Conversational Design

Advances in technology have changed how we interact with digital systems. Cloud computing has allowed internet-connected devices to access immense amounts of data storage and processing power. Increased access to processing power and data also gave a boost to machine learning. This has lead to great advances in Natural Language Processing which has empowered chatbots and allow the creation of devices such as Alexa and Google Assistant.

These technological advances had created a lot of enthusiasm for interacting with software through conversational interfaces that can interpret natural language whether typed or spoken.

So now everyone is realizing about the importance of conversation as an interface and language as part of the design but the conversation is not a new interface. It’s the oldest interface, it’s how humans interact with one another so we should be able to use the same principles (used in conversations) to make our digital systems easy and intuitive to use.

We should begin by studying the principles of conversation, so we must consider that a good conversation is more than just an exchange of phrases, it’s about cooperation towards a goal. People interact with one another intentionally and because the benefit from conversation. They get value. An interface is just a way for a human to exchange information with another system to get value out of it. And the system looks to get value out of the exchange as well. The interface is effective to the extent that it helps the two parties in interaction get what they need from each other.

The fundamental interface between people is the conversation.

HOW CONVERSATION WORKS

Conversational interaction is complex and is guided by a set of implicit rules and agreements.

The four conversational maxims are Quantity, Quality, Relation, Manner, and Politeness. — Conversational Design by Erika Hall

Quantity: provide just enough information, don’t give more information than required.

Quality: the key to quality content is that it should be truthful.

Relation: It’s all about the context, you must demonstrate context-awareness.

Manner: be brief and present the information in a logical order.

Politeness: don’t force the conversation and provide options.

Implementing the conversational maxims.

By following the conversation maxims we can make interaction with digital systems feel more human, to achieve this a series of conversational design principles must be followed.

Based on the conversational design principles a conversation with a digital system must be: Cooperative, Goal-oriented, Context-aware, Turn-based, Polite, error tolerant, quick and clear. — Conversational Design by Erika Hall

Cooperative

The system must actively support the customer and interacting with it shouldn’t require an effort or special knowledge. Remember if there is no cooperation, there is no conversation.

Goal-oriented

A successful interaction helps both parties meet their goals pleasantly and efficiently. To design a conversation you must have a clear goal.

Context-aware

The system must be able to respond to context, that’s a key difference between documents and conversation. The more a system can respond appropriately and avoid causing pain, the more it can behave like a good conversational partner. Context can be information about the customer’s device, his location, his time zone, previous interactions with the system.

Quick and clear

Don’t underestimate the importance of speed.

Turn-based

Successful conversations usually have even exchanges and the amount of time that’s acceptable for taking a turn to speak depends on both the context and the value of the contribution. It is important to request or provide the right information at the right time, poor interactions require the participants to backtrack and make corrections.

Polite

This is achieved by making the customer’s time investment more productive than expected, whether offering additional choices or offering fewer choices is the politer behavior depends on the context.

Error-tolerant

The system must be tolerant of errors and recovers seamlessly from them.

The same conversational principles apply across all moments within an experience, just with different emphases at different times. Avoid making assumptions about what users want in favor of understanding real-world contexts.

This set of conversational principles is a good start but you must also consider the experience personality which brings the conversation to life.