Conversational UI

How to make your brand talk

October 22, 2020

In a personalised society the world wide web can be well wide of the mark when it comes to one-way customer user interfaces. And when a brand is looking to strengthen its identity, it should be defining its personality. This is something that can be done, in part, through visual design but a solely aesthetic online solution won’t be enough for a brand to truly stand out from the crowd. This is why developing new ways for people to engage with their screens is essential and ENNOstudio believes that adopting Conversational User Interfaces is one of the ways to do it.

CUIs are really smart – so smart they have subtle, nuanced levels of interpretation that allow it to make proactive recommendations and accurate assumptions. By using a more intuitive ‘Conversational’ UI, brands encourage more positive interactions based around real dialogue to provide customised brand experiences, genuine engagement which all help boost customer loyalty. CUIs are still in their infancy but have huge potential and they are just waiting to be unleashed. 

To improve the design and functionality of language assistants we need to look at the challenges and barriers they sometimes create. Listening and learning is the only way to create first-class user experience. From our previous analysis we defined the following four problem areas:

1. Trustworthiness

To stay trusted in the digital age, brands have to be proactive when it comes to data security. A so-called “Lack of Trust” often occurs when voice assistants are handling users’ personal data and customers are asked to perform a leap of faith when they use voice assistants. It’s down to brands to ensure that all data is secure and that users feel it’s secure; backed up by simple, clear communication to let users know they’re in safe hands. However, there have been far too many negative examples of data leaks in the past, even with well-known voice assistants such as Alexa and Co. 

And even if security is tight and the communication is clear, distrust can still arise when language assistants execute speech recognition commands poorly. Which leads us to problem no.2:

2. Functionality

As a CUI designer, it is essential to explore the possibilities and limitations of the functionality of language assistants. These voice assistants try to imitate people, emulating genuine conversation to make for the best possible experience. This means not talking over the over participant but not making the pauses between utterances too long either. After all, in conversation with a person, it’s not great if you keep on being interrupted, or if you have to endure awkward silences or if you still haven’t been understood after rephrasing your point several times. 

Likewise, you also have to deal with “triggers”. For example, these are the triggers that activate the speech assistants and how specific data they collect can then be converted into actions. 

3. Design

When thinking about the design of a language assistant, it is important to pay attention to tonality and wording. Both of these contribute to how the brand is ultimately perceived by the consumer. But socio-demographic factors (such as gender) must also be taken into account. All of this ultimately reflects the character of the language assistant. And, if done well, will represent the brand and its characteristics as accurately as possible. So it’s worthwhile to examine the effect the language assistant has on the user in detail.

4. Fields of application

Where the language assistant appears also contributes to the effect it has on users. It’s the designer’s job to know which areas of a customer journey are voice assistants suitable and where they’re not so popular. Many companies have not yet recognised the enormous potential of CUI’s, which is why it can be an advantage to include them in your strategy as soon as possible. Especially in industries or areas where voice assistants aren’t so commonly used. 

5. Coherence

Another crucial point is the coherence between traditional and conversational interfaces. The current UIs will continue to exist and shouldn’t be considered separately from the more innovative, more conversational evolutions. Consistency in the overall journey must always be acknowledged. And the whole experience must be seen more as a kind of interaction rather than a traditional transaction.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

It’s really important to deal with these problems as chatbots and language assistants are there to enhance experiences, not to resolve specific pain points. But if all these potential issues are considered, we believe every successful future-proof customer journey and UX strategy should call upon the power of CUIs to make a truly unique, differentiated and above all user-centric brand experience. 

We will be happy to advise you whether your organisation would benefit from the use of CUIs and where they would be most effective. We also can implement CUIs into your current customer journeys to create an overall tailor-made experience adapted to your brand and your target group.

It’s really important to deal with these problems as chatbots and language assistants are there to enhance experiences, not to resolve specific pain points. But if all these potential issues are considered, we believe every successful future-proof customer journey and UX strategy should call upon the power of CUIs to make a truly unique, differentiated and above all user-centric brand experience. 

We also act according to this principle within our own ENNO studio brand. On our website, you will find an example of how we make our services easily understood. Our chatbot helps you to get a quick overview of what we offer and how we can help you with your problems.

We will be happy to advise you whether your organisation would benefit from the use of CUIs and where they would be most effective. We also can implement CUIs into your current customer journeys to create an overall tailor-made experience adapted to your brand and your target group.

Looking to rethink your user interface?

We advise where a Conversational User Interface would be most effective and implement it into your existing customer journeys to create an experience adapted to your brand and target audience. So, email, call or pay us a visit at our central Berlin office and let’s start innovating together!

team discussing design and innovation at ENNOstudio

We are a design and innovation studio creating engaging, accessible digital experiences for everyone. Our team of product designers and strategic consultants combine beautiful design and creative strategies to build and promote user interfaces that make a real difference to people’s lives.

Coming Soon!

We can’t disclose any information regarding this project for now. If you want to be sure not to miss it when we publish it, drop us an email