How to design a chatbot - a short list of useful tips, examples, and links. Useful as a quick start or a simple reminder.

1. Chatbot design
The shortest guideline,
April 2017

2. ● Chat apps are cool because you can
immediately see if a person is present
● Chatbots are cool because they don’t
require an instruction manual - it's as
simple as texting
https://hipstercatbot.com/faq/

3. Designing a chatbot
● Visual design component is not a problem - it's just a list of
messages
● Important thing is how it works and what is the tone of the
conversation
● Designing a chatbot = analysing the communication process and
predicting how it could flow

4. humanity, usability,
error handling

5. “Pauses”
● Real elapsed time ≠ Elapsed time that user conceives
○ One of the core principles in designing chatbots
● Some chatbots take some time to “type the answer”
(even when it can be instantly shown)
○ It’s like waiting for a real person to respond - feels more humane
● Cool examples:
○ When the bot immediately responds with “wait a minute” and then let’s you wait
for a couple of seconds; it creates an illusion that it is really looking for something
○ When the typing time depends on the length of the sentence; it makes the texting
more realistic
● BUT BEWARE, average user won’t wait longer than 3-5 seconds to get an answer

6. Prepared choices
● When making a chatbot, you can (and you should) create a menu with a limited
number of choices
○ It eliminates errors, simplifies and speeds up the process
○ Example: Viber bots “Order lunch” and “Laptop Friendly” have nice menus
● But chatbot should not act like a robot
○ “Please select an option below:“ VS “What would you like to eat?“

7. Error handling
● Error messages shouldn’t just be a dead end
● Error messages should be something that offers you options
○ “I didn’t understand that. Did you maybe want to: Place an order (option A) or
Change delivery address (option B)”
● But never just: “I don’t understand”
○ “Sorry I can’t help you” - means nothing to the user; after a few unsuccessful
attempts, he’ll stop using the bot...
○ “I see that you are frustrated. Can we try a different approach? Send an email at
the help@example.com” - more humane approach; good practice if offering
choices is not possible

8. Humanity
● “You seem familiar, have we met?” - a chatbot on a website, that detects that you have
already visited that site
● “Calling my friends at the airport...” - a chatbot for flight reservations uses this
sentence before a pause
● “ :P Shall we try again?” - after a user insulted a chatbot
● “Should we deliver on the same address as yesterday?” - a chatbot for food delivery;
with the simple prepared choices: YES/NO

9. ● It’s nice and useful to implement autocomplete
● Images are great if they make sense
○ Don’t just put images for the sake of images - it could make interface more
complicated for no reason
● It’s great if the chatbot is funny… just not too funny… it still has to be usable enough
● Don’t exaggerate with the emojis! :) :P
Details...

10. Useful links
● Chatbots: Start here!
● Botlist
● The best links to get started with Conversational UI and chatbots
● Chatbots magazine
○ What Are The Best Intelligent Chatbots or AI Chatbots Available Online?
● Nice examples:
○ UX Chat
○ Adrian Zumbrunnen (portfolio website)