When Bots Fail At Conversation

“You will message businesses just like messaging a friend!”

The Promise Of Chatbots!

Reality Check

Bots fail at conversation. A lot.

This is this primary mode of interaction in messaging

Buttons can guide a conversation

But the expectation has been set that people can chat like friends.

What can you do about it?

Get Creative With FallbackMessages

1

Consider multiple fallback messages and rotate them so that any misunderstanding doesn’t seem like

messaging’s equivalent to an “Error 404”.

Gracefully Refocus Users

2

Serve up two messages in succession. The first is the fallback message to the misunderstanding and

the second is a reminder of the context

Tastefully Redirect Users

3

Tell the user right at the beginning of a conversation that if they get stuck they can always just ask for help. Remind the user when the conversation takes an unexpected turn

Forward Users To Live Agents

4

Ask the user if they would like the bot to escalate the request. and if they concur, funnel the user into another response system and minimize the risk of losing them

Be Upfront

5

Be upfront about your bot’s capabilities when you first initiate conversation and include gentle reminders when

the conversation takes an unexpected

Be Helpful

6

If users are going to go off topic, link them to 3rd party sources that match their query. These little details can

be unexpected and delightful.

Delight Your Users. Bots Are The Future.

Josh Barkin is Co-founder and CEO of WordhopFollow him on Twitter / Medium / Product Hunt

@joshbarkin