Why (most) chatbots suck

Do you like talking to chatbots? Do you feel cheated when you click that chat button, type a message and realise it is not a human sitting on the other side? Join the team. You are not alone. Most chatbots offer a poor user experience. If I asked you if you like interacting with chatbots, what would you say? Chances are, you would say no. Simply put, chatbots don’t offer a good experience to customers.

Why are some chatbots such a bad experience?

There are several reasons why customers don’t like interacting with chatbots, and consequently, chatbots don’t produce the desired results for the business.

Glorified Menus

Many bots are no more than glorified click menus that offer you limited options and guide you through a maze. It’s basically no different from a regular menu in the form of a chat. How is this a better experience than finding myself through the menus of the website and filling a contact or order form? It’s not. In fact, it’s worse and it takes longer.

If the chatbot is offered on a messaging App like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, then a menu might be useful, since you are not on the website. The problem is that many of them are just a menu. No chance of entering free text to search for something, or to simply ask a direct question. No better than calling the hotline and pressing “1” for topic A, “2” for topic B, or 3 to speak to a real person.

I’d rather speak to a person right away, than wasting my time.

Lack of context of chatbots

There are several reasons why customers don’t like interacting with chatbots, and consequently, chatbots don’t produce the desired results for the business. To me, the main reason is lack of context. Have you ever interacted with a bot that:

• doesn’t know where it is
• doesn’t know you (even though you are known to the brand)
• doesn’t know where you are
• doesn’t know what device you are on
• doesn’t remember their own last sentence
• asks you the same thing over and over
• …. the list could go on.

90% of chatbots out there are like this!