TMCnet Feature Free eNews Subscription
February 02, 2021

How to Create a Chatbot

Chatbots are relatively new in the market, but they have turned out to be a great success. They have helped millions of businesses to stay afloat and do well. While chatbots may be new here, they are here for the long run. 

What is a Chatbot?

Chatbots are artificial intelligence systems that we can interact with using texts or a voice interface. You may have encountered one when you visited a particular website or some other platform.

Chatbots have revolutionized the way a specific business runs. They have quickly become a favorite platform for user interactions. Many companies have already made use of chatbots and have benefitted from them. 

If you are someone who runs a business or just someone who would like to understand the process of creating a chatbot, then continue reading.

How to Create a Chatbot?

The very first step that one needs to take is chatbot development. There are many ways in which you can create a chatbot for your business and help it. But most importantly, you must have an eye for detail. You must also understand why you need a chatbot and how a chatbot can help you. If you are clear with the purpose, it will become clearer why you should have a chatbot. 



There are two ways in which you can get started with chatbots. The first one is more complicated and meant for people who have a sound knowledge of coding and the second one is for people who could use an existing template and customize it according to their own needs.

  • Choice of Platform -

Once you have recognized your needs, you can go ahead and choose a platform of your liking. There is a range of platforms available like Facebook (News - Alert) Messenger, Slack, Telegram, Discord, and Kik. Once you select the platform, you can then select the services and leverage them for your own business. A few services that can be used to leverage your chatbot are -

>Microsoft (News - Alert) Bot Frameworks

>Api.ai

>Wit.ai

>IBM’s Watson

And here are a few development platforms -

>Texit.in

>Octane AI

>Motion AI

>Chatfuel

  • Scope for AI-based Chatbots -

You can also try to understand if you like to apply Artificial Intelligence to your chatbots. Although the decision varies from company to company, it is best to understand the work and data complexity to reach a definitive conclusion.

  • Understand Customer Needs -

A chatbot will essentially help you reach out to your customers. So, you must understand your customers’ needs so that you can build a successful chatbot. Once you find that out, you can create questions and conversations to meet end goals. This method will ensure that your chatbot understands your customer needs and can eventually attract more audience and customers.

  • Designing a Helpful Chatbot Conversation -

This is perhaps one of the essential steps on how to create a chatbot. Your chatbot must be well equipped so that it can engage customers in an engaging and stimulating conversation. To do this, you must understand what your customers want and what they are looking for. The chatbot interaction must be very easygoing and should have a logical flow. There must be information, options, and menus so that the customers can navigate freely. A particular script must be followed so that the chatbot can follow it and keep the customers engaged. And finally, you should also work on open-ended and closed-ended conversations so that customers can communicate naturally.

  • Design Elements -

The design elements that you use for your chatbot mainly depends on the platform where you choose to deploy it. But here are a few design elements that can be used while building your chatbot.

  1. Buttons - Buttons can help users to make decisions. Interactive buttons can help them make decisions faster. 
  2. A Get Started Button - This is a regular button that sets the chatbot in motion once the customer decides to click on it. A chatbot that would be built for Facebook messenger would not be able to function without it.
  3. Quick Reply - This can act as a response button that will allow a user to choose a certain reply quickly rather than typing it.
  4. Smart Reply - A similar reply button that helps the customer reply without typing. This can work only if the chatbot is aware of the context.
  5. Cards - These are primarily used to give out information like links, images, text, etc. A user can select any of those that are relevant to them.
  • Best Practices - 

Chatbots are quite popular now, and they have been helping people around the world. While building a chatbot is quite simple, you must be aware of certain things so that you do not end up making mistakes that could potentially hamper your business’ growth. You can adhere to certain best practices so that you can create a successful chatbot.

  1. Understand your potential users - You should know your target audience so that your chatbot can cater to their needs. Your bot can do many things, and that will only work for the right audience.
  2. Welcome, the User - Chatbots are comparatively new, and so customers may not be accustomed to them. So a welcome note will be sweet and will make the customers comfortable.
  3. Guide the User - Your chatbot must be designed in such a way so that the users can take certain actionable steps, and this can lead to a more comfortable conversation.
  4. Lessen User Struggle - Certain users might be looking for help, and your chatbot should help them reach certain landing pages so that they can find the resolution quickly without wasting time.

These are few crucial steps on how to create a chatbot. Chatbots are very helpful and can make a world of difference for your business. If they can be properly created, they can help you in many ways, but most importantly, they can help your business reach greater heights.  They are here for the long run and to make lives easier. Chatbots future looks quite bright, and they can completely change the ways of communication in the near future. 


 



» More TMCnet Feature Articles
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]
SHARE THIS ARTICLE

LATEST TMCNET ARTICLES

» More TMCnet Feature Articles