The Launch of LOBI

In August 2022, the WhatsApp chatbot was launched internally for testing by the ABALOBI team. Coaches and the community development team were encouraged to interact with the bot to identify areas where users were getting stuck or confused and where reminder notifications were needed.

A Testing Overview

• 24 users sent 992 messages in total to test and prepare the bot for launch to a pre-defined cohort of 10 participants.

Areas for Improvement

The following areas for improvement were identified:

• Integration with AirTable is only possible through third-party software. Signups would be managed manually until the pilot was expanded.
• Bugs were identified when users changed their language preference, which confused some of the other variables that trigger menu options. Additional triggers were added to accommodate these changes.
• Users were able to change their details before signing up. This menu was made unavailable until the signup process was completed.

Changes and Decisions

After a rich feedback session with the team, the decision was made to switch from using the word "menu" to trigger menus after threads ended, as it was too much work. It was decided to switch to number triggers instead. Implementing this was more complicated than originally expected.

ABALOBI staff voted to name the bot "LOBI," and the design team added a face to the name!