Anyone who has built a chatbot before knows that users like to send emoji. This is backed by data from Dashbot.io, a chatbot analytics platform. But there are over 1,500 emojis that exist (not to mention all the skin tone variations). How does one respond to all of them?
That’s why I decided to build EmojiBot — a bot built with Dialogflow intents that can respond to any emoji (well at least over 1,500 emojis in my database).
EmojiBot1.0 was simple, it responded to any emoji with the exact same emoji. Problem with that was that users were not very engaged. It wasn’t terribly entertaining. Average messages sent per session was a miserable four.
So I upgraded its capabilities to EmojiBot2.0. A smart EmojiBot. One that responds to any emoji with a related but different emoji. And the difference in engagement was remarkable! Average messages sent per session is >60, with average session duration of 200s (over 3 minutes). The longest a user spent talking to EmojiBot2.0 was 3 hours (well 3 sessions of over 20 minutes each over 3 hours).
EmojiBot responds with a related but non-identical emoji
EmojiBot2.0 can also handle gifs and stickers. (According to dashbot.io, 9.9% of all messages sent are stickers. Here’s more on what users sent to messenger bots in 2017.)
EmojiBot2.0 responds to stickers
How Was This Done?
I got the idea from Abhilash Murthy, creator of the Bus Uncle chatbot, the #1 chatbot in Singapore, so due credit to him. But to actually implement this idea, I scraped Emojipedia into GoogleSheets, and I spent 3 days manually mapping each emoji with a related emoji (well my virtual assistant did). Probably not the most efficient way to do it, but it was the only way I knew how, without any coding skills.
My GooleSheet of Emoji and Emoji responses
My Googlesheet of stickers that can be imported into Dialogflow!
With the help of Marc Littlemore and Aravind Mohanoor, we figured out a way to upload the GoogleSheet (in csv format) to Dialogflow!
EmojiBot2.0 for anyone!
EmojiBot2.0 can be exported and imported into any Dialogflow agent! And I’m prepared to share it! For a small catch! I will send you the zipped file of all my emoji intents that you can upload to any and as many Dialogflow agents as you want, in return for a $35 donation to the charity of my choice.
Building Schools with Pencils of Promise
I have been supporting Pencils of Promise since 2015 and have raised over $75,000 for them. I support them because their founder, Adam Braun, and I both worked at Bain & Company and we believe in results. 100% of schools built by Pencils of Promise is operational today and in the last 2 years, a total of 3 schools have been completed in Laos with the funds I’ve raised.
Before (School I helped build in Laos)
After (School I helped build in Laos)Why $35?
$35 provides a PoP student with a year of quality education, which includes a contribution to their school build fund. 100% of this support goes directly to the field
What do you get for a $35 donation?
You’ll get a zipped file of all my emoji intents with the smart responses. I’ll also give you a copy of my googlesheet so you can customise it as you wish, and share with you a FREE tool to convert the googlesheet into Dialogflow intents!
If you need help with Dialogflow (and Chatfuel), check out these awesome resources:
Play with EmojiBot2.0!
Play ping pong with EmojiBot2.0 here and make a $35 donation here to get all my emoji intents! (Will send in 72 hours, no support, no upgrades, what you get is what you get!)
Please drop me an email at Debbie.kay at gmail to let me know and I’ll send you the files ASAP!!
Donate here.
Learn More about my School Building Campaigns
Go to https://deb.bi/WantstoBuildaSchool or visit my Facebook page here.