I am trying to build a bot and I see there is a feature to set the number of seconds between two message bubbles.
Are there any best practices for this? I mean what delay would you generally recommend.
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Hi Vikram,
The message delay next to any message bubble in the builder (gambit modal), is the delay right before that message bubble is displayed to the user. So the best practice is to consider what is there in the message bubble right before it.
If the message text before the current message bubble, is long and/or complex for the user to read and comprehend, then you would want to give the user enough time to understand it before showing the next message bubble. So you want to make it 3.0 or 4.5 seconds.
If the message text before it is short or simple to read, you can keep the delay to 1.0 or 1.5 seconds.
The default value of this delay is 1.0 seconds, but you can override it and put smaller values in it e.g. 0.2 or 0.1 seconds, if you want to send a bunch of messages quickly to the user, because you are a mind manipulator and want to play with user’s emotions.
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I found it useful to count each line of text in your dashboard as 2.0 seconds. Take the total number and apply it to the next message bubble below that line of text. So if I have four lines of text on my dashboard, I will apply 8.0 to the next text bubble. I almost always introduce my first line of text at the default setting, but I like Vinit’s suggestion of using decimal numbers to speed up the overall interaction (at least with the first message in a string). Under this approach, This doesn’t aggravate a quick reader, but allows enough delay for the average reader to keep up. Hope this helps!
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If you make the delay too long you risk your users loosing interest and clicking away (if your integrated on a site only). I’ve used shorter delays in one of my bots with shorter sentences (4-5 words) - so the sentences quickly pile up to a maximum of 4 bubbles. In another bot, I’ve used 2-3 bubbles with more text, therefore I’ve provided shorter delays to pile up the bubbles but a longer delay for the final bubble - where the user would choose an option.
Always test, thoroughly and go with what works best for the amount of content!
Hope that helps,
Will
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I agree that testing thoroughly is very important. My method is more of a default usage that allows me to quickly set timings without having to put too much thought into it. After the initial set up, I run tests on the bot and adjust the timing accordingly. I like the idea of popping up bubbles quickly that will still be viewable without scrolling when the user has a choice to make. I will experiment more with this technique in the future!
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Hey @vikram,
Checkout this article we wrote: https://blog.hellotars.com/chatbot-building-best-practices-1-message-delays-9fc8eb75e3b6
might be useful.
Thanks Vinit! Let me take a look.
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