Principles of Conversational User Interfaces with Use Cases

What is a Conversational User Interface?

User Interfaces are the design or system through which the user and the computer interact. Conversational user interfaces help humans interact with computers using Voice or text. As technology grows, it is becoming easy to interpret human voice or text into an understandable computer format through NLU (natural language understanding).

Types of Conversational User Interfaces

1. Voice assistants allow a person to interact verbally.

2. Chatbots where the user interacts with the bots by typing commands or queries.

We can easily find conversational user interfaces like Siri, Alexa, and support bots on many websites today. The basic idea behind the conversational user interfaces is that they should be as easy to use and talk to as talking or having information from a human being.

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What are the Principles of Conversational User Interface?

The following are the basic principles of Conversational User Interface:

Clear about the objective or the purpose of building CUI

We must be clear about the purpose of building CUI. While creating the CUI, we must know the answers to the following questions:-

• Who is our target audience?

• What business objective is it going to achieve?

• How will it benefit our customers?

• What problem will it solve for our customers so they don’t get distracted from our platform?

So, our chatbots should be clearly defined with the tasks they will perform. They should also not be overloaded with too much information or assignments, as this could prevent them from doing anything well and confuse customers with too many choices.

Users should know about the bot from the very beginning

The users should know about the bot's capabilities and limitations. Users who interact with the bot might not know what to do with it. If it is a voice assistant, it must inform the user like Hey, I am XYZ. I can help you with scheduling a meeting with our doctor. Or, I could help you with providing the details of our products and their availability. Try asking me about any product.  So, it shouldn’t be like when the user starts to interact and doesn’t know what to do with it, gets frustrated and leaves the app.

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Functionality should be connecting

Research has revealed that users are more likely to interact with bots when they feel more connected to them or when they feel like they are interacting with human beings. If it is a voice assistant, then the tune should be fine and audible, and we should always try to have the bot reply with their names because it sounds good and feels more connected to them.

To be more Appropriate

It should always reply with a more concise answer that doesn’t include more words or sentences, which is inappropriate because it confuses the answer and loses attention. For example, if a user asks about any product, it should reply with its availability and one-line details. Now, it should include 3-4 lines of its details and history.

Minimum details asked

It is good to show the user some suggestions while interacting, so that they don’t have to type much. Also, it is a good practice not to allow users to type much and get as much information from the system. Also, users expect that if some information is said once, it shouldn’t be asked again and expect that it should remember that information for the rest of the conversation. E.g., If the user is scheduling a meeting with a doctor, it should automatically suggest some available times with the doctor's names.

Handle Unexpected Situations

Like how well we design our systems, there is a chance that the error will occur. So, our chatbots should always handle them gracefully. For this, we should try to do the following:-

1. We should gather the information beforehand from the user and then act on it.

2. They should be able to handle unexpected situations, such as clicking on the wrong button, undo button, or anything, and then pick up where they were.

Easy access to end the Conversation

It often happens that users are not satisfied with the chatbots’ replies and want to interact with humans. The bot should be easily accessible to navigate to the human being. Also, it should end the conversation gracefully with messages like thank you for contacting us. It shouldn’t seem like the user is trying to end the conversation, but it is replying to text or voice.

Show Presence

Chatbots and voice assistants should keep the user's attention. For example, the bots should show typing indicators if the user has asked something. This way, the user knows that, yes, I will get a reply back and doesn’t feel lost.

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How does a Conversational User Interface work?

Conversational UI works just like we talk with a real human to access different services. Interact with the system, bot or human, using text and voice, and then the system responds based on queries and requirements. To cover the basics, Conversational AI occurs in two formats —

• Chatbots (Slackbot, Facebook Messenger, Magic, and Kik).

• Voice assistants or voice user interfaces (Apple — Siri, Amazon — Alexa, and Samsung — Bixby)

What are Chatbots?

Chatbots are web or mobile interfaces that allow users to ask questions and retrieve information from a computer system. Many organisations currently use chatbots to converse with their users. However, with the growth of technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Natural Language Processing (NLP), Chatbots prominently affect UI / UX, providing a complete conversational experience to the user.

What are Voice User Interfaces (VUIS)?

VUI makes human interaction with computers possible through a voice/speech platform to initiate an automated service or process. Apple with Siri, Samsung with Bixby, Microsoft with Cortana, Google with OK Google, and Amazon with Alexa have already made VUI familiar to the world. In future, websites powered by their VUIs or will integrate with any of the existing technologies. This will make way for more conversational website content. Conversational UI uses -

• Natural Language Processing(NLP).
• Natural Language Understanding(NLU).

NLP to allow systems to understand, analyse and create meaning from structure to human language data and work together to handle end-to-end interactions between machines and humans in the preferred language of the human. The unstructured format of human language makes it difficult for a machine to always correctly interpret the user’s data/request and shift towards Natural Language Understanding (NLU). NLU handle unstructured inputs and converts them into a structured form that a machine can understand and act.

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NLU helps in sentiment analysis and conversational searches which allows a line of questioning to continue, with the context carried throughout the conversation. For example, a user could first ask about India's population. Then, you can ask “Who is the president?” The search will carry forward the context of India and provide the appropriate response. The stack required to develop a modern and interactive conversational UI application includes -

• Speech recognition
• NLU
• Conversational level
• Dictionary/samples
• Context
• Business logic

What are the benefits of Conversational UI?

• Better engagement/trust building with end-users through proper interaction.

• Better user experience/convenience & decision support as filling out a time-consuming form & adjusting questions based on the user’s answers.

