This is how we built the first-ever gov.sg chatbot

In November 2016, we were fortunate enough to be chosen as the partner for the first-ever gov.sg Facebook Messenger bot. As Singaporeans, we personally believed it could be a great way to bring information to peers and foreign friends alike, making it easy and accessible for them to stay connected and heard.

In this post, we want to share the details of how we brainstormed, created, optimized, and launched this bot with the team at the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI). We hope that you’ll like it as much as we do.

The planning process

1. Start with objectives

As with any chatbot, the most important first step is to determine the objectives for building it. MCI’s reason was to make information easier to consume and access for more citizens.

As such, the overarching user experience direction was to include sources of information that could be useful on a daily or weekly basis or would be extremely useful to have at a snap.

2. Working out the features

Based on the original set of requirements from MCI, we got to work to define some of the main features and functions the bot should have in order to fulfill its objectives. We sketched a few ideas and thought of how everything would fit together.

It’s important to note that these features tend to change over time, so the first draft is just a quick overview to get started. MCI was really flexible with ideas too, and that gave us a lot of space to experiment.

3. Determining the tone

As the bot would be housed on a Facebook page that would interact with both citizens and foreigners, it has to portray our friendly Singaporean image (and sassiness) while still being professional and courteous. 🦁 We developed a range of different tones and personalities and narrowed them down until we found the one that would best fit the bot.

4. Drawing the dialogue flow

One of the standard ways we build dialogue is in a dialogue flow map. We plotted out all the functionality and dialogue branches on a map and wrote the initial portion of what the bot would say. This way, we got a feel for how the bot would function and what it might possibly say to the user.

We also discussed this map with the MCI team and debated on its functionality and design until everyone was happy with the vision.

Building the bot

Behind the scenes

Testing procedures

Planning and executing a bot launch

Try it out yourself