
Chatbots are the hottest topic in pharma marketing right now—every brand wants one, but they lack the strategy a productive chatbot demands. However, if you rush to bring your brand’s chatbot to market, you risk squandering your sizable innovation investment on a mediocre, glorified FAQ hub that may be housed within a poor build that is half finished, or even broken. This rush to market for chatbots in healthcare perpetuates the myth that the technology can’t deliver meaningful interactions for users, on par with other digital or social media experiences.
The irony is that in spite of healthcare’s “chatbot frenzy,” technology has finally reached the precipice where chatbots can truly provide value to the user. But to leverage the technology effectively, marketers and technologists must start small, iterate, and adapt to their user base. Chatbots require a continual investment in order to be a useful product; otherwise bots will linger in the land of bad reviews. That’s why before we analyze what makes a good chatbot, we encourage brands to ask: why a chatbot?
If you’re still reading this, perhaps you’ve decided that you’re willing to explore the investment it takes to make a purposeful bot. The difficulty in building a chatbot is not a technical one—it is an issue of user experience. It must be seamless in its availability and add value in its use. Here is a quick litmus test for consideration:
If you’ve passed the litmus test then here are some best practices to take into consideration as you continue to solidify your chatbot concept.
Chatbots seem simple in their production state, but the planning and strategy behind them can be monolithic. Put your user first, work backwards, and make sure that a chatbot is the right solution to the problem you are trying to solve. If it is the right solution, and you follow the necessary steps to build it properly, the climate is ripe for a brand to launch a successful bot that the world will notice. Do you want to be the brand that everyone wants to emulate? Start first by asking yourself:
why a chatbot?