Introduction
Our goal is to create a chatbot that provides conversation around topics of gun control. The conversation of the bot will lead to two branches, pro-gun control or anti-gun control. The user will make the choice at the beginning of the program. If the user chose to support gun control, then the bot will provide proofs and examples to try to convince the user to the other side. And vice versa, the users who are against gun control will be convinced to the pro side. They will be given two choices, the second choice of the two is always an exit to the program, whenever the user chose that, which means the user has been convinced successfully.
Prototyping
At the beginning stage, our product is really simple, as shown in the picture, just a couple of facts as examples try to convince the user. We divided the team into two subgroups, one working on researching and building up a branch on the pro-gun control side and the other team work on building the other branch. And we will test each others’ conversation to make sure it makes sense. We used to write all the section within one flow, then soon realized it was really messy. Then I figured out a trick using Trigger, so basically created a separated flow to store the information about the other side. This became really helpful later on when we try to change content and links.
Here is one of the videos for our user testing. After five users, we have received a lot of useful feedback which led to a massive change in content. We trying to make the bot to drive the conversation but give the user to choose their own path as well. We also shorten our answers and examples and make them easier to understand and more persuasive.
Conclusion
We found user testing really helpful, because, in our product, we basically changed our whole formatting and a large portion of our content based on feedbacks. Comparing to our first version, we added more “Artificial Intelligence” to the product, so the user will have a better feeling of debating with another guy through the whole process. Topics like gun control don’t have a correct answer, we just hope people could have an open mind towards them.