Writing for Chat

Keep it short, simple, and usable

• Keep the answers short - think about 90 -140 characters.
• Don’t use long paragraphs on your website - use plain language.

Make your information usable

Readers use a chatbot with a very specific question in mind. If your chatbot messages run on, you’ll quickly lose the reader’s interest and attention. 

They’ve come to complete a task, so keep the information concise and make it usable. In other words, just tell them what they need to know so a task can get done.

If you need to give more information, keep it clear and brief. Focus on steps or share a link to the instructions on your website. 

Keep it clear

Because there are no visual cues, every word your bot uses matters. You need to have confidence in the assumptions a user would make based on your bot’s replies and advice.

Ask yourself and your colleagues whether messages make sense before deploying them. 

Avoid complicated words and phrasing. Also, check for spelling and grammar mistakes. If your chatbot communicates with errors, your readers will go elsewhere.

Persona not a person

Readers will expect some personality but don’t get caught up in pretending the chatbot is a real person. Don’t use dialogue that sounds like it’s out of a manual or the response of a faceless institution.

Your bot is representing your agency (essentially as a person). Remember it’s a conversation, the user is talking to our bot. 

Building personas

These presentations are a resource shared at monthly content manager meetings. They teach how to build a persona:

• June 2022 Personas for Iowa.gov
• May 2022 Building Website Personas

Keep working on It

Chatbot AI will keep evolving, and the content should evolve too It’s not a case of set it and forget it. 

Keep improving and adjusting your messaging. This helps ensure you create the best customer experience possible.

Review your bot answers each year. This helps ensure the information is accurate. Also, check user feedback. Revise any answers that got a thumbs down.

Dom DoIT will send the agency contact the Chatbot's questions and answers every January. This way, the agency can review the info and make updates.