How To Design Amazing Conversational Interfaces & Chatbots

Today, chatbots are entrepreneurs’ best friends, as they can increase entrepreneurs’ and their team’s efforts by improving collaboration and productivity.

A chatbot is simply an AI-powered method for humans to communicate with a machine. It comprehends their meaning and directs them to the desired response, without human intervention.

The voice response system that we use on our voice calls was the first form of a ‘chatbot.’ You dial and then a voice provides you with choices, which you choose by pressing a digit on your device. And you repeat this process many times… and hopefully, you get the answer you are looking for.

Designers need to take a develop thinking approach to find out what people expect from their products. But what if you are developing a chatbot or a conversational interface? In such applications, your app’s conversation is the interface!

You type to chatbots and talk to voice assistants. These are the two kinds of conversational interfaces.

For example, you can type into Radisson Hotel’s chatbot, Edward, for online check-in. Siri, though, is a voice assistant, from whom you can ask about the weather today by speaking to her on your iPhone.

A chatbot may be created for a website or app either under the constraints of an existing platform or from scratch.

Creating a chatbot integrated into a corporate’s website or mobile application allows designers to develop a customized and branded interface. To fulfill specific requirements, designers may make custom buttons, color palettes, and other parts.

Chatbots can be also developed using platforms like Slack, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, or Kik. These platforms have pre-built features, as well as visual formatting elements, such as fonts, photo sizes, to name a few.

Design Tips for an Amazing Chatbot and Conversational Interface

We’ve put together a list of useful tips for creating fantastic conversational interfaces and chatbots. Let’s discuss them in further details:

1. Empathy is the key

If you pay attention to human conversations, you will see how complex they are. Observe how information is passed on, as well as the various ways in which people speak and convey feelings.

They communicate their intent with empathy and make natural social interactions.

To design an amazing and user-friendly conversational interface you should focus on empathy as the key in your AI app.

Your AI should have the following features to express empathy:

A good understanding of the context

Suppose that you tell someone “I have a headache” and he/she replies with “I hate to hear that”. Does it sound empathetic? No. How to make it empathetic? Here’s how:

This kind of answer doesn’t feel good and neither does it help. Your AI should understand the context and offer aid, whether by providing the contact details of nearby medicians or drugstores.

Keep the conversation going

A favorable conversation is engaging, while an awkward one sounds like a set of statements about a subject.

Considering this subtle point in making your conversational UI can make a huge difference. Try to write them naturally and engagingly, in different potential scenarios, to keep the conversation going.

Then, read what you wrote and check if it sounds right and natural and you are doing it right.

2. Make it visually appealing

Words aren’t always sufficient. With a look into the history of social media and messengers, we see how emojis made conversations more interesting and natural.

You’ll need to use visual cues to get the point across and emphasize what you’re saying. People react better to visual information, according to research. That’s why we use charts and tables to present information in corporate meetings is that they are more visually appealing.

As an example of using visual elements and emojis in chatbots consider the Whole Foods Market chatbot. When you pick an emoji, such as mango or asparagus, it sends you a recipe from its database that includes that product. You can guess how engaging and appealing that can feel.

3. Make it convenient

Conversational interfaces, such as Google Assistant and Messenger bots, are intended to understand user behavior patterns. Your messages must be specific and concise.

An answer should not provide two messages and it should not be irrelevant to the user’s purpose. For instance, if the user says “book a room” in a hotel chatbot, the answer should only acknowledge it by saying something like “for how many nights?”

Do not offer multiple choices for a yes/no question so that to make your conversational interface easier for users.

Also Read: How Chatbots saves Time And Optimize The Business