Conversational UX isn't a new channel or hardware. It's the milestone we’ve always been striving towards: the seamless interaction between human and technology. We break down the most significant digital transformation since the rise of mobile computing.

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Ride the Wave of
Conversational UX

2. CONVERSATIONAL UX
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3. using speaking,
writing, or
signing to
interact with a
computing
system
WHAT IS IT?
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a natural-language interaction with your brand

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CLIENTS
?
voice text voice & video

6. 1. App Fatigue
2. Friction Transfer
3. Tech Maturity
WHY?
WHY NOW?
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1. APP FATIGUE
Time Spent on
Phone / Day
Avg. # Apps
Installed
Avg. # Apps
Used Daily
Avg. # Apps
Accounting for
80%+ Usage
Avg. # Apps
Downloaded /
Month
USA 5 Hours 37 12 3 0-2
Global 4 Hours 33 12 3 ?
source: kpcb

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OUR TAKE:
Consumers would rather not
think about launching your app
in their mobile moments.
APP FATIGUE

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2. FRICTION TRANSFER
Personal Computer
+ Mouse
+ Keyboard
+ GUI
source: a16z

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2. FRICTION TRANSFER
Personal Computer
+ Mouse
+ Keyboard
+ GUI
source: a16z
Web & Browser
+ Hypertext
- File system
- Disks
- Apps

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2. FRICTION TRANSFER
Personal Computer
+ Mouse
+ Keyboard
+ GUI
source: a16z
Web & Browser
+ Hypertext
- File system
- Disks
- Apps
Mobile
- Physical keyboard
+ Tiny soft keyboard
+ Apps
+ Gestures
+ Location
+ Image & sound
+ AI

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source: a16z
Is this turned
on?
Which app is
that?
Is it installed?
What’s my
password?
Where is my
phone?
200 times per day
WHAT IS FRICTION?
FRICTION TRANSFER

13. HOW ARE WE ELIMINATING FRICTION?
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End (B)
“Clerical
FRICTION TRANSFER
Start (A)

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OUR TAKE:
Conversational UX finally
eliminates friction & reduces
clerical work.
FRICTION TRANSFER

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3. TECH MATURITY
• Is there a dog in this photo?
• Humans have 5% error rate for this test
• In 2012, computer vision was 25%
• With machine learning, now at 7%
source: a16z

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“Is there a dog in this photo?”
“We recommend a different route.”
“You’re about to lose this customer.”
TECH MATURITY
WHEN AI IS APPLIED …

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Historic Achievement: Microsoft researchers reach
human parity in conversational speech recognition
TECH MATURITY

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OUR TAKE:
Artificial intelligence is powerful
& accessible enough to create
amazing customer experiences.
TECH MATURITY

19. WHAT ABOUT
UX?
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Identifying the product comes
before identifying how users
will interact with it

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PROGRESSION OF BOTS AND VOICE INTERFACE
SERVICE POSITIONING EMOTIONAL BRANDING

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CONVERSATION BEGINS
WITH YOUR BRAND
agnostic of platform

22. BRAND TONE PERSONALITY

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YOUR BRAND
• Tone
• It exists in writing, in video, online, applications/services, and print
• Identify it.
• Questions to ask
• What does my brand represent?
• What does it like or dislike?
• What is it’s purpose?

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If you want a consistent voice,
you need to create a personality

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CREATING A PERSONALITY
• Character sheets (http://www.epiguide.com/ep101/writing/charchart.html)
• Create a character who embodies your brand, or the part of your
brand you’re wanting to represent in your medium of choice
• Consistency
• Speech
• Likes, Dislikes
• Ideals

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CREATING CONVERSATION TREES

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FIRST CONTACT
• Understanding the ‘metaphor’
• Is it human? Is it a machine? Does it know it’s limitations?
• Set the stage for what it can and cannot do
• Explain it’s purpose in the first sentence
• Asking for gender or staying gender agnostic

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SOME
THINGS TO
REMEMBER.

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THINGS TO REMEMBER
• Understand basic social cues like “Thanks” or “I hate this”

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• Understand basic social cues like “Thanks” or “I hate this”
• Provide options, not only free form input
UX
THINGS TO REMEMBER

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• Understand basic social cues like “Thanks” or “I hate this”
• Provide options, not only free form input
• Avoid rhetorical questions like “How should I know?”
UX
THINGS TO REMEMBER

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• Understand basic social cues like “Thanks” or “I hate this”
• Provide options, not only free form input
• Avoid rhetorical questions like “How should I know?”
• Have a response that brings them back in to the service
UX
THINGS TO REMEMBER

33. ROAD TO
MARKET
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What steps are critical to bring
your bot to market? and then
ensure its success?

