The Effect of First Impressions of an E-Commerce Chatbot's Personality and Abilities on Expectations for the User Experience

Research shows that a user is less likely to use a chatbot again if there is a failure in the interaction. Hence, first impressions with chatbots could help retain more users and loyal customers for the business. A chatbot's personality, like other anthropomorphic qualities, can give users a sense of the chatbot's abilities. Therefore, we hypothesize that a combination of personality cues and clear information about a chatbot's abilities will help to maximize user experience and increase the number of repeat users of the chatbot. A chatbot's first greeting is important because it is what the user sees before deciding whether to continue using the chatbot. It is also the basis for a user's initial assessment of what using the chatbot will be like and can thus affect the size of the expectation gap. This research could help inform and guide the design of e-commerce chatbots.