How to improve the accuracy of Dialogflow ES

In this article, I will provide some tips on how you can improve the accuracy of your Dialogflow ES bot.

Use the explicative approach

You should avoid some features in Dialogflow ES, like slot filling and using the default context lifespan (usually set at 5).

I have explained this approach in my article on using the explicative approach, which suggests that users should design their conversation flow in such a way that it is easy to maintain.

Increase cohesion and separation

In my article about Dialogflow training phrase quality, I explain the concepts of cohesion and separation.

Loosely defined, the cohesion represents the intra-intent similarity of training phrases and the separation represents the inter-intent non-similarity of training phrases.

Using the verb.noun method to auto-generate intents from chat logs is a good example of this. (Can you explain why?)

Autogenerate test scripts for training phrases

If you add automated conversation tests to your chatbot, you will be able to maintain the accuracy of your bot more easily.

And an easy way to add automated conversation tests is to use the training phrases in your intents and add a filler word at the end of the sentence.

Avoid adding user utterances from the Training module into your intent

One of the easiest ways to destroy the accuracy of your bot is to move your user utterances from your Training module into your intent.

Instead, give some thought to what you are adding. Do you really need to add the entire user utterance? Can you copy paste a part of the user utterance into the intent training phrase, for example by omitting superfluous parts? At best, this will allow you to increase the cohesion of the intent. At worst, it will make sure you do not decrease it.

Add true positives and true negatives into your test script

One of the easiest ways to manage the accuracy of your chatbot is to add the true positives and true negatives into the test script.

This helps in two ways.

Adding true positives into your test script helps maintain consistent behavior for users. That is quite obvious.

Adding true negatives (these are almost always swear words and people trying to mock your bot) into your test script also helps your bot because it gives you real world data that will make sure your bot doesn’t answer questions which don’t have to be answered.

I explain how to do all this systematically (including sample Python code) in my “Improving Dialogflow ES accuracy” course.

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