Tips for creating the perfect chatbot for customer service support

Does your contact centre receive a high volume of repetitive enquiries that slow down response times and overwhelm agents? Are you looking to provide immediate support without compromising the customer experience?
If the answer is yes, a customer service chatbot is a key ally you’ll need in 2026.
Artificial intelligence for customer service already makes it possible to automate over 40% of your service without users perceiving the experience as cold or impersonal. However, for this to work, it must be designed with a clear strategy focused on customer experience.
Below, we share six essential tips for creating a truly effective chatbot that guarantees outstanding customer service.

SIX KEY PRINCIPLES FOR DEVELOPING A CUSTOMER-CENTRIC CHATBOT

1. CLEARLY DEFINE ITS PURPOSE

When designing a chatbot, the first step is to define its main objective. Is it meant to qualify customer intent? Provide information about a service outage? Answer questions about a lost parcel? Defining the objective—or objectives—upfront will reduce implementation time and help you understand where the chatbot’s role ends and human support begins.

2. CHOOSE THE RIGHT CHANNELS

Your chatbot needs to be where your customers need it most—whether that’s on your website chat, WhatsApp, social media, or a combination of all three.
This isn’t about launching it across every channel at once (especially if you want it to fulfil different goals), but about analysing where customer questions arise and integrating the chatbot into the customer journey in a natural, frictionless way.
For example, if users are browsing your website and most of them struggle to find your service terms and conditions, our recommendation would be to implement a chatbot on your website that knows these conditions. This way, instead of calling and overloading your phone lines, users can chat with the bot and resolve their queries in a matter of seconds—at any time of day.

3. DESIGN NATURAL, APPROACHABLE CONVERSATIONS

One of the most common mistakes when creating a chatbot is making it sound like an automated answering machine. The ideal chatbot doesn’t ask users to type “enquiry” to understand their intent; instead, it simply asks, “How can I help you?”
To achieve this, we recommend leaving behind traditional automation logic and starting to analyse the real conversations your agents have when speaking with customers.
The key to success lies in replicating the structure your agents already use.

4. CONNECT THE CHATBOT TO YOUR INTERNAL SYSTEMS

At the very least, a chatbot should be connected to your company’s knowledge bases. To deliver a “human” experience and resolve queries effectively, it needs access to the same information as your agents.
Even if the chatbot’s sole purpose is to qualify customer intent, the more information the agent receives before taking over, the faster the query will be resolved. Don’t forget that AI is much more than an IVR.
If you also want the chatbot to verify customer identity, check recent purchases or invoices, amend a flight, or create a ticket for each issue, you’ll need to connect it to your CRM and programme workflows that determine when and how it should access, update or log information.
With these two integrations in place, your chatbot will be ready to deliver a truly memorable experience. Because in customer service, positive surprises are no longer a “nice to have”—they’re a powerful loyalty driver.

5. ALWAYS ALLOW HANDOVER TO A HUMAN AGENT

Automating responses doesn’t mean removing human contact. There are situations where customer satisfaction can only be achieved through a human agent. That’s why your chatbot must be programmed to recognise these cases and transfer the conversation automatically.
It’s also essential to offer permanent access to human support across all channels, so make sure there’s always a visible option allowing users to request human assistance at any point.

6. ANALYSE RESULTS AND CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE

Like any software you install on your computer, a chatbot needs regular updates. To do this effectively, it’s crucial to measure its performance through metrics such as unresolved queries and customer satisfaction levels. This will help you refine conversation flows, improve responses, and adapt the chatbot to new needs and queries you may want to automate in the future.

FINAL CONCLUSIONS

Within a contact centre, a chatbot does not replace agents—it supports them. It handles the simplest and most repetitive enquiries and provides agents with the information they need to respond more quickly and empathetically.
As an added bonus, it also enables 24/7 instant support. For businesses that don’t typically offer out-of-hours assistance, this is a major shift worth communicating to customers.
When implemented successfully, this technology reduces waiting times, increases the number of resolved tickets and contributes to a faster, more effective customer experience.
So, if you’re looking for a solution that helps you improve customer service without compromising on quality, artificial intelligence is your ally for 2026.

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