Response Best Practices
Intro
Conversational user experience is a multi-modal experience where the digital assistant interacts with users with written text that is supported by visual components. Follow these best practices when creating digital assistant responses. This ensures a more consistent look and feel across all your products.
Simple Language
Use concise and understandable language. Typical responses should be between 60-90 characters. Shorter, more direct sentences are best. Keep in mind that you are talking to a global audience.
Keep responses short and to-the-point
Codes and abbreviations can make the conversation more complicated than it needs to be. Give users only the information they need.
User: “When’s my next meeting?”
Digital Assistant: “Your next meeting is at 2 PM in the Mendocino room. It’s with Josh Smith and Maria Gomez from the sales team.”
User: “When’s my next meeting?”
Digital Assistant: “Your next meeting is at 2 PM, with Josh Smith and Maria Gomez from the sales team. There is no agenda. Here is some information about them. Josh works out of the New York office and manages 5 salespeople. Maria works out of the Chicago office and manages 10 salespeople. They both report to Daniel Jones, the sales director.”
Avoid jargon, idioms, and slang words
Jargon, idioms and informal slang are all specialized language that are specific to a particular group or context. You are designing for a global audience and this type of language can be hard for people to understand.
Digital Assistant: “Would you like to delete the recent order?”
Digital Assistant: “I’m having some trouble, can you try again later?”
Digital Assistant: “Hey there, dude! Would you like to obliterate the payment?”
Digital Assistant: “I’m in a bit of a pickle, can you try again later?”
Don’t show system codes to the user
Codes and abbreviations can make the conversation more complicated than it needs to be. Give users only what they need to complete a task.
User: “Add last night’s dinner to the expense report.”
Digital Assistant: “OK, I’ve added “Hotel Dinner” to your expense report.”
User: “Add last night’s dinner to the expense report.”
Digital Assistant: “OK, I’ve successfully itemized the $HOTEL1 expense.”
Call-to-Action
Give users a call-to-action to help them complete their task. Give users the next steps and direct them where they need to go.
Digital Assistant: “Travel requirements for this trip indicate that you’ll need a visa to travel to China. Here’s the link to apply:”
Digital Assistant: “Travel requirements state you’ll need a visa to travel to China.”
Communicate and confirm
Always confirm with users that the digital assistant understands the request. Repeat the user request to build trust with users.
User: “Add yesterday’s lunch to the expense report.”
Digital Assistant: “OK, I’ve added “August 28 Lunch” to your expense report.”
User: “Add yesterday’s lunch to the expense report.”
Digital Assistant: “OK, done.”
Confirm user request if it is unclear
If the digital assistant has too many response options, don’t assume. Ask users to clarify or provide more information.
User: “I want to see my purchase order.”
Digital Assistant: “Can you please tell me which purchase order you would like to see?”
User: “I want to see my purchase order.”
Digital Assistant: “Here is your latest purchase order.”
Be Neutral
Use natural, direct, neutral language so that the meaning is clear.
User first person pronouns and active voice
Active voice is more understandable and direct. Passive voice can be unclear and too wordy.
Digital Assistant: “Please itemize all your credit card expenses before you submit your expense report.”
Digital Assistant: “All credit card expenses should have been itemized before having submitted the expense report.”
Avoid words that lean toward preferences
Avoid words that seem like they’re suggesting or leaning toward a preference.
Digital Assistant: “You have a retrospective meeting with Mary and Chris at 2pm.”
Digital Assistant: “You have an important retrospective meeting with Mary and Chris at 2pm.”
Be professional, yet friendly
Be professional and friendly, but avoid too much small talk or personal conversations.
User: “How are you?”
Digital Assistant: “Fine, thanks for asking. How can I help you?”
User: “How are you?”
Digital Assistant: “Fine, thanks for asking. How are you doing?”
Avoid extreme expressions and punctuation
Avoid extreme emotion or reactions. Watch how you use punctuation or all capital letters as they can suggest emotions.
User: “I am taking a leave of absence for my wedding.”
Digital Assistant: “OK. Let me know which days you want off.”
User: “I am taking a leave of absence for my wedding.”
Digital Assistant: “Wow!!! Time to party!”
Avoid emojis that express emotion
Avoid special punctuation, as it can seem like emoticons or bad punctuation.
Digital Assistant: “You’ve successfully booked your trip.”
Digital Assistant: “You’ve successfully booked your trip. ;-)”
Use humor sparingly
Try not to use humor very often, because users can easily misunderstand. You can use positive humor to deflect personal questions. If you use humor, make it general and not focused on the user or the digital assistant.
User: “Submit expense report.”
Digital Assistant: “I couldn’t submit the expense report because it didn’t have a cost center. Is it ABC-123?”
User: “Submit expense report.”
Digital Assistant: “Uh oh, looks like your expense report couldn’t be submitted. My bad!”
Give Options
Acknowledge what users need and give suggestions to help them complete their task.
Adjust responses based on user’s tone
Recognize user situation and tone and adapt responses to keep the conversation going.
User: “Submit my bid.”
Digital Assistant: “The bidding time is closed.”
User: “Nooooo!!!!!!”
Digital Assistant: “Would you like to email it to the seller?”
User: “Submit my bid.”
Digital Assistant: “There was a problem submitting your bid. Please try again.”
User: “Nooooo!!!!!! Submit my bid!”
Digital Assistant: “There was a problem submitting your bid. Please try again.”
Keep conversation context and earlier information in mind
Keep in mind the context of the conversation and the user’s earlier inputs and requests.
User: “When’s my next meeting?”
Digital Assistant: “You have a meeting at 2PM today to discuss “Sales order with Avantel”.”
User: “Change the time to 1PM.”
Digital Assistant: “OK, I’ve changed it.”
User: “When’s my next meeting?”
Digital Assistant: “You have a meeting at 2PM today to discuss “Sales order with Avantel”.”
User: “Change the time to 1PM.”
Digital Assistant: “Which meeting would you like me to change?”
Ask questions and relay digital assistant’s capabilities and limitations
Ask users questions when they don’t provide enough information to complete a task. This helps users learn the capabilities and limitations of the digital assistant.
User: “Update the sales order.”
Digital Assistant: “Which sales order do you want to update?”
User: “Update the sales order.”
Digital Assistant: “Please be more specific about which sales order you want to update.”
Focus on User
Recognize what users want and be attentive to their needs.
Give responses that are relevant to the user context
Respond to users with information that is relevant to their request.
User: “Create a purchase request for 2 laptops”
Digital Assistant: “Sure, which laptop do you want?”
User: “Create a purchase request for 2 laptops”
Digital Assistant: “Are the laptops for you?”
Share only the necessary information with users
Limit the responses to what users need to complete their task. No more.
User: “Travel arrangements for my trip tomorrow.”
Digital Assistant: “You’re all set. Your flight’s booked and you can pick up your car from the rental agency. Your hotel confirmation is in your inbox.
Digital Assistant: Do you need help with anything else?”
User: “Travel arrangements for my trip tomorrow.”
Digital Assistant: “I’ve made all your travel arrangements. I booked your flight and I got a good deal on the rental car. I also reserved a room at your favorite hotel and the confirmation is in your inbox.
Digital Assistant: Do you need my help with anything else?”