The chatbot

Sam, is the chatbot that runs on Facebook Messenger, to answer the most frequently asked general questions about child benefit. This chatbot, in the form of a minimally working product, is used to be able to meet the customer's need to be able to ask the SVB 24/7 questions and get an immediate answer.

Sam answers general questions about child benefits.

A Design Sprint was carried out in May 2017 from which a chatbot emerged as a possible solution. A solution to the problem that customers do not always get answers to their general questions quickly enough. The prototype was tested and successfully validated during this sprint. Based on the positive feedback, it was decided to take the next step and to develop a MVP (Minimal Viable Product) for this.

We have started collecting the most frequently asked questions about child benefit. We tested the first version on our own website, www.novum.nu via the Intercom chat application and via Facebook messenger on a newly created page.

In total there were around 80 conversations with the chatbot. Everyone was asked to provide feedback afterwards. This led to varying reactions, both positive and negative critical. Since it was a minimally working product and the chatbot was only minimally fed, he could not answer many questions.

After the test phase, it was decided to take the chatbot offline again. The insights are shared with the SVB so that they can decide on this basis whether and how they want to use a chatbot in the future.