One step at a time. What is a workflow?
Look who's here! We knew this article would interest you. Once again we're talking about the technologies behind our chatbot friends: this time we explain how to build a good chatbot workflow.
Of course, workflows aren't only relevant for chatbots. The term workflow refers to the way work gets done within an organization or company. A workflow is represented graphically with a diagram: the diagram shows a number of steps in the order in which they must be carried out to complete a specific business task.
The goal of a workflow is to increase efficiency and productivity while reducing processing costs. Flow suggests exactly how work should run: smoothly, seamlessly, from one step to the next.
Workflows & chatbots
What's the most common way to improve and speed up processes? Well, clearly automation. Automation replaces manual, time-consuming processes with scalable technologies. These scalable technologies include search engines, for example. But… surprise! Yes, exactly, chatbots are scalable technologies too.
But let's get to the facts. How do you build a good workflow?
It all starts with brainstorming
Of course, you have to start with the basics. We recommend starting with a brainstorming session.
What do I want to automate with my chatbot?
What kind of users do I have, and would my users use my chatbot?
What value would the chatbot bring to my company?
Planning and research phase
The answers to these questions are your reference points when creating the workflow. This is followed by a planning phase, in which you think about how to put it into practice. This leads to a research phase in which you…
… research how you can automate what you want to automate. Is technical support needed, or more marketing or FAQs? Maybe all of them?
➡️ Look at similar applications.
… analyze the behavior and preferences of your customer base.
Drafting the workflow
This is followed by a draft of the work plan, i.e. a to-do list – in other words, a draft of what the workflow could look like. This draft defines which requests the chatbot will handle and how, and when human employees should step in for the chatbot (feel free to read our article on human handover).
Creation and implementation
Once you've completed the research phase and have your goals in mind, you can start the actual creation phase. As mentioned, take time to look at similar applications. You'll certainly see that chatbot workflows account for different possibilities depending on users' answers.
This lets you consider different scenarios that could occur when someone uses the chatbot. Based on these, you (finally) map out the workflow you need to make sure the chatbot leads customers to a successful outcome.
Also remember that the world is beautiful because it's colorful: don't forget that questions on the same topic can be asked in many different ways.
Plan for human handover
At some point, the chatbot won't be able to help any further: at this point, it's important that users can turn to human employees or a helpdesk – in short, that the request can still be handled. So integrate human intervention (human handover) as an option in your workflow.
Getting started: the greeting counts
The first part of the interaction is the greeting. In the research phase, you analyzed your customers' behavior and preferences: now it's time to put your knowledge into practice, i.e. use what you know about your customers to attract them.
So start with a greeting they'll like and have your chatbot ask friendly but concise and targeted questions. Chattiness can be tiring and annoying. Design answers that are helpful and goal-oriented and match those an employee would give the person asking.
Chatbots as tireless helpers
Pro: chatbots aren't moody like people: they can be nice, patient, friendly and endlessly helpful – without ever losing their objectivity.
Check out our articles on conversational design: you'll find lots of useful tips in both the first and second parts.
Challenges and learning potential
It should be clear that developing a chatbot workflow isn't easy, especially not in the initial or research phase. Analyzing customer behavior and programming based on a prediction of their future behavior can be very challenging.
It's inevitable that there will be cases in which the chatbot won't be able to give the correct answers. But that doesn't mean your workflow was wrong or used incorrectly. The complexity of some problems is better suited to solutions handled by people. And don't forget that IT isn't infallible and system errors can occur.
Tip: handling errors the right way
So be prepared and ideally create content that (politely) lets users know they can also contact customer support. Avoid keeping them in the chatbot longer, especially if it isn't offering a solution.
These incidents actually aren't so bad for you, because you can learn from them. You can then review and redesign the chatbot workflow to add new steps or ways of solving the problem and ultimately improve the customer experience.
How can this be simplified?
Well, of course with low-code and no-code platforms that have an almost fully automated system for creating workflows. This makes the action not only easier but also faster. With low-code or no-code tools, you can build complex processes simply by drag & drop. And you can then test your chatbot workflow to spot potential problems before implementation.
If you want to dive in, try our chatbot platform for free.
How to build a good chatbot workflow – conclusion
In this article, we've looked at the steps for building a good chatbot workflow, which we can sum up in the following points:
- Extensive research
- Predicting customer behavior
- Planning the best approach with customers
- Putting it into practice: building the chatbot
It's important to remember that you or the system could make mistakes. In general, a chatbot workflow helps you visualize all the possible paths your customers could take and thus minimize the likelihood of errors.
Have fun building your own chatbot workflow!💜