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GETTING TO READY
MEASURING SUCCESS
GETTING TO DONE
begin development
release solution
track & iterate

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GETTING TO READY
MEASURING SUCCESS
GETTING TO DONE
begin development
release solution
track & iterate

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IDENTIFY PROBLEM OR NEED
READY TO DEVELOP
DEFINE THE PROJECT AND
DELIVER YOUR ARTIFACTS
IDENTIFY THEMES & GOALS
“Booking a meeting room is a multi-step effort that requires
you to leave the application that you are working in”
Theme: “Siena is every solstie's personal assistant”
“Siena will allow employees to easily book meeting rooms
in the same channel that the establish the need to meet”
GETTING TO READY
Goal: “Reduce the steps necessary to book a meeting”

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WHAT PLATFORMS?
GETTING TO READY

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WHAT PLATFORMS?
GETTING TO READY
WHERE ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS?
WHAT EXPERIENCES WILL THIS FACILIATE?

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PREPARE YOUR ARTIFACTS
• Requirements complete
• Comps approved
DEFINITION OF READY
in traditional GUI software development
DEFINITION OF READY
in conversational UX development
• Requirements complete
• Comps approved
• Conversation tree complete
• Response copy written
• Rich media signed off on
• Utterances defined
GETTING TO READY

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ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES
PRODUCT DESIGNER
GETTING TO READY
• Comps approved• Requirements complete

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ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES
PRODUCT
DESIGNER
GETTING TO READY
• Requirements complete
• Conversation tree complete
• Response copy written
• Utterances defined
•
Com
ps approved

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GETTING TO READY
MEASURING SUCCESS
GETTING TO DONE
begin development
release bot
track & iterate

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MANAGING EXPECTATIONS
READY TO SHIP
CONTINUED ARTIFACT
DELIVERY & UPKEEP
PLAN YOUR BETA
VALIDATE PRIORITY WITH
USER FEEDBACK & BEHAVIOR
GETTING TO DONE

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GETTING TO READY
MEASURING SUCCESS
GETTING TO DONE
begin development
release bot
track & iterate

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WHAT IS SUCCESS?
what game are we playing?
how do we keep score?
GETTING TO READY

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MEASURING SUCCESS
what game are we playing?
how do we keep score?
MEASURING SUCCESS
• `

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MEASURING SUCCESS
what game are we playing?
how do we keep score?
MEASURING SUCCESS
• `

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MEASURING SUCCESS
what game are we playing?
how do we keep score?
MEASURING SUCCESS
• `

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MEASURING SUCCESS
what game are we playing?
how do we keep score?
MEASURING SUCCESS

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GETTING TO READY
MEASURING SUCCESS
GETTING TO DONE
begin development
release solution
track & iterate

51. What are the technical
considerations and decisions
necessary to create your ideal
conversational UX?
HOW CAN I GET
IN THE GAME?
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SKILL SET REQUIRED
• Domain knowledge
• Amazon Web Services (AWS) Basics (Lambda/API Gateway)
• NodeJS or Python
• Day-to-day
• REST APIs
• SQL/NoSQL databases

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3 THINGS TO GET STARTED
Messenger Platforms NLP Services Response Generator

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NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING
• Natural language processing (NLP) is the ability of a computer program to understand
human speech as it is spoken.
• Key Terms:
• Intent —> what was the meaning of the sentence?
• Entities —> dynamic variables of the sentence

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4 BIG NLP PLAYERS
LUIS

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OUR ASSESSMENT
• Understand use cases, pick services from there
• API.ai is best for both PoC and mid-sized, robust projects
• IBM Watson for large scale, enterprise projects
NLP Services

57. What are are the analysts take
on conversational UX?
What’s our take?
How do you get started?
CUTTING
THROUGH THE
CHATTER
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“Forrester expects messaging apps to become essential relationship
platforms, playing a key role throughout the customer life cycle, especially
in the retention phase.”
Thomas Husson - Forrester

59. OUR
TAKE
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1 While messaging
channels are well
defined - AI & bots
are in their infancy

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2 Removing friction
is key

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3 Short term:
Branded chatbots will
be table stakes in
customer retention

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4 Long term:
Consumers will
expect your brand to
be accessible
through their favored
virtual assistant

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5 To be successful
your bot must build
trust through
personality &
empathy

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6 Digital personal
assistants will
have a reciprocal
relationship with IoT
devices

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WHERE TO BEGIN
• Align your brand message across all channels so that your
character feels natural
• Identify Southeast Asian service provider in parallel market -
analyze their messaging strategy
• Add messaging & voice experiences to your marketing plans
• Supplement your offerings with bots, do not replace them
• Facilitate real-time information & transactions
• Embrace APIs

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The future comes looking like something you can’t
use for real work.
These days it often looks like a toy for rich
hipsters.
But the toys get better.
And the work changes.
Benedict Evans - Andreessen Horowitz

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THANK YOU
Paul Heckel
Director, Digital Strategy
Chris Nielsen
Product Consultant
Sean Pyne-Moran
Sr. UX Designer
Alex Ottenwess
Technical Analyst
@pheckel @pmpyne @chrisjnielsen @alexottenwess
pheckel@solstice.com spynemoran@solstice.com cnielsen@solstice.com aottenwess@solstice.com