The type of conversation you offer depends on your customers' needs and your business objectives. To prepare for conversation design, gather the following information first.
- What is the tone of your brand? The chatbot represents your brand, so it should use your brand's tone of voice. Keeping this tone in mind helps you write the bot's responses.
- What is the purpose of the conversation? Local store information, customer support, scheduling, assisted shopping? Use this intent to define the agent's core functionality.
- Which entry points
does your agent support? In other words, where are your users coming from?
Try to anticipate common user intents based on entry point.
- Users who start a conversation from Google Maps may want store-specific information like inventory or opening hours.
- Users who start from a non-local entry point like Google Search may want broader information like order status or return policy.
- Users who start from a brand's webpage may have questions about their account.
- What are the users' goals? In other words, where do your users want to go? Knowing where their journey begins and ends helps you design the ideal path leading from start to finish.
- Which aspects of the journey can a chatbot serve? Identify where users can self-serve with automation vs. where a live agent is needed. This helps you define the agent's capabilities and plan an appropriate handoff response.
- What is the rollout plan for the agent? Some use cases may be seasonal or tied to promotional events. Knowing the rollout plan helps you prepare for user queries that are more likely around specific dates or events.
- What are your metrics for a good conversation? Know what success looks like. Increased customer service productivity, lead conversions, resolution of store-related questions, high CSAT scores? These metrics help you assess and refine the conversational experience.