Conversational UI: New Trend to Make Your UI Stand Apart.
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A conversational user interface (CUI) is a digital interface that lets users to interact with a product based on standards of real-life human interaction. Put simply, users don’t need to look for information in the graphical interface; they can just tell the device what to do verbally or in writing. The main technology used by conversational interfaces is Natural Language Processing (NLP). NLP is a type of artificial intelligence that pacts with analyzing the real objective of a user’s command. Usually, computers knew a question or command in a programming language but with NLP technology, they can simply understand real human language.
The key idea behind conversational UIs is to build seamless and simple communication between a you and your device. Big technology brands like Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon believe CUIs to be the future of communication with users.
Types of conversational user interfaces
There are largely two categories of conversational UIs: chatbots (like Facebook Messenger) and voice assistants (like Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, Amazon Echo, and Google Assistant).
Chatbots
Today, more and more businesses, particularly in the ecommerce industry, are incorporating live chatbots as they are easier to execute than voice assistants. A chatbot is a graphical interface where communication between a bot and a user is real and is shown in chat bubbles. Chatbots transforms the way online firms interact with customers.
Voice assistants
A voice assistant is an AI-based service that uses voice recognition and NLP technologies to execute a specific action in reply to a voice command. Voice assistants are also bots, but they don’t use any graphical interface — only voice.
Voice user interfaces (VUIs) work based on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and voice recognition technologies. The technology needed to create a VUI is very complicated, so few companies afford to execute voice assistants.
Conversational UI design best practices
In order to make an useful conversational interface, it’s essential to follow best procedures and basic rules of making conversational processes — as well as the basic rules for their graphical design. Let’s learn the simple rules of creating remarkable conversational UIs.
#1 Make the application’s background clean
The background of the application should not confuse a user from the conversation, so do it clean and minimalistic. If you apply a pattern, it should not draw much attention. The main thing a user should be focused on is the dialog itself.
#2 Be concise
A concise conversational UI has two major advantages: it simplifies the understanding of the text and puts enough whitespace. In addition, smaller sentences are better presented and seen on small displays. If you want to present more text, break it into several messages.
#3 Avoid false options
False options are choices that a bot can’t react to meaningfully. For example, say a user sends a request to search for information. In order to see more search results, the bot reminds the user to type “more,” though there are actually no additional results. This is a false option so it leads the user to a dead-end.
#4 Choose the right words for commands
Be consistent in choosing phrases for commands. Using different phrases (e.g. save, add to your list, remember) to denote the same functionality can confuse users. With too many synonyms, users won’t remember what commands actually do. That’s why we suggest using one phrase for one functionality so users remember its meaning.
#5 Choose the right voice for the assistant
When choosing a voice, give your assistant a personality that links it closely to your brand. To let customers know they’re talking to a voice assistant, many brands also give their assistant a name. This allows them to be transparent with customers while maintaining a friendly tone. Consider the following things when creating a voice for your assistant:
Wrapping up
An important step towards creating an effective conversational UI is realizing what’s involved in building a conversational experience. Of course, it takes a conscious effort to humanize a conversational interface so a chatbot or voice assistant can become a compelling communication partner. But following the basic rules we’ve listed above will help you make this process easy and create a successful conversational UI.
