can understand the needs of the consumer. However, sometimes it can be a challenge to reply back.
One of the biggest problems with chatbots is that users don`t know how to start and use the chatbot. NLP offers a good solution with interacting first and connecting with the user. However, making a chatbot with personality and a more human-like feel can be tricky.
Like it or not, no matter how much AI you have, your chatbot will never be human and will never understand the conversational flow entirely.
The best thing about having a chatbot with Artificial Intelligence and NLP is that the chatbot will have the ability to understand users’ behaviors and also monitor browsing and shopping habits, and according to that, can offer solutions and recommendations.
Final Thoughts with ChattyPeople
Chatbots are made to help. Conversational experiences can be designed with menus, buttons, AI and NLP, depending on your needs.
Make sure not to overdo it. However, if you think this through and make a plan, your chatbot will always be engaging and have a good interaction with users.
Make your own chatbot, here at ChattyPeople, with our Enterprise Chatbot Platform Builder Tool.
Register today; it’s free to start!
Posted by Maya S.
