A Simple Guide to Conversation Design [Quick Start]

Conversation design is the practice of optimizing AI agents to communicate with users in a natural and human-like way. This practice utilizes language, psychology, and technology to provide insightful experiences from chatbots and smart assistants. Products at the forefront of this design include:

• Google Assistant
• Apple Siri
• Amazon Alexa
• Samsung Bixby

Conversation Design Strategies

Conversation design can be applied to many use cases from marketing to customer service to human resources. However, experts have come up with multiple rules for conversational design for developers and business owners to follow. Two of the most popular models are the Bill Price Value Irritation Model and the BJ Fogg Behavior Model.

Bill Price Value Irritation (BPVI) Model

Author and former Amazon customer service VP Bill Price created this simple model that translates well when considering new AI conversations. When it comes to the BPVI model, his message is that with more effort comes less need for service. 

The matrix below provides a structured approach to decision-making based on the BPVI Model, focusing on balancing the needs of both the company and the customer.

BJ Fogg Behavior Model (FBM)

The FBM is a conceptual framework that helps predict human behavior. When designing conversations, we expect certain behaviors to be achieved. For a behavior to take place, three things need to happen beforehand: Motivation, ability, and a prompt. 

Ideally, developers want to aim for more successful prompts than unsuccessful ones. While it’s up to the customer to feel motivated to solve a problem, it also has to be easy to solve with effective solutions.

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Conversation Design Process (Step by Step)

The conversation design process is integral to humans being able to have positive experiences with AI solutions. Here’s how companies work to develop successful conversation design solutions:

1. Understand the balance between language, psychology, and technology necessary to create an AI agent.
2. Design a bot persona that users can quickly resonate towards for help and assistance.
3. Create a human-centric conversation design process with an emphasis on context as well as your ideal customer’s needs.
4. Test and train your AI to allow it to achieve human-like conversations.
5. Focus on common problems that your AI could address and don’t waste too much time with edge cases.

What Is the Conversation Design Institute?

The Conversational Design Institute is a training and certification institute that teaches students about developing conversational interfaces. Classes involve AI training and showing developers how to convert words into dialogue that AI assistants can speak or output when conversing with users.

Here are some individual courses that students can enroll in to gain knowledge and certification in conversation design:

Voiceflow has also partnered with CDI to present a free course instructed by Voiceflow experts. Enroll in this course now to get a great head start learning about how to use Voiceflow with a conversational design workflow.

How to Design a Chatbot Conversation

It’s easy to build chatbots nowadays, but chatbot conversations require the right approach to make them very effective in communicating to users. Here’s how a successful chatbot conversation is designed:

1. Focus on a specific demographic that can best benefit your company, and use that to develop a bot persona.
2. Give your AI personality so its conversations with users are both helpful and memorable.
3. Establish what you expect your customers will use the chatbot for, such as seeking help, booking appointments, or shopping online.
4. Build the conversational UX in the way the users want it, rather than expect the user to accept it for what it is.
   

What Are the Best Tools for Conversation Design

Voiceflow is one of the best websites any business owner can use to train their very own chatbot.

• Voiceflow features a no-code visual builder that allows users to construct conversations and create dialog trees. 
• With countless API integrations, you can create a chatbot that also performs various tasks to help both customers and employees. 
• Dozens of templates are also available for users to get a head-start on creating a functioning chatbot in minutes.
• When you’re happy with your chatbot, you can easily deploy it to your website with a copy-and-paste JSON code.

Sign up to Voiceflow today and receive a free 14-day trial on a Pro or Team Plan.