Conversation templates for Watson Assistant chatbots

Users were were struggling to build their customer service chatbots from scratch. I led the experience design of a new feature from wireframe to final release, bringing users a catalog of pre-built conversations.

Role
Primary UX Designer

Collaborators
UX designer, Visual designer, Product manager, Developer, Researcher

Duration
~ 8 months

Year
2022

Rather hear it from me? I presented this project at IBM’s Product Lead Growth Design Jam.

Watch the video (20 min)

Watson Assistant is an AI chatbot software designed to make it easy for business users to build without technical expertise.

But if that’s the case, why are users dropping off after their first session?

First time user state

1

Users are intimidated by the prospect of starting from scratch.

2

Users are unaware of many features and best practices when it comes to building their conversations.

3

They’re forced to invest a significant amount of time and energy into their chatbots.

4

Users are unable to see the value of Watson Assistant in a timely manner, and abandon their projects.

Exploring further with competitive research, the team found nine competitors all have the same feature that we lack -

Catalogs of pre-built content to help the user get started.

A catalog of pre-built content…

1

Helps users to learn and retain core concepts of Watson Assistant.

2

Reduces drop-offs as users begin to understand how this brings value to their end user.

3

Assists users in building out a robust assistant, faster.

After creating mid-fidelity wireframes, we ran two rounds of moderated usability testing.

There was a significant chance that interacting with templates will improve user performance when creating conversations, and they were enthusiastic about the feature. However, some found the catalog unattractive and the use of modals created confusion.

I completed the user experience and visual design, and the team shipped our MVP

We wasted no time in starting our next round of features and design updates.

We workshopped, iterated, and iterated some more. How can we continue to improve, without overcomplicating?

Together with my team, we took a big swing to wrap up the work. Our final design focuses on more support for users to make the right selection, improvements to the navigation, and a strong visual identity.

Psst… I designed that green illustration!

And finally…

75%

of new accounts that went live, used a template

68%

of new users added a template in their first session

250%

more likely that users will meet one of our pre-defined testing milestones

First time user state without templates

First time user state with templates

  • "One of your many strengths is that you constantly assess whether the experiences that we craft are indeed helping users accomplish their goals and addressing their problems. You excel at identifying these requirements from the onset of any design effort - which ensures that your work is infused with empathy and deep understanding, which ultimately provide a tangible, real-world impact to our users."

    B.N., Design Lead

  • “I would most definitely consider you a leader in design – not just within our team and our missions, but in the ways that you’ve disseminated/advocated for our work. I have particularly been impressed by the ways you’ve led our workshops bringing various individuals, perspectives, and thoughts together, and synthesizing them in a way that allows everyone to feel heard.”

    J.U., Product Manager

  • "