Build your first chat bot
with WhatsApp, Twilio and Dialogflow
Dale Humby
CTO, Nomanini
Google Cloud Platform Developer Expert
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90’s
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90’s 00’s
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90’s 00’s 10’s
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Average user spends
2 hours 22 min per day
on their phone
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Meet your customers
where they already are
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90’s 00’s 10’s Next
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Don’t have to learn a new UI
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Departures
Fast answers to simple questions
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Opportunity for a personal connection
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WhatsApp
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Dialogflow
WhatsApp
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Dialogflow
WhatsApp
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API
Backend
services
0xc0ffee lab
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API
Backend
services
0xc0ffee
lab
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Dialogflow
API
Backend
services
0xc0ffee
lab
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Dialogflow
Agent
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Dialogflow
Agent
Unstructured
language
“Please can I have a
coffee?”
“Deliver a flat white to
3 Main Rd at 10am”
“Espresso. Black,
please.”
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Dialogflow
Agent
Unstructured
language
Structured
data
“Please can I have a
coffee?”
“Deliver a flat white to
3 Main Rd at 10am”
“Espresso. Black,
please.”
$time
$location
$coffeeType
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Dialogflow
Agent
Unstructured
language
Structured
data
“Please can I have a
coffee?”
“Deliver a flat white to
3 Main Rd at 10am”
“Espresso. Black,
please.”
$time
$location
Expression
$coffeeType
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Dialogflow
Agent
Unstructured
language
Structured
data
“Please can I have a
coffee?”
“Deliver a flat white to
3 Main Rd at 10am”
“Espresso. Black,
please.”
$time
$location
Expression Intent
$coffeeType
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Dialogflow
Agent
Unstructured
language
Structured
data
“Please can I have a
coffee?”
“Deliver a flat white to
3 Main Rd at 10am”
“Espresso. Black,
please.”
$time
$location
Expression Intent Parameters
$coffeeType
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Dialogflow
Agent
Let’s build
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Dialogflow
API
Backend
services
0xc0ffee
lab
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API
Backend
services
0xc0ffee
lab
Dialogflow
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Dialogflow
API
Backend
services
0xc0ffee
lab
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Dialogflow
API
Backend
services
0xc0ffee
lab
Firebase
Functions
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Dialogflow
API
Backend
services
0xc0ffee
lab
Firebase
Functions
Google Assistant
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Top tips for building a good conversational UI “AI”
“Can I teach this to a high school student
in 1 hour and expect them to do it well?”
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Top tips for building a good conversational UI “AI”
“Can I teach this to a high school student
in 1 hour and expect them to do it well?”
Find all the cat photos
Spam / not?
Answer simple questions
Order and deliver coffee
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Top tips for building a good conversational UI “AI”
“Can I teach this to a high school student
in 1 hour and expect them to do it well?”
Summarise current world affairs
Give me a legal opinion on ...
Predict the stock market
Find all the cat photos
Spam / not?
Answer simple questions
Order and deliver coffee
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Top tips for building good conversational UI’s
● Simple, structured requests – fast, accurate answers
● Give it a personality
● Check logs
○ Analytics
○ Unmatched intents
○ Improve training data
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So you want WhatsApp for business… our story
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So you want WhatsApp for business… our story
● Brace yourself… took me 6 months
● Need to use an aggregator (e.g. Twilio)
● Need Facebook for Business
● Twilio WhatsApp is very beta. I probably sent 8 support tickets.
Dashboard broke after each stage
● SA telephone number (+27) did not work. US number did
● WhatsApp profile pic 640x640 jpg (no transparent background)
● WhatsApp has to approve your push messages
● Unlikely to get the green tick (unless you’re a global brand)
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Send a WhatsApp message to
+1 415 523 8886
with code
join eventually-seems
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Resources
Dialogflow dialogflow.cloud.google.com (free)
Twilio twilio.com/try-twilio ($15 credit at signup)
Codelabs
Build your first chatbot with Dialogflow
codelabs.developers.google.com/codelabs/chatbots-dialogflow-appointment-scheduler/
Build Actions on Google Assistant
codelabs.developers.google.com/codelabs/actions-1
Dale Humby
[email protected]
dalehumby.com
We’re hiring
nomanini.com/careers
Send a WhatsApp message to
+1 415 523 8886
with code
join eventually-seems.
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Backup slides
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Final tip: Use Chatbots as another tool in your toolbox
Chatbot
KB
Suggest
answers
Sentiment
analysis
Speech ⟷
text
Transcripts Customer
satisfaction
Handoff to human operator