What is a conversational user interface?
The term conversational user interface (CUI) may be completely foreign to you, but if you’ve ever spoken to Google through a smart speaker, or Siri on your iPhone, or with a chatbot on a website, then you’re already familiar with CUI’s. A CUI is an interface that mimics a conversation that you would have with a real human, whether that be through voice or through typing into a chat window, and is how you interact with a platform.
Recently we worked with RBC VoiceLabs to build voice interactions for some of their smaller lines of business. Through this project, we realized that conversational user interfaces present a whole new set of challenges for UX designers, but if done correctly, it presents an even larger opportunity to engage with customers.
Why is a conversational user interface important for your business?
CUIs significantly reduce customer effort, leading to more customer interactions with your brand. Additionally, when your customers are interacting with your business more frequently, you’re able to develop richer customer profiles and provide a better, more personalized service.
Our work with RBC showed us how important voice technology is and the huge opportunity all CUIs present for all businesses. In 2016, the global chatbot market was valued at $190 million and is projected to continue to grow into the future. Deloitte forecasts smart speakers will be worth $7 billion in 2019, making it the fastest-growing connected device category in history. Research also anticipates that, by 2020, 50% of all internet searches will be done through voice. In fact, over 72% of smart speaker users say devices are part of their daily routines.
With customer expectations changing to demand fast, personalized around the clock service, voice and chatbots can be a valuable asset. But in order to create a conversational user interface that satisfies customers, a CUI can’t be an afterthought.
How do you fit conversational user interfaces into your digital ecosystem?
CUIs are often thought about as something you tack onto an existing digital product (i.e, let’s add Siri Integration or let’s stick a chatbot onto our website) — however, CUIs are more than a feature, they’re a new channel that needs to be integrated into your digital ecosystem. Without the proper strategy and consideration, a CUI won’t be a value-add for your customers, but rather the opposite.
Why do most chatbots and voice interfaces miss the mark?
When we started doing research on conversational user interfaces, we noticed that the majority of voice and chat interactions today are transactional (i.e., Google play this song, Siri what’s the weather?). While this is not inherently bad, it is very mechanical and impersonal — leaving little room for brand impression or relationship building.
Like mobile design a few years back, and web before it, voice and chat are the new uncharted waters. Right now most CUIs don’t provide a delightful experience, because designers haven’t been brought into the mix yet. If you think back to early web days, screens were being built by developers without designers, and although these webpages worked, it was a pretty cold and mechanical process. That’s where we’re at today with conversational user interfaces, but I believe with the right design principles, CUIs will connect people with brands like never before.
Throughout this series on CUIs, I’ll be exploring how you can harness the full potential of conversational user interfaces and create delightful customer experiences. In the next article, I’ll be going over the three essential elements all great CUIs have, including examples and solutions from our work with RBC VoiceLabs. Of course, we are just getting our feet wet in this new and exciting area of technology and we plan to make this an ongoing topic of discussion. If you think I missed anything in this article, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
