Voice This! Podcast: Episode 2
Successful Conversational AI Experiences with Ilarna Nche
Join Millani and Ilarna as they explore Ilarna’s journey and early success as a Voice App developer. Episode topics include: monitoring your product’s performance with KPIs, Ilarna’s view on moving from voice app concept to public iterations, and tips and resources for novice practitioners. They also discuss the satisfying and seamless UX of personalization in voice apps, as well as their associated privacy concerns.
Ilarna’s Bio
Ilarna Nche holds many titles such as voice app developer, business owner, Alexa Champion and much more. Ilarna has succeeded so much within the voice app space in such a short period of time — it’s hard to believe she’s only been in it for 3 years.
Check out Ilarna’s voice apps like Beat the Clock, Music Bop Adventures, Horse Race, and Riddle Time on her company website, adassainnovations.com.
Follow her on Twitter @ilarna_preach or connect on LinkedIn!
Quotes
[On her top 3 recommendations for breaking into the voice tech space] Firstly, identify what you’re good at and what you want to be good at, and either spend time learning from those who are really good at it, or hire someone who is… Step two is learn about the market. Really get to know what it is that people like, especially from different countries, and try out those top voice experiences in different countries so that you can learn what their best practices are… And thirdly, the most important thing is to just have fun with it, because you can really tell if the experience has been made with love.
Don’t immediately shut yourself off if you don’t think you’re not capable, because there are tools out there which will help. I suggest taking it slow and start making sure that you don’t jump too much into the deep end, because it will be easier to adapt once you get the basics down.
If you’re making big changes to your app — it will be hard to identify what’s actually caused these ranges of numbers going up or down. in your analytics. So if you’re you’ve already got an app or an experience which has kind of settled itself, make small changes to see how it affects and analyze it as well, so that you can monitor how well it’s doing.
I think if you have the opportunity to use an app, and you don’t have to interrupt the experience — if I say ‘you know what, I’m going to do this on my phone, it’ll be quicker,’ then that’s a loss right there. If you can do something where as a user, I can say, ‘oh, that was easy’ — then you’ve won.
You walk into a pub, the barman will be like, ‘want your usual?’ and you’re like, ‘yes, please,’ and it’s like they know you. And that’s kind of where we want conversational AI to head… I should know this person based off of previous interactions. Personalization is something that will be very important for a user, and to create more successful experiences.
How much personal data do you actually need from a user? Don’t go asking for stuff that you don’t need, because at the end of the day, it’s all about trust… For users there’s that taboo of like, they’re always listening, but I believe that the conversation in our AI’s is in the same category as social media. They think that there are two different levels when it comes to the assistants, but really anything connected to the internet are all in the same playing field.
Reference Links
Voiceflow
https://www.voiceflow.com/
VoiceLunch
https://register.voicelunch.com/
Voicebot
https://voicebot.ai/
Beginner Alexa Developer Tutorial
https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/alexa/alexa-skills-kit/get-deeper/tutorials-code-samples/build-an-engaging-alexa-skill
About Voice This! Podcast
Conversations with the people who make conversational AI 🎙️Join Millani Jayasingkam and guests as they discuss voice technology, conversation design, AI trends, and the strategy of creating effective conversational experiences. Tune in for first-hand learnings, insights, anecdotes, and sometimes jokes! Say hi and send us your questions at: voicethispod@gmail.com.
Find us wherever you get your podcasts or Listen on Spotify!
