9+1 Questions to Form your Chatbot’s Personality

Messaging apps on the rise.

It is only natural that as messaging apps are getting more and more users, the need for conversational experiences within these apps will be constantly increased.

Right now, there are 300,000 monthly active bots on Messenger alone.

Moreover, there are more than 1.3 billion people using the infamous messaging app on a monthly basis.

Amazing, right?

According to a study by Statista, by 2021 there will be 2.48 billion messaging users worldwide.

Thus, as you can understand, the more the Chatbots, the more difficult for your own Chatbot to stand out from the robot crowd.

And, what makes a Chatbot or an actual human being stand out from the crowd?

You’ve guessed right!

It’s personality.

In this article, we are going to see 9+1 questions you should ask yourself while in the design process of your Chatbot.

Ready? Let’s dive right in!

1. What will be my Chatbot’s Name?

First things first.

Everyone has got to have a name and so as your Chatbot.

Note that the name you are going to give has to be highly relevant, simple and with as few characters as possible.

Why?

Because you want it to be easy to remember and even easier to pronounce.

For example, if you want to design a Chatbot that will work as a shopping assistant for your dropshipping store, you can name your Chatbot: “AssistBot”

It’s easy to remember, simple and at the same time clearly explains what the Chatbot is all about.

Let’ move on to the next one!

2. What will be my Chatbot’s Age?

A logical question here would be:

My Chatbot lives on a server, how can it have an age?

Allow me to explain.

You Chatbot might live on a server, but your customer avatars (or buyer personas, you can call them however you like!) are real human beings and have an age.

Now consider this: Your customer avatars have a certain age and they’d prefer to talk to someone who is at the same age as they are.

You may wonder why.

Because this way there is a higher proximity and it is more likely that they feel they are talking to someone who understands them and who really cares about their needs and pain points.

Defining your Chatbot’s age is more about defining your ideal users’ age but is an essential part of the design process.

3. Where Does your Chatbot Live?

This one applies mainly to local business and it’s actually one of the most important.

Let’s assume that you have a local restaurant and you want to build a Chatbot that helps your customers make online reservations.

Now, regardless if most of your customers are local or not, you want to “localize” the content of your sequence.

Note that localized content can be extremely effective in marketing.

Feel free to use phrases or idioms used in your area in order to connect with your audience on a deeper level.

Do not underestimate the power of words, because they allow you to create proximity and trust me when it comes to conversational experiences this is what you want.

Last but certainly not least, do not be afraid to be funny or include one or two well-known jokes about your area.

All in all, help users feel comfortable by using words and phrases they are familiar with.

4. What will be my Chatbot’s Favorite Quote?

This is actually one of the most important aspects of your Chatbot’s personality.

Why is this so?

Because it is of paramount importance that your Chatbot can explain it’s the reason for existence throughout this quote.

Note that you’ll have to include this quote in the first 2–3 sentences of the sequence in order to set expectations about what it’s going to follow.

These 2–3 above-the-fold sentences are ideal to tell users what they should expect from your Chatbot.

Your Chatbot’s quote has to be once again easy to remember and short.

And, always keep in mind that a solid first impression can make a huge difference later on.

5. What will be my Chatbot’s Goals?

Yes, your Chatbot should have its own goals.

Just to be uber clear here, I know that the goal is — most of the times — to generate new leads or convert more users into buying customers.

I mean everyone wants that, right?

But, in addition to its main goal, your Chatbot should have supplementary goals as well.

For example, a Chatbot that works as a shopping assistant should have a goal to help as many users as possible find what they are looking for.

Yes these people need to buy and yes your Chatbot’s success will heavily be based on how many people will buy from you, but you need to start caring about the actual value your Chatbot brings to users.

Trust me, your Chatbot has to have additional goals in order to be successful.

6. What will be my Chatbot’s Values?

You are probably wondering why a Chatbot should have values.

I mean, that is a human being’s characteristic, right?

Now, let me stop you right there for a second.

Your ultimate goal is to simulate a real conversation and even though most users know that they are talking to a Chatbot, that doesn’t mean that they don’t expect a natural conversation with your Chatbot.

As we have values, your Chatbot has to have values.

As your company has values, your Chatbot has to have values.

As your employees and partners have values, your Chatbot has to have values.

Because, you wouldn’t want to have someone without any values at all, talking to your customers and potential customers.

Such values for the AssistBot we’ve mentioned earlier could be:

• I am committed to helping you find only the best clothes in the lower price possible.
• I am committed to sending you messages only when I have something that is really important and that I truly believe will benefit you.
• I am committed to earning your trust by adding real value to your life.

This is a point that goes unnoticed by the overwhelming majority of companies and Chatbot developers but it is one of the points that could truly make your Chatbot stand out from the crowd.

7. What will be my Chatbot’s Main Challenge?

We all have our challenges.

The same applies to your Chatbot.

Depending on why your Chatbot exists, there will be several challenges it will have to face.

Of course, in order to know exactly what its main challenge is, you first have to publish your Chatbot.

This means that you need data from user interactions.

Especially in the beginning, you have to be based on assumptions.

When you have the data you will be able to be more specific in defining your Chatbot’s main challenge.

But, one thing is for sure and that is that you need to define your Chatbot’s main challenge.

8. What will be my Chatbot’s Pain Point?

Here is something really interesting.

It’s true that you have to have data to know what your Chatbot’s pain points are.

Such pain points might be:

• Negative sentiment in certain parts of the sequence
• Decreased retention rate
• Certain messages have extremely high drop-off rate

As you can imagine, knowing these pain points and actually doing something about them can play a key role in making your Chatbot better and optimize its overall performance.

9. What will be the Main Objections my Chatbot Have to Deal With?

Yes, your Chatbot will have to deal with objections.

You know that.

Where there are sales and need for conversions there are objections.

But, why is it important to know what these objections are?

Glad you asked!

It is important in order to help your Chatbot overcome these objections.

Once again, data is important but not the most important.

You can make assumptions and form your Chatbot’s personality on these assumptions.

When you have enough data you can start tweaking your sequence in order to better overcome users’ objections, but in the beginning, you’ll have to be based on assumptions.

10. What will be my Chatbot’s Role in the Decision Making Process?

As you already know, there are different roles in the decision-making process.

Your customer avatars should have — and have — a role and so should your Chatbot.

Most of the Chatbots that exist right now are Influencers, but keep that in mind:

With the rise of AI, more and more Chatbots will be used as Deciders or even Buyers.

Chatbots will be able to predict needs and buying behaviors and steadily their role in the decision-making process.

But for now, let’s stick to the fact that you have to choose your Chatbot’s role in the decision-making process.

I really do hope that this article has helped you understand that a Chatbot’s personality is one of the most important aspects of your Chatbot’s existence.

As Vittorio Banfi from Botsociety put it:

“The personality of your Chatbot is like the color of your website. You can NOT pick a color.”

I’d love to know your thoughts, so feel free to leave a comment below!

This story was originally published here.

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9+1 Questions to Form your Chatbot’s Personality was originally published in Chatbots Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.