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"Sorry, I can’t help with that." Content strategy for chatbots Michael J. Metts | he/him | Co-author, Writing is Designing | @mjmetts | mjmetts.com

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Where do chatbots come from?

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People love AI. Business people love being able to say they work on AI.

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BotBuilder 12:42 83% Hi, I'm an automated assistant. Why would you like to build a bot today? Amazon makes Alexa and Amazon is very successful! I'm sorry. It doesn't work like that.

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12:42 83% BotBuilder Hi, I'm an automated assistant. Why would you like to build a bot today? Google makes conversational AI and Google is very successful! I'm sorry, I don't understand. You can say things like "cost savings". 12:42 83%

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12:42 83% BotBuilder Hi, I'm an automated assistant. Why would you like to build a bot today? We need to meet consumer expectations. I'm sorry, I can't help with that. Would you like to take a short survey about your experience? 12:42 83%

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12:42 83% BotBuilder Hi, I'm an automated assistant. Why would you like to build a bot today? Lots of these customer service tasks seem easy. Can't we just automate them? I can help with that. I'll need to ask you a few questions to get started. 12:42 83%

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“Content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.” - Kristina Halvorson Source: https://alistapart.com/article/thedisciplineofcontentstrategy/

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"I'm having some trouble right now." Deciding whether a chatbot will help.

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What are our goals? Writing and design decisions are inseparable from business goals.

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Customer service Types of chatbots Example: T-Mobile's Virtual Assistant • Responds to any kind of natural language • Helps with customer service requests • Can escalate to a human

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Customer service Types of chatbots Possible goals: • Increase speed of service • Reduce contact center costs

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Distinct product Types of chatbots Example: Capital One's Eno • Responds to natural language text messages • Heavily marketed • Self-contained (doesn't escalate to human support via chat)

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Distinct product Types of chatbots Possible goals: • Portray Capital One as a technology leader • Increase number of interactions with customers

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Routing and sales Types of chatbots Example: LiveEngage automated assistant • Gives the user pre-defined options to choose from • Goal is to connect you with a human • Offers multiple channels

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Routing and sales Types of chatbots Possible goals: • Lead generation and retention • Revenue targets

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Is it going to be useful? “Content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.” - Kristina Halvorson I wasn’t kidding about content strategy! Source: https://alistapart.com/article/thedisciplineofcontentstrategy/

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How does this fit into other channels? Should this be handled on a website or mobile app? Should it be handled by humans via phone, email, or social media?

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Pick an evaluation method. Focus on the user need. Source: https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3978596/customer-service-issues-to-channel-mapping-tool

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What could go wrong? Source: May-Li Khoe on Twitter - https://twitter.com/mayli/status/1305952098996097025?s=21

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What could go wrong? Source: Ayodele Odubela on Twitter - https://twitter.com/DataSciBae/status/1308839841606533122

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Ayodele Odubela’s upcoming book Book details: dazzlingdata.science/uncovering-bias-in-ml

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Meet Jessica Zhang Koehler • Design leader • PhD in Cultural Theory of Technical Communication • Experience helping business navigate emerging technologies

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So, if you're in the deciding stage, ask • What are our goals? • Is it going to be useful? • How does it fit into other channels? • What could go wrong?

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"Here are some things I can help with." Figuring out what your chatbot should do.

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What problem are we solving? Get involved in the problem space. Your perspective as a writer is critical.

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Example: Customer service bot for an electric utility. X X Hi, I'm ElectricCo’s automated assistant. How can I help you today? Chat Support • Responds to natural language • Goal is cost savings and increased service speed • Available when customers are signed in to their accounts

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What do people need? • Chat logs • Call recordings • Support emails and social media messages • Forums, reviews, and blog posts • Help content analytics How are they describing it? Protect users’ privacy when gathering data

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“I need to reset my password.” “We just moved to a new house and I need to change the service address but I can’t log in.” “CAN YOU PLEASE RESET MY LOGIN?????” “can’t log on to my account” “I need a copy of my latest bill but I can’t figure out how to sign in.”

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Change billing due date Route to correct department Get help logging in Move service to a new address

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How will we make decisions? Create criteria for evaluating chatbot features as a team.

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Alexa guidelines Feature evaluation Voice-specific, but contains principles that apply to chat. • Is specifically about Amazon’s technology • Checklist gives you a way to check in Source: https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs/alexa/alexa-design/ checklists.html

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Google conversation design process Feature evaluation Designed to help teams understand whether conversation is appropriate. • Ties questions the team can discuss to benefits of conversational UI • Applies to chat and voice Source: https://designguidelines.withgoogle.com/conversation/conversation- design-process/is-conversation-the-right-fit.html#is-conversation-the-right- fit-take-the-quiz

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Build your own evaluator Get this at go.mjmetts.com/chatbotevaluator

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What’s the bot’s personality? Heavy personification No personification Capital One’s Eno Customer service for a utility

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Where should we start? Get the Mural template: mural.co/templates/importance-difficulty-matrix

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Impact Difficulty Change billing due date Route to correct department Get help logging in Move service to a new address

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Impact Difficulty Change billing due date Route to correct department Get help logging in Move service to a new address

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Strategic High value Short term Nice to have Impact Difficulty Change billing due date Route to correct department Get help logging in Move service to a new address 1 2 3

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Meet Rebecca Evanhoe • Conversation designer • Has worked with conversational technology since 2011 • Co-authoring a book with Diana Diebel called ‘Conversations with Things’ coming in 2021 from Rosenfeld Media Book details: rosenfeldmedia.com/books/conversations-with-things/

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So, if you're in the building stage, ask • What problem are we solving? • What do people need? • How will we make decisions? • What’s the bot’s personality? • Where should we start?

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Thank you! • Check out ‘Writing is Designing’ by Andy Welfle and myself at writingisdesigning.com • See upcoming remote workshops at mjmetts.com