Mobile voice and chat interfaces are becoming more popular and powerful as users demand convenience, speed, and personalization. But how do you leverage these features for better user experience (UX) and engagement? Here are some tips and best practices to consider.
The first step is to research and analyze your target audience, their needs, preferences, and behaviors. How do they use voice and chat on their mobile devices? What are their pain points and goals? What are their expectations and motivations? How do they respond to different types of messages and prompts? Use data, feedback, and testing to create user personas and scenarios that guide your design and content decisions.
The second step is to design your voice and chat interfaces for the specific context and use cases of your users. Consider factors such as location, time, device, and task. How can you make your voice and chat interactions relevant, helpful, and easy to follow? Use simple and natural language, avoid jargon and ambiguity, and provide clear feedback and confirmation. Use visual cues, icons, and buttons to complement and enhance your voice and chat elements.
Provide predefined options to minimize typing, which si the #1 friction point on a mobile device. Tapping vs. Typing is the path to higher conversions.
The third step is to optimize your voice and chat interfaces for performance and accessibility. How can you ensure that your voice and chat features work smoothly and reliably across different devices, platforms, and networks? Use best practices and tools to minimize latency, errors, and interruptions. How can you make your voice and chat features accessible and inclusive for different users, languages, and abilities? Use standards and guidelines to ensure that your voice and chat features are compatible, adaptable, and respectful.
The fourth step is to personalize and humanize your voice and chat interfaces for better engagement and loyalty. How can you tailor your voice and chat features to the individual needs, preferences, and behaviors of your users? Use data, segmentation, and personalization techniques to deliver relevant and customized messages and offers. How can you make your voice and chat features more friendly, conversational, and empathetic? Use tone, style, and emotion to create a positive and memorable user experience.
The fifth step is to experiment and iterate your voice and chat interfaces for continuous improvement and innovation. How can you measure and evaluate the effectiveness and satisfaction of your voice and chat features? Use metrics, analytics, and feedback to track and optimize your voice and chat performance and outcomes. How can you test and learn from different voice and chat features and strategies? Use experiments, prototypes, and user testing to explore and validate new ideas and solutions.
The sixth step is to learn from best practices and examples of successful voice and chat interfaces in mobile marketing. How can you get inspired and informed by the voice and chat features of leading brands and platforms? Use case studies, benchmarks, and trends to identify and apply the best practices and principles of voice and chat design and content. How can you leverage the voice and chat capabilities of existing tools and platforms? Use integrations, APIs, and SDKs to enhance and extend your voice and chat features with third-party services and functionalities.
Be careful not to succumb to Benchmark Blindness = justify poor results because everybody else is getting poor results also. Make sure that you are not making decisions based upon anything other than how to delight and help your audience.
The Conversational Era is here. Now is the time to begin rethinking what a mobile experience looks like. If you are not looking at conversational interface design as a huge part of your mobile UX plan, then you really should because Conversational Search is here to stay and can be used across several different use cases.