Guidelines to follow while creating WhatsApp chatbots

Create chatbot templates that match with your survey’s first question

Why do we recommend you go through the guidelines before creating a template?

The first reply by your customers will be considered as the response to your first question. Thus, creating a template that makes your customers respond with ease ensures a smoother data collection process. 

But, before creating a message template, make sure your survey questions are supported in our WhatsApp chatbot share mode.

Supported question types

• Opinion Scale
• Multiple Choice
• Rating
• Text
• Email
• Phone Number
• Yes or No
• Number
• Dropdown
• Website
• Net Promoter Score(NPS)
• Customer Satisfaction(CSAT)
• Customer Effort Score(CES)

Template format for questions

1. Opinion Scale

• For Opinion Scale questions, choose between a 0-10 scale or a 1-10 scale. But, make sure the scale range aligns with your question in the survey. 
• If you choose a 0-10 scale, you can assign 0 being least likely, 5 being neutral and 10 being most likely. You can configure the 1-10 scale in a similar way with 1 replacing 0. 
• At the footer of the template, add a line on how your respondents should respond to the question. 

For example: Here is a format of the opinion scale question for your reference,

How important is it to have 24/7 customer support?

0 - Not important at all

5 - Somewhat important

10 - Extremely important

Footer text to be added: “Enter a value from 0 to 10.” 

2. Multiple Choice

• For MCQs, make sure you number each of the choices listed. 
• You can choose to enable multiple answers, all of the above, and none of the above options. 

Let’s consider an example of creating an MCQ with the following options,

1. Option 1 
2. Option 2
3. Option 3
4. Option 4
5. All of the above
6. None of the above

Footer text to be added: 

• If only a single choice is enabled, add “Reply 1 to choose option 1.”
• If the respondent can choose multiple options, add “Reply 1,2 to choose Option 1 & Option 2”. 
• If ‘all of the above’ is one of the options, make sure you include “Reply 5 to choose all the above options.”
• If ‘none of the above’ is one of the options, include “Reply 6 to choose none of the above.”

3. Rating

Based on the steps chosen (3,4 or 5) for the rating scale, add the footer text as “Enter a number between 1-3, 1-4, or 1-5.”

For example, consider creating a question as “Rate our service from 1-3” 

Footer text to be added: “Enter a value from 1-3.”

4. Text

For open-ended questions, your footer text should ask your customers to respond in the text format. 

For example,  let’s assume you ask “What do you like about our product?”

Footer text to be added: “Kindly respond in a text format.”

5. Email

In the case of asking your customers to share their email, add a footer text asking them to share proper email addresses. 

For example, if “Share your email address for further updates” is the question, 

Footer text to be added: “Kindly provide a valid email address” 

6. Phone Number

Asking for the customer’s phone number needs to be followed by a footer text informing them to add their country code before the phone number.

For example,  assuming you ask “Could you confirm your phone number for future updates on our product?”

Footer text to be added:  “Add your country code before your mobile number. For example, +919876543210” 

7. Yes or No

For yes or no questions, add a footer text asking your customers to reply Yes or No. 

For example, consider a question as “Would you mind sharing your feedback with us?” 

Footer text to be added:  “Reply Yes or No”

8. Number

If you ask a number-based question, ask the customers to provide a proper number without any texts. 

For example, let’s assume you ask “How old are you?”. 

Footer text to be added:  “Enter a valid number.”

9. Dropdown

Works similar to Multiple Choice Questions.

• Ensure you number each of the options listed. 
• Selecting multiple options can be enabled.

Let’s consider an example of creating a dropdown with the following options,

1.  Option 1 

2. Option 2

3. Option 3

4. Option 4

Footer text to be added:

• If only a single choice is enabled, add “Reply 1 to choose option 1.”
• If the respondent can choose multiple options, add “Reply 1,2 to choose Option 1 & Option 2”. 

10. Website

Asking for the customers’ business website should have a footer text to ensure they provide the URL in the right format.

For example, assuming you ask, “Would you mind sharing your business website with us?”, 

Footer text to be added: “Kindly provide the URL in  https://www.yourwebsite.com/ format.”

11. Net Promoter Score

• For Net Promoter Score, choose between a 0-10 scale or a 1-10 scale. Make sure the scale range aligns with your question in the survey. 
• If you choose a 0-10 scale, you can assign 0 being least likely and 10 being most likely. You can configure the 1-10 scale in a similar way with 1 replacing 0. 

For example: Here is a format of the NPS question for your reference,

How likely are you to recommend SurveySparrow to your friends? 

0 - Least Likely 

10- Most likely 

Footer text to be added: ”Enter a score from 0 to 10.” 

12. Customer Satisfaction Score

Based on the steps chosen (3 or 5) for the Customer Satisfaction Score, add the footer text as “Enter a score between 1-3 or 1-5.”

For example, consider creating a question as “How satisfied are you with SurveySparrow’s customer support team?”

Footer text to be added: “Enter a score from 1-3.”

13. Customer Effort Score

• For Customer Effort Score, choose between a 0-7 scale or a 1-7 scale. Ensure the scale range aligns with your question in the survey. 
• If you choose a 0-7 scale, you can assign 0 being strongly disagree and 7 being strongly agree. You can configure the 1-7 scale in a similar way with 1 replacing 0. 

For example: Let’s assume you choose a 0-7 scale for CES, 

SurveySparrow made it easy for you to handle your issues

0 - Strongly disagree 

7 - Strongly agree

Footer text to be added: "Enter a value from 0 -7.” 

Custom welcome template format

If you prefer to send a custom message, make sure you have a footer asking your customers to respond the way you want them to. Refer to the below template, 

If the welcome message is, “Thank you for using our products. Would you like to share your feedback with us?”,

Footer text to be added: “Reply Start to begin the survey.”

Note

• The N/A option is not supported in WhatsApp bots.

Feel free to reach out to our community if you have any questions.