• Cross-platform integration & Compatibility.

• Allows personalisation.

Why is a Conversational User Interface important?

• Provides a realistic feel while interacting with the bot & system.

• Conversation UI uses words as a natural communication form for people, making VUI more exciting.

• Increased user attention - targeted questions with clear Call to Action for each interaction for different users.

What are the best practices for Conversational User Interface?

Building & Designing a genuinely helpful and attractive conversational User Interface is still a challenge from a UX standpoint. GUI does not work in the same way as Conversational UI. Conversational UI Design focuses more on designing the conversation flow as naturally and efficiently as possible, focusing more on words and the user than the visual design. To build an attractive CUI, one needs to follow the best practices to design a CUI Platform, focus on the target audience and their problems, and answer the following questions before actual implementation.

• What is the user trying to do with the system?

• Is it solving the user/customer problem efficiently?

• Is it minimising the user’s effort to communicate with the system?

• How beneficial is this for the target audience?

How to adopt a Conversational User Interface?

 The steps to adopt a Conversational User Interface are listed below:

Guide to Clear Flow

To design a Conversational Interface, don’t try to develop a system to do everything simultaneously; focus on only one problem/purpose. Define the user's problem, the solution, the  goal & expectations, and the design flow should cover these points -

• Define the purpose of the system.
• Set clear expectations on what a system can do and cannot.
• Improve discoverability by providing hints.
• Simplify data entry.
• Offer shortcuts.
• Avoid asking open-ended and rhetorical questions.

Understanding User Control

The User should have control and freedom to use the system and need to feel in control of it rather than being controlled by it.

• Don’t leave the user waiting without providing any feedback.

• Allow the user to reset the conversation at any time during the interaction.

• Allow user interruptions & re-engage with the app after they leave.

• Confirm by asking, not stating.

• Easy error handling and error message.

• Provide help, assistance, and suggestions for when the user feels lost.

• Provide the feature to undo, redo and cancel.

Humanize conversation

Conversion between the user and system should make the user feel like talking with other humans, as people know that a digital system doesn’t have feelings, and prefer warm and humanised responses, rather than cold and robotic. Be sure to design a system whose vocabulary and tone resonate with the target audience.

Prioritized information & Avoid jargon

Words are a significant part of Conversational Interfaces. Make sentences simple, concise, and straightforward. Use precise language and behave like you're conversing with real people, according to the target audience. Don’t use ambiguous language, technical terms, abbreviations, or acronyms. Only show what the user wants and prioritise information according to that.

What are the best tools and frameworks for a conversational user interface

• RASA UI: Open source tools to build contextual AI assistants.

• Dialog flow: Build natural and rich conversational experiences.

• Wit.ai: Platform to build applications and devices that you can talk or text.

• Pandorabots: Platform for building and deploying chatbots.

• Careerbot.ai: CareerBot helps enterprises find the best talent connected to existing employees.

• Meekan: The world’s smartest AI scheduling assistant, matches everyone’s calendars in seconds.

• Manybot: A Platform to create a Telegram bot without coding.

• Amazon Lex: Conversational interfaces for applications powered by the same Deep Learning technologies as Alexa.

• IBM Watson: Go beyond Artificial Intelligence with Watson. Watson works with businesses, scientists, researchers, and governments to outthink the biggest challenges.

• Microsoft Cognitive Services

• (Luis) : Language Understanding. Add conversational intelligence to your apps.

• BotMock: Botmock has everything you need to create fantastic chatbot prototypes, and it comes with the power of drag-drop editor.

• Microsoft Bot Framework: Build, connect, deploy, and manage intelligent bots to interact with your users on a website, app, Cortana, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Slack, Facebook Messenger, and more.

• Motion AI: A robust platform for enterprises to build and deploy chatbots for a range of mediums, including Facebook Messenger, Slack, email, Web and SMS.

• Dexter: Dexter is the platform for businesses, brands, and people to create meaningful automated conversations.

• SuperScript: Dialog system and bot engine for Conversational UI.

• Bootkit: The leading developer tool for building chatbots, apps and custom integrations for major messaging platforms.

• Reply AI: The platform to build & manage your Conversational strategy.

• Dashbot, Botsociety, Layer, Statsbot, BotMetrics, ChatterBot, Massively and many more.

Use Cases of Conversational User Interface

CUIS are gaining popularity in various industries, such as healthcare, education, e-commerce, etc. These industries are incorporating voice UIS and chatbots in their websites and mobile applications to answer questions related to their business models.

Education Industry

Today, if we go through an educational website like Shiksha or any other, we can find chatbots. They answer the customer's questions as company employees would.

Healthcare Industry

As we know, diseases are increasing daily, and so are patients. So doctors don't have enough time to look into every detail. To manage these, chatbots gather the patients' information through the app or website, monitor the patients, schedule appointments, and more.

E-commerce Industry

In today's e-commerce industry, many products, chatbots, and Vocal UIS provide information regarding product availability, updates, and more.  We can easily see them on websites like Nykaa.

Smart Devices and IOT

Today, many people are using smart devices that operate using voice commands. Alexa turns the TV on on mobile or plays music based on commands.

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So, while designing and developing the CUIS, we should keep in mind that interaction should always feel two-way, and the bot shouldn’t be more complex for users to understand and use. When designing the bots, our main objective is to pass the message to each other and increase the customer's value towards us.

• Learn More About Interaction Design Principles and Methods
• Explore About Conversational User Interface

Next Steps with Conversational User Interfaces 

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