Top 3 Tips for Designing a Voice Interface
A question that designers ask me quite often is “how do create a voice interface?”
Well, the short answer would be to write it. But bear with me on this one.
What is a voice interface?
Voice user interfaces let the user to interact with a system through voice or speech commands. Virtual assistants such as Siri, Google Assistant and Alexa are examples of a voice interface.
Machine who we trust and connect with most, will become the gateway to all our online experiences in the near future. That’s why Voice controlled devices are growing at a crazy rate.Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Google voice, Sonos One Voice and Siri are all competing for dominance in the space.
In order to create the perfect experience for our users with there kinds of devices, those experiences would have to be written.
Imagine designing a voice interface for a pizza delivery app, the interface should receive voice inputs and create an interaction following that voice input.
When writing the UX of that interface delivery app, it literally has to sound and have the voice and tone of a pizza delivery person.
The last talk of Stuart Reeves about voice UI and conversation design made me realize that there should be much more awareness to the field of conversation design.
I created the following guide for those who want to wet their toes deep with voice interfaces.
In this guide I will explore the top three fundamentals that must be considered when writing and designing the UX of a voice interface.
1. Keep It Simple Stupid (Kiss)
No Jargon
Time is a valuable commodity, and brands that succeed understand and respect consumers’ time. That means it’s essential to get to the point as quick as possible, providing only specific and relevant information.
The truth is, consumers don’t want to hear about all your brand and shopping list of promotional discounts. They have a specific goal and need help executing it right then and there– so cut the bullshit and get to the point already or else you’ve lost them.
You may live and breathe your market, but your consumers don’t. Avoid complicated phrasing and acronyms.
Communicate in a clear and concise manner what the user’s options are and how they can be achieved.
The goal is to be as clear as possible. The way we converse is different to our written communication; we are more casual, more direct and more concise. Keep this principle front and center throughout the design process.
2. Understand Humans
Deep Empathy
Similar to visual design, a good voice design starts with an intimate understanding of the consumer.
Successful human interactions build on existing knowledge and recognize the individual needs of a person- and strong voice interfaces do the same.
To get this right, it’s critical that brands know what their consumers want to begin with. As Connie Birdsall, Creative Director of Innovation Consultancy Lippincott says, “Brands that understand where people are coming from win our loyalty, even affection, over the competition.”
3. Have A Personality
Voice and Tone
Nobody likes boring people, so nobody likes boring interfaces.
Consumers meet many voice interfaces with skepticism and an impending sense of foreboding.
Their default view is, “When will this go wrong’? In light of this, it’s not only important brands are simple, jargon-free and empathetic, but that they show personality as well.
Just like clever copywriting that endears you to the brand, well written voice user interface shows snippets of personality that warms consumers up to you.
Without sacrificing clarity, opt for phrases and words that show there’s thought and personality behind the product’s interface.
Personality is one key area that brands must double-down on.
Add To A Bowl And Stir Until Well Combined
To design great voice user interfaces, you must find an elegant way to provide costumers with missing information about what they can do and how they can do it without overwhelming them.
In order to do so the designer must first know the the costumer like the back of their hand, create a strong personality, and most importantly, keep it simple.
Voice-controlled interactions will merge with more and more aspects of our everyday lives in the near future– and designers should start preparing.
You are welcome to join my Facebook community which is all about writing interfaces of all kind — Microcopy & UX Writing. See ya!
