Building conversational virtual assistants (or chatbots) is very different, not just technically, from building a multi-modal user interface for a smart device or robot, and yet there are also several important similarities when it comes to building the right thing, the right way. I’ll point out some of these similarities and differences (and why they might matter to you) as I discuss two experiences I helped create: one, a conversational enterprise virtual assistant for team members who handle bereavement and end-of-life account handling; and the second, a multi-modal robot designed to help folks remember to take their medications.

1. RESEARCHING AND
DESIGNING FOR
MULTI-MODAL, CHATBOT
AND ROBOT
INTERACTIONS
Stacey Seronick | MUXL 2018 | November 21, 2018

2. Introduction –Who is Stacey Seronick?
■ Designing, writing, strategizing for products, services, and brands for over 20 years
■ Researching, designing, and writing for conversational interfaces for chatbots and
robots for almost 2 years
■ Spare time: painting, looking at the beach, compulsively eavesdropping
11/21/2018 @esteeayceeewhy | staceys@cataliahealth.com 1

3. 3 Similarities and Differences for
Multi-Modal Design vs Chatbots
1. Similarity -When creating content intended to be read, all “the good stuff” goes first,
but when creating content that will be heard and interacted with vocally, all ”the good
stuff” needs to be at the end
2. Similarity and Difference - Don’t use additional modes of input just because they’re
available to you – ensure they actually enhance the experience you’re creating
3. Difference -You can wizard-of-oz style test content, and voice, tone and pacing to a
degree, but these may be bound by technical limitations
11/21/2018 @esteeayceeewhy | staceys@cataliahealth.com 2

4. FRONT-LOADING
VS END-LOADING
“THE GOOD STUFF”
Similar for both multi-modal and chatbots
11/21/2018 @esteeayceeewhy | staceys@cataliahealth.com 3

5. Written (visual) content is front-loaded;
verbal (auditory) content is end-loaded
For reading
■ Stacey Seronick is a service designer
and researcher with over 20 years of
experience across a broad range of
industries. Her combined
experiences, education, and curiosity
about people are what continue to
drive her, both professionally and
personally.
For hearing
■ Driven by intense curiosity, her
formal education, and life
experiences - for over 20 years,
Stacey Seronick has been a
professional service designer and
experience researcher.
11/21/2018 @esteeayceeewhy | staceys@cataliahealth.com 4

6. ENSURE MULTI-MODES
ENHANCE, NOT DETRACT
OR DISTRACT
Similar AND Different for multi-modal and chatbots
11/21/2018 @esteeayceeewhy | staceys@cataliahealth.com 5

7. Just because you can...
11/21/2018 @esteeayceeewhy | staceys@cataliahealth.com 6

8. Doesn’t necessarily mean you should
11/21/2018 @esteeayceeewhy | staceys@cataliahealth.com 7
Drag pills into the right hour bottle to show me how many
you take at that time.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
A.M.
P.M.

9. Chatbots are sort of different
■ If you’re needing to add many buttons and links to outside content within a chatbot –
consider whether a chatbot is the right vehicle and/or whether you need to “sanitize” your
data sources first
– Bereavement case chatbot for customer support team members
■ Technology vendors chosen first, use case chosen second
■ ”The answers” desired by these team members weren’t possible given the technology
chosen and the content sources which contained those answers
■ The best solution for the people using the chatbot required a volume of effort (time and
money) which was intolerable to all parties involved
■ The solution built offered 2-12 buttons as answer choices to all questions it could answer
■ The answers changed soon after launch and (because the work hadn’t been done upfront
to allow for this situation to be fixed easily) the chatbot needed to be pulled from
production
11/21/2018 @esteeayceeewhy | staceys@cataliahealth.com 8

10. WIZARD-OF-OZ
TESTING IS GREAT,
BUT…
11/21/2018 @esteeayceeewhy | staceys@cataliahealth.com 9

11. At what stage are you?
First diamond diverging:
What is the conversation?
Forget technology, go hog wild
■ Observe actual current solution to
problem you are trying to solve
■ W.o.O. testing within a RITE (Rapid
IterativeTesting and Evaluation)
framework - as low-fi as need/can be
– The “wizard” might be a literal
human behind a curtain
First diamond converging:
What’s the structure of that
conversation?
Talk to engineering about feasibility of ideas
■ Consider a second RITE study
■ W.o.O. testing should replicate desired
channel(s) of delivery but can be medium
fidelity
– “The wizard” might be a person in
another room using a messaging
program or speaker phone
11/21/2018 @esteeayceeewhy | staceys@cataliahealth.com 10
Diverge DivergeConverge Converge

12. At what stage are you?
Second diamond diverging:
What words does this conversation use?
■ Abide by channel’s tech constraints
■ W.o.O. testing can be truer to actual
experience and language can vary
– Instruct observers to note relatively
“large” facial or body language
reactions and ask testers about those
moments
■ Can help understand when
specifics may not be landing
quite right
Second diamond converging:
Does this conversation work, like this,
with lots of variations of target
population?
■ Abide by tech, channel constraints
■ W.o.O. testing needs to be as high fidelity
as possible, but needn’t be “The RealThing”
– DO use exact same language, tone,
pacing to test these things
11/21/2018 @esteeayceeewhy | staceys@cataliahealth.com 11
Diverge DivergeConverge Converge

13. QUESTIONS?
Contact me!
@ESTEAYCEEEEWHY | STACEYS@CATALIAHEALTH.COM
@esteeayceeewhy | staceys@cataliahealth.com 1211/21/2018