Chatbot project by Zoe Evershed

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 01:17:51 UTC

An FAQs chatbot for an online tutoring company

Chatbot = fast and friendly access to FAQs, saving both tutors and administrators time.

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 01:22:38 UTC

Motivation to create this chatbot was based on user-end experience as a tutor for an online tutoring company

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 01:24:25 UTC

New tutors have several applications and systems to master during onboarding, and navigating the company’s current FAQs is difficult

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 01:25:29 UTC

Internal posts from tutors, asking for help, demonstrate shortcomings of the current system

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 01:26:40 UTC

Tutors are casual and staff turn-over is relatively high due to the nature of the work, therefore tutor FAQs need to be accessible and intuitive to reduce administration

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 01:28:05 UTC

A conversation with a senior manager at the company confirmed that the current system was problematic and a chatbot ‘would indeed be of interest’

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 01:33:11 UTC

The present system:

Tricky to navigate
Too many sub-menus
Creates information overload

This is the current process of accessing FAQs:

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 01:36:35 UTC

A central panel shows several pages of information about what is in the site and how to use it. A side menu contains further options.

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 01:40:31 UTC

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 01:42:30 UTC

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 01:43:39 UTC

Stakeholders are a growing, Australian, online tutoring company

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 02:04:17 UTC

Over 1000 tutors are employed to tutor private students and these tutors will be the primary users of the chatbot

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 02:06:31 UTC

Tutors are all fluent, university level, English speakers

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 02:10:27 UTC

High speed Internet and minimum system requirements are already standard for tutors

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 02:11:27 UTC

A good level of visual and auditory ability is assumed, as this is required for the job

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 02:12:24 UTC

Challenge: FAQs contain large amounts of information in some sections

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 03:38:52 UTC

Solution: Multiple pop-ups appearing successively, as seen in Butterfly Foundation's chatbot Kit (above), are adopted to break up slabs of text which could otherwise be overwhelming for the user

Challenge: allow the user to access options through buttons, without losing the conversational quality afforded by an AI chatbot

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 03:55:55 UTC

“Is a chatbot really harnessing the capabilities of AI if it is merely presenting menus of buttons that a user must click as they slowly get closer and closer to their answer?”
(Phillip C 2018)

Solution: To maintain a balance between the warmth of conversational engagement and the practicalities of buttons, The chatbot incorporates buttons for a main menu and a 'help' response but does not over-rely on buttons

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 04:04:14 UTC

Chatbot created using IBM Bluemix 'Watson Assistant' software

Challenge: develop a persona to represent the tutoring company and engage the user

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 04:10:27 UTC

Solutions:

Language from the company website and internal communications from administration is used to inspire the the chatbot's dialogue. This includes: use of plain English, upbeat, friendly communication style
and use of emoji's
A non-gender specific name is chosen, as tutoring staff interacting with the chatbot are of both genders.
The name is short and simple to pronounce, making it easier for users to remember.
The name is also selected for its meaning; Koty means support, cushion, and home, which is appropriate for the desired persona of the chatbot.
A simple friendly face icon is created in Adobe Illustrator, exported as a jpeg and then uploaded to WikiCommons so that it can be linked to the IBM Watson assistant. The colours for the face are chosen based on colours used on the company website and the hair on the character is designed to resemble the company logo.

Challenge: users type 'thanks', 'hello' or 'what is your name?' and chatbot doesn't respond

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 04:48:48 UTC

Solution: Dialogue and Intents are developed to respond and increase the warmth of the interaction

Challenge: test user questions are off topic or users don't know what to ask, and the chatbot cannot respond

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 04:58:18 UTC

Solution: specific suggestions about what the user can inquire about are included in 'Welcome' dialogue

Challenge: Test user thinks chatbot is 'wordy'

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 05:02:17 UTC

Solutions:

Dialogue edited to be more succinct
successive pop-up boxes are implemented (see- Interaction design challenges and solutions section for more)
Emoji’s added to break up text and add interest.

Challenge: testers use single words such as 'book' or 'session' more often than anticipated

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 05:04:45 UTC

Solution: the chatbot is programmed to recognise more single word responses

Challenge: users arrive at dialogue dead-ends and ask things such as 'now what'?

zoeevershed — 2021-08-28 05:13:03 UTC

Solutions:

Prompts such as ‘do you have another question?’ are added at the end of each dialogue response
A 'help menu' dialogue is added and programmed to pick up user responses such as 'now what?'
Dialogue links are reconsidered and connections are mapped out to avoid conversational dead ends

zoeevershed — 2021-08-30 07:14:48 UTC

Cluey Learning <clueylearning.com.au>.

Viewed 25th August 2021

Butterfly Foundation 2021, Chat with Kit,

<https://butterfly.org.au/chattokit/>.Viewed 20th August 2021

Phillips C 2018, To Use Chatbot Buttons or Not to Use Chatbot Buttons, Chatbot Life . Viewed 23 August 2021

Schlict M 2016, The Complete Beginner's Guide to Chatbots, Everything you Need to Know, Chatbot Magazine . Viewed 23 August 2021

Inbenta Team 2021, 5 Ways to Use Chatbots for Internal Employees, Inbenta . Viewed 23 August 2021