How to Design Trusted Multi-Channel Conversations
Learn how designers ensure user experiences are seamless and trustworthy across channels and devices
In the first article of the Crafting Conversations series we answered the question, what’s the difference between conversation UI and conversation design? In this article I’ll cover some of the common pitfalls that can occur when bringing them all together, and how you can prevent those mistakes when you’re creating conversations for your business and your customers.
The big bang of messaging apps and channels is expanding almost as quickly as the capabilities of your customers. With rich messaging content like card carousels, multi-section list pickers, and built-in payment capabilities, there’s a lot to consider when designing conversations. It’s important that those capabilities are able to be viewed and used consistently, across all of the channels your customers are using. Furthermore, the asynchronous nature of chat conversations, where a customer can start a chat through their browser then pick it up later on their smartwatch, means designers have a lot to keep track of.
Don’t fret because in this article I’ve identified some mistakes that many designers make when creating conversations across different channels and how to avoid them. To bring great conversations to life you need the right language, the right message, and trust through transparency.
The Right Language
I’m not saying that you need to be able to speak Klingon or Esperanto, but you do need to make sure you focus on the right messaging capabilities to make sure your customers understand what you’re trying to share with them. Strive for clarity in your message, directed at an identified audience, across all your available channels, whether it’s a laptop, phone, smartwatch, or voice assistant.
How do we do this across those channels and devices with varying capabilities? The truth is, whether someone’s on a web chat viewing a card carousel of products, or on a mobile app seeing a list, it’s the parity of information that’s most important, not parity of presentation. Both formats look different side-by-side, but both also include areas for an image, title, and descriptive language. When designed properly, your customers can make informed decisions no matter what channel they’re using because the information is the same across all channels.
Okay but what happens if you can’t keep the information consistent across all channels? Plan for it! Say your customer reaches out to an agent through SMS or a smartwatch and can’t view images in a list of products? Give your Agent some indication that the customer might need more context and prompt them to give more guidance by saying or chatting, “I have images of the products if you would like descriptions or have questions.” This level of support builds a more trusted relationship and alleviates frustration for the customer.
The Right Message
A marketer would use chat channels differently than a support agent because they’re communicating different types of messages to different audiences. With that in mind, it’s important to think about the scale of your message both in tone and message type. For instance, messaging a high-value customer is not the same as blasting a promo code to an entire list of leads.
For tone, ask yourself if you’re having a conversation, or putting out a broadcast. If you message an individual customer about how their last order went, you’re opening the conversation up for either a quick thumbs up or to authentically meet their concerns. The tone here should match a one-to-one situation and be empathetic and open, with anticipation of a response from your customer. On the other hand, if you shout to your whole customer list to give them a promotional code to use on a selection of items, your tone should be less personal. A quick in and out like, “Hi, how ya doin’? Here’s something valuable and I’ll get out of your hair.” Using the wrong tone for the wrong audience or situation isn’t treating your customers like you care about them, and can erode the relationship you’ve tried so hard to build with them.
Along with creating the right tone for your message, designers also need to determine the appropriate type of message. Using a quick reply when it would be better to use a carousel or list picker could get you into trouble. Imagine a loyal customer is reaching out about their previous order — the best type of message for that quick interaction would be a quick reply. It allows them to easily respond to the brief list of previous order numbers. It also builds on the context that your individual customer already has with your company and fosters loyalty. Conversely, a robust carousel with images of products can help a broad audience hoping to browse and shop. Many modern chat channels are capable of providing incredibly rich experiences, but designers need to be mindful of pairing the appropriate audience with the proper tone and type of message. Often, the simplest approach can be the best.
Trust through Transparency
Have you ever had a stranger step into your conversation after eavesdropping and stay like they were supposed to be there the whole time? It’s weird and unsettling, right? It’s even worse when this happens in a virtual conversation. It’s an ambush!
When designing conversations, it’s important to always be clear about who is in the conversation. From the beginning of the conversation, your design needs to be clear about any transfers from one person to another and when participants are added. Keep your customer informed with a status update when another person has joined the chat.
This level of transparency builds trust with your customer. Clarity around who joined a chat when and what they said will also help your customers in the future if they need to reference the chat history. This is increasingly important as customers expect conversations to be seamlessly supported asynchronously across different channels. It’s not always possible to make sure that one person handles everything, and this historical information can be immensely valuable to someone new stepping in.
What’s next?
While the chat environment is in flux, the ideas we’ve discussed are well-established and will help you get your conversation designs off on the right foot. The tips you’ve learned in this article will help you build conversational experiences on a strong foundation so they can grow and expand with new capabilities and channels. This enables you and your business to make updates to the work you’ve already done rather than starting over. It’s our goal to make your conversations rich and valuable, so your users can succeed from anywhere.
Nice chatting with you!
This article is part of a series called Crafting Conversations. Check back for more articles where you’ll learn how to design great conversations and get advice from our team of designers and linguists.
Check out some of the other articles in the series:
This series is a collaborative effort between a team of conversation subject matter experts. Thank you to Michal Angel, Austin Bedford, Greg Bennett, Rachel Blank, Marlinda Galapon, Denise Martinez, Jonathon Newby, Madeline Davis, and Margaret Seelie.
Learn more about Salesforce design at design.salesforce.com
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