January 2021 Summaries

The Voiceflow team has announced the recipients of the 2nd annual Voiceflow Community Awards, recognizing excellence in various categories including voice design, innovation, and user experience among top CxD teams using Voiceflow. The awards are given to individuals and teams that demonstrate outstanding contributions to the growth and success of the community, with a focus on celebrating those who share an unwavering commitment to voice technology. Notable winners include VF Team Award recipients for Most Innovative Voice Experience, Most Advanced Design, Best Custom Assistant Design, and Best use of IoT in Conversation Design. The awards acknowledge the hard work and dedication of nominees, who are recognized as making significant contributions to the advancement of this technology.

The Voiceflow team is excited to announce Voiceflow V2, an annual product event that will unveil major company updates and several important product launches. The event takes place on 02/22/2021 at 2 pm EST and offers a platform for participants to connect with the community, team, and industry professionals. Following the event, a #VFV2 Social will be hosted by Dr. Teri Fisher, allowing participants from worldwide to join in and share their experiences.

Understanding the technology behind conversational assistants is crucial for conversation designers, as it allows them to design effective conversations within the scope of what's possible today and anticipate future possibilities. The workflow typically involves defining a problem, setting objectives, creating personas, writing sample dialogs, testing with Wizard of Oz testing, prototyping early happy paths, adding copywriting, conducting unguided user testing, and passing off design to developers. Conversation designers often use tools like spreadsheets, word documents, and flowcharts in tandem to provide a comprehensive view of the conversation. To build a portfolio as a conversation designer, it's essential to start with everyday interactions and create designs that reflect real-world conversations.

The text discusses the emerging field of Conversation Design (CxD), which involves designing conversational interfaces for various platforms such as IVRs, voice assistants, and chatbots. A conversation designer is responsible for defining use cases, designing conversations' flows, and identifying different conversation states. In contrast, a conversation copywriter focuses on writing excellent prompts and assistant responses. The role of conversation designers often overlaps with UX designers, and there is ambiguity regarding where some responsibilities fall. CxD roles can be found across various industries, including IVR, voice assistants, and chatbots. Assembling a conversation design portfolio can be challenging due to the lack of visual representation, but focusing on prototypes, methodologies, and specific sections can help. The field of CxD is rapidly evolving, making it essential for individuals to navigate its changing landscape and find opportunities within.

Sonia emphasizes the importance of replacing language, graphics, and links in chatbots to create a more real experience for users when transitioning to voice interfaces. She also highlights the need for confirmations to prevent misunderstandings and misinterpretation of user requests. Additionally, Sonia stresses the value of asking for more details to provide a better user experience, accounting for communication lapses in time, stockpiling utterances to accommodate variation in user speech, and adding a variety of error messages to make the interaction feel less robotic. These adjustments can significantly enhance the effectiveness and user-friendliness of voice-based chatbots.

When evaluating conversation design tools, I examine five key areas: ease of use, collaboration, integrations/export options, design fidelity, and prototyping. Each tool has its strengths and weaknesses in these categories, and there is no one perfect tool for every designer or team. Products change rapidly over time, so it's essential to try out multiple tools to find the best fit for your specific use case. The "feel" of a tool can also vary depending on individual comfort levels, but this will ultimately depend on personal preference. By understanding each tool's capabilities and limitations, you can make an informed decision about which one suits your needs.

When interacting with computer-based assistants like those used in everyday applications such as ordering food or making transactions, it's often unnecessary to engage in small talk that may not be relevant or useful for the user's goal. While natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning capabilities have improved, they still struggle with unstructured conversations and can lead to frustration if not designed properly. Designing assistants around a specific objective in mind helps create a more efficient and effective conversation experience. Focusing on core flows and intents that meet the user's needs is key, rather than trying to replicate human-like characteristics or humor that may not be suitable for all contexts.

Open vs. closed prompts are two types of prompts used in conversations to elicit responses from users. Open prompts provide the user with an unlimited choice of responses, while closed prompts elicit a limited set of potential answers. The difference between open and closed intents lies in their contextual availability, with top-level or open intents always available and closed intents only available at a specific point in the conversation. To craft effective open or closed prompts, designers must align the prompt's structure with its content, considering whether the conversation is user-led or system-led. System-led conversations are designed to achieve a specific objective, such as determining a pizza order preference, while user-led conversations allow the user to set the conversation's objective. The narrowing principle can be employed to steadily go from open to closed prompts as the conversation progresses, allowing users to define their objectives before the assistant takes over. Effective conversation design uses this principle to create a shared objective and achieve a smooth user experience.