Deployed all your engagement machinery and still not witnessing the bot usage statistics you hoped for?
Had a bang on launch with eye-catching teasers, intricate and strong development code, an elaborate guide, cute logos, where could you go wrong?
Well, the users did not like your bot! As simple as that. Or even if they did to an extent, they were unable to figure out the action plan for them. Either case, your purpose stands defeated. Let us put ourselves in the users’ shoes!
A clear case here can be — your bot has boring, unlikeable or misleading Call-to-Actions. They might be too cliche, too demanding or too verbose(hence unclear) for your users.
Call to Actions or CTAs, as they are commonly referred to in the bot lingo, are buttons which seek user response and actions. They guide users through potential actions they are expected to take. A CTA is successful if it gets clicked (gets the expected response/action by the user). CTAs hence are in a way your sales rep here and arguably the most important part of your chatbot.
Taking cues from the daily hassles of sales executives, you can very well understand how much responsibility the CTAs are shouldering.
Let’s now dive into what constitutes of an effective Call-to-Action and how it may help scrape off the resistance of your employees.
- Text — Is your CTA good enough? Can it drive a sense of urgency?
A CTA should be clear and concise, it should have a value for the user and it should encourage further communication. Make sure you understand that a CTA should have an instant thrust, i.e. user should get to know what would happen if she clicks the button. For eg. If you get an introductory message from a Learning Management System (LMS) bot –
Now as the bot gives you two clearly stated paths(actions) to choose from, it is highly likely that the you would choose one of them.
2. Placement — The pivotal question here is — whether or not is your CTA in a position wherein users would most likely take action? CTAs should not get embedded in long conversations and small talks. They should appear as or before the user anticipates and surely much before he/she gets baffled.
3. Design — Is the button too big? Too small? Does the colour contrast make it stand out from the rest of the text? The visual appeal of the CTA also contributes greatly to its click ability. Make sure you have the appropriate fonts and colours which run as standards for all your bots.
Now that you have sorted the look, design and feel of the CTAs, another significant addition is intelligence. With significant data, bots can customise the CTAs for each user. This can be based on frequent preferences and responses of the user.
For example, in an acronym bot, if the user queries for an acronym that the bot doesn’t know about, the bot can provide a prompt message t0 add that acronym to its directory (along with an apology, of course)!
So, get the actions going from your end (and of course the user’s)!
Ironically, but most importantly, there is no perfect combination of elements to get there ! You have to figure out the intricacies of your services and decide accordingly which element you need in what quantity for your perfect potion. Just make sure you stick to what you and your bot stands for, the conversation would provide your bot an identity that will run for a long time.