Voice User Interface is an emerging discipline in the world of 
voice assistants and smart speakers. VUI designers play with filters, layers, and gradients for crafting a conversational experience. What else can these designers play with?
Matellio has brought the list of pointers for giving your best shot at designing a Flawless Voice User Interface.
Intrigued? Scroll Down to know more!
1. Understand your Audience
Find the needs of the audience. You got to have an outgoing approach for designing a fantastic voice user interface. Try to understand your audience’s behavior and act accordingly.
2. Define Product Capabilities
The next step in this process is to define the shape and capabilities of the product. Leverage following steps for accomplishing the same
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Create Scenarios
It is essential to create scenarios before the app ideation phase. Keep your users in mind while designing the voice user interface. At times, it gets baffling to find out which scenario is important. You can use case matrices for clarity.
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Compatibility with Voice
The chosen scenario must be compatible with voice. The core behind this step is to figure out the easiest and beneficial case for the users. On and all, there are three factors associated with it- Utterance, Intent, and Slot.
1. Utterance – Different methods a user can present the request is called Utterance. For instance, “can you play me a song”, “Play some music”, and “ I want to hear a song” can be used as an alternative of one another.
2. Intent – The intent is for presenting an overall objective of the voice commands. High Utility and Low Utility are the two kinds of intents.
3. Slot – Known as a backup for utterance, slot delivers results for queries when utterance fails. It can be both mandatory and optional
3. Prototype Creation
Dialog flow helps in creating voice interaction between the technology and users. A dialog is a prototype that illustrates conversations between the voice assistants and users. For accomplishing the same, various prototype tools can be availed such as Google SDK, Sayspring, or Amazon Alexa Skill Builder.
4. Dialogue Writing
Dialogue acts as a foundation for voice user flow. They should be precise and limited to a few steps.
5. Seamless Experience
The concept is quite new and the users might face some issues in getting started. Don’t wait for the users to ask queries, instead lend them a helping hand beforehand.
6. Error Identification
Identify the errors in the initial stages. Mistakes like Misspellings, Ambiguity, Mispronounce, and not providing relevant options. This will help in improvising the content quality.
7. Brand Identity
Human conversational tone plays a major role in portraying the brand’s identity. This will help in expressing emotions for your product in a human way. Eventually, it will help in long-lasting impression on the minds of users
8. Use Existing Data
Try to use existing data and create a personalized experience for the users. For instance, if users say, “I would like to order Hakka Noodles” then the solution can revert with “would you like to repeat your previous order?”
9. Product Testing
Testing is essential in the development of any project, Voice user Interface is no exception! The same can be accomplished by targeting users and via using test stimulators.
10. Observe your Product
Once your product is launched in the market, it’s time to make some observations. This step will provide the clarity of how users are going to utilize the product.
11. Overstuffing is a big No-No!
Action options shouldn’t be too much. In the case of VUI, less is more. Whatever content you’re providing in the product must be of value, i.e. should be full of understanding and meaning. Never ever stuff the interface with too many bells and buttons.
12.Task Confirmation
Task confirmation should be provided to the users for a refined experience. It will eradicate the phase when users ask the voice user interface about task completion or incompletion.
Take-Home Message
For crafting a perfect voice user interface, you need to jot an elegant methodology to provide the users with missing data without overwhelming them. Designers need to handle the expectation bar users got from everyday conversations. The core of the matter is that human communication is context-bound, but in voice interaction, users should be guided properly. Provide them with various kinds of information like what users can do, the functionality they are using, how to express their intentions appropriately, and provide visual feedback so the users know if the solution is listening.
Got some queries? Feel free to reach out to the experts at Matellio!
