By: Amin Fard.
Since the start of Workplace from Facebook in 2017 Prepp has made it easy to create chatbots that delight employees. Based on over 100 chatbots implemented and 4 million messages sent to over 200.000 employees, we have learned what works and what doesn’t when it comes to chatbots for Workplace from Facebook!
Insight 1: Frequently asked questions chatbot:
The holy grail of chatbots! Save time for management and employees by reducing time spent on answering the same questions to employees over and over again! Just ask the chatbot and it will give the answer.
Sorry for being a party pooper, but it is not that easy. First of all, employees do not know the chatbots exist!! “What was the chatbot called? Where do I find it?” If they do find it and start to ask questions – the chatbot rarely knows the answer. Do not build a conversational chatbot unless you have a very specific use case in mind. Make sure that the employees find the chatbot when they need it, and most importantly; you need to invest time writing in all the answers you want the chatbot to reply with. And constantly add more content as you go.
Insight 2: Chatbots that integrate with other software:
Sounds smart, and it is. We expect chatbots to reduce the problem of having so many apps and software in your company so employees do not need to work in several systems all the time. Need a task in Workday to be filled in? Just type it into the Workday chatbot in Workplace. Even better, the chatbot asks the employee in WorkChat proactively and the employee answers to the chatbot. The chatbot fills out a reply in Workday without logging into Workday.
But, the world is not ready for it yet based on our experience. Very few software companies are built “API first”. The software solutions still need a year or two to build stronger API`s so interfaces between solutions can get stronger.
Insight 3: We can create our own chatbots
Maybe you are an IT person yourself reading this, so please stop reading if you have a big ego.
I have not seen nonsoftware companies building chatbots in-house with success unless it has a very specific purpose or is business-critical. I have talked with 20+ companies that have tried and failed. Please challenge me on this, but internal IT people rarely have the capability to build a software solution that is user-friendly or updated on a regular basis to keep track of the latest developments.
Insight 4: Chatbots instead of paper forms
It is actually an amazing use case if your employees are spending a lot of time on forms.
There are companies in the insurance sector that have gone from paper-based forms to employees taking pictures and sending it to chatbots where AI auto-fills the form and sends it digitally – thousands of hours are saved.
Insight 5: Broadcast chatbots:
Let’s face it, getting a large group of employees on the same page when it comes to important information is a pain. Especially the front line workers that meet with the customers and represent the brand on a daily basis. New products, marketing, sales pitch – alignment on communication is key for success.
Email open rates or low. Emails are boring and often not relevant. E-mails are a long read for today’s generation. Workplace is great, but not all posts in Workplace from Facebook are read by employees when they scroll down their newsfeed or if they do not check-in very often. Messages in chat are read because it is less time consuming and you actually get a message that you can read at any time. But remember, for broadcast chatbots to work, you need chat adoption to be at a certain level.
Insight 6: Onboarding chatbots:
25% of all company turnover happens first 12 months? For hourly employees, it is 50% in the first 120 days. According to Society for Human Resource Management(SHRM), onboarding is key for employee retention. If you think about the cost of hiring a new employee – there is a huge potential for improving retention and employee engagement. Chatbots can automate and bring the onboarding checklists to life, making the transition into the company easier.
Research tells us that managers are the key role, but they do not have time. With onboarding chatbots, you can make life easier for new hires and save time for HR and managers. For example, having the chatbot ask the new hire to introduce themself in Workplace from Facebook to kickstart the socialization process. What we learned is that chatbots are great for nudging and coaching managers into becoming better at onboarding. But do not forget, you need to have a proper pre-boarding phase as well. What to do when new hires do not have access to Workplace?
Interested in learning more?
Book a 15-minute call with me here: https://app.hubspot.com/meetings/amin to learn how you can get started with chatbots 🙂