Here Are My Two Main Benefits for Having a Chatbot:

So How Did I Do It?

Step 1 : Define Chatbot Objectives

What will this chatbot do for music studios and users?

Studio :

Drive traffic and awareness to studio website

Build a CRM channel through Messenger

Gather feedback from studios and loyal fans

User:

Build a novel experience through Messenger

Create an easier way to find music studios and book studio time

Step 2 : Define Chatbot Domain

Understanding Chatbot Domain

How broad is the understanding?

Can the chatbot find any type of music studio and also any location in the world? Or just music studios in the United States? Or only music studios in Los Angeles?

How deep is the knowledge?

Will the chatbot know of every music studio? Or just the Top Line music studios? Will it share high quality photos of the studio if someone wants to see more photos?

*Decide when to use Rails vs NLP

Think of Rails as preset paths for conversation that help the user move sequentially through stages, with buttons for available options.

Content → Option A B or C → Content → Option A B or C

NLP (Natural Language Processing) is when the bot analyzes free text input to determine intent, and then delivers the relevant content or action.

“I want to book studio time at Electric Feel Studios in Los Angeles.”

Studiotime Sam would know that this sentence includes ;

Intent to book studio time

The music studio is Electric Feel Studios

The location of the studio is in Los Angeles, CA

Step 3 : Building the Chatbot

“Words are the new UI/UX.”

Map out Conversation Flow

In order to actually build the chatbot, I started to map out the conversation flow using Scapple. It helped me quickly create something visual to get an idea of how the chatbot experience would feel for the end user.