Creating a Chatbot’s Identity
A chatbot’s identity is the first thing a user notices.
Before they read a single message, they see a name and an avatar, and those two elements immediately shape expectations about the chatbot’s purpose, tone, and personality.
A clear identity helps users trust the chatbot, understand what it does, and feel confident that they’re talking to an official, reliable digital assistant.
Choosing a Name
A good chatbot name should be:
Easy to recognise
A chatbot's name should be short and simple. It should be easy to say and it pays to explore names that relate to your council or the areas your council oversees.
On-brand
Matches the organisation’s style, values, and tone.
Professional
Aim to match the name with the role of your chatbot, for customer service bots aim for neutral and professional names but in areas like tourism it can pay to be creative.
Designing your avatar
Your avatar is the visual identity of your chatbot, it will be the first thing your visitors see and when done right it will encourage people to click on the chatbot.
I have built a Chatbot Aavtar Builder that simply requires you to select the type of avatar you want, describe its emotion, describe what you want it to look like and select the background colour.