UX design
There are different kinds of chatbots. You can focuses on these “Transactional Chatbots” (Bots that help users to perform certain tasks based on user input) step by step.
Scope + inputs + design flow + script + fun
And now you can talk with a UX polar bear 😉
Fancy designing your own?
You will enjoy reading these 8 principles of bot design.
By going further into developing it, looking at what not to do and even chatbots that failed can help you greatly.
Once your design is done, testing the conversation flow against real users would be useful, some tools are availble to test your chatbot without developping it.
From there you can start developement using prototyping tools or available SDKs.
Development
Today, 99% of the bots on the market are based on static decisions trees. Botmasters build interactive forms through a messenger.
With AI, they are now able to make this « form » natural enough to make it look like conversational. The AI is able to « understand » keywords and meanings from a user input to extract commands.
This flow plays a critical part of the UX and should not be edited on-the-fly by amateurs because of the risk of compromising the UX.
This week we’d like to highlight Botpress. An open-source project edited by Botpress Company.
Botpress is a bot creation tool in Javascript and NodeJS. Several connectors are available like Facebook Messenger, Slack, Microsoft Bot and IRC. Building your own is quite simple as well.
We made a demo you can find on Github. The code is ready to install and play with.
This chatbot works for a Facebook Page with Messenger. You simply have to create a page, install Botpress and run the server on Heroku or via Ngrok.
It is command based with no AI. Try out commands like hello, twitter, github.
The App is submitted for a Facebook approval. You’ll soon be able to talk to the bot from a dedicated Facebook Page!
Enjoy !
Chatbot can also be useful on a smaller scale.
This motion tracking chatbot uses Viber to let you know if something or someone enter or exit a room in your house. using simple tools and the Viber platform.
Motion detection sensor chatbot in action
you can find all the details and code source following this link!
Social Media Management / Marketing
Within any company, Communication can’t be forgotten or left aside. Performance isn’t the only key to success, that’s why we all work together within Sweet Koala :).
We use to look for information by asking directly to someone at a shop or office. Then, we started to call, send emails or letters to a dedicated group of people.
Nowadays, people are more and more impatient because technology has evolved to a certain point, an amazing one, the high speed internet.
Having high speed internet has totally changed our point of view towards the fact of waiting, and our need of instantaneous information.
That’s why a lot of company has started to use a community forum as a plateform of assistance, using the experience of other users is more relevant and the answer can arrive pretty fast. But people has to sleep and actually have a life, so being away from the keyboard is normal.
Here’s the chatbot’s birth.
It doesn’t sleep, it is always available and it has almost all the answers. This is almost magical, mystical… but the creation of AI might be for another topic 😉 – Have you ever seen the movie Her? –
Messenger by Facebook is our main topic here, it is the « Future of Communication ». Companies use this channel in order to highlight news more directly and more intimately, this way it won’t intrusive. More you ask the chatbot, more it learns about your needs. By questionning the chatbot you actually help the arborescence system.
Being able to answer every question is a thing but chatbot becomes also the virtual identity of a company or personality.
The opening of a new communication channel on a platform as crowded as Facebook Messenger is a real stake for a brand. It is double-edged because it increases interactions between businesses and people, but can also disappoint the user if it is poorly controlled. The Social CRM questions will thus be at the center of the problems of the e-merchants. In this case, with its 900 million users, Messenger becomes a channel that can’t be ignored.
It is also a good way to make a buzz as the TV series Mr Robot or Elon Musk, 21st on the Forbes list of The World’s Most Powerful People.
Mr. Robot – Chat_with_Fsociety from Nico Gonzo Carrassi on Vimeo.
Today, chatbots are available on messaging platforms, websites and personal assistants such as Siri and Google Home.
Here’s a little something for the nostalgics 😉
Video
Jonas Eltes made an experiment based on 2 AIs trying to talk to each others through Google Translate exploring how the multiple layers of computation in today’s digital landscape distorts our communication. Here is Lost in computation.
LOST IN COMPUTATION from Fabrica on Vimeo.
Adrian Zumbrunnen explains how animation, delay and style affect how the user feel about the conversation.
« Without animation, there’s no conversation. »
If well done it can animation direct attention and even give the feeling of a less scripted, more natural conversation.
Nomad Digital
Botlist‘s catagory travel hosts a great list of bots for nomad digitals.
- SkyChat : Airport Chatbot which provides flight information
- Artour : Chatbot for discovering the best art galleries around the world
- Maya : Plan a tour in 5 minutes with Maya
Big players like Kayak, Hipmunk and TripAdvisor also have their own bot to talk to. You won’t make reservations directly from these bots but they can be great to filter some researches.