Designing a chatbot for an improved customer experience

Source A case study on conversational UX/UI and building out a chatbot prototype
Greeting chatbot message for Kits & Classes website Chatbot Project Context
Chatbots are notoriously annoying but when designed effectively, they can serve as an excellent resource to users.
I decided to build out a chatbot for an earlier UX design project which I thought would provide a good application. The project was a business pivot design and platform for customers to connect with local businesses delivering activity kits paired with online classes.
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Research & Use Cases
I discovered through discussions with parents juggling full-time jobs while social distancing at home was that that in the absence of outside help, they need a way to educate and entertain their children other than mind-numbing videos on youtube. Before diving into a chatbot service to build out my prototype, I conducted some research to identify use cases and created a persona to inform the conversation flow.
I initially sketched out how I thought the chatbot could serve as a resource to visitors to the website through providing class suggestions or directing them to local business pages.
Initial sketch of conversation flow This spurred me to think more about other ways that a chatbot might add value to customers visiting the Kits & Classes website without being a nuisance. I thought particularly Nicole’s user scenario and developed four main use cases for the chatbot:

Suggesting class offerings
Tracking a package
Discovering local businesses
Donating to a local business

I added a fifth use case of providing humor and entertainment to customers since I discovered from my research that many people are craving social interaction during quarantine. Although a robot is not a replacement for a human connection, it can provide some comfort by anticipating the customer’s needs and sharing a few cheesy jokes.
Chatbot Personality
One thing that people find frustrating about chatbots is that they often claim to be a real person behind that rectangular pop-up. Customers generally see right through that so I decided to embrace the “bot” in my chatbot and created a corny but endearing little robot with a pinch of spunk called “KC”.
Finding a User-Friendly Chatbot Program
Once I had a basic conversation flow and chatbot personality down, it was time to find the right program to implement it. There are tons of free chatbot programs on the market that have similar offerings so you just have to choose what works for you. I started out working in Chatfuel since that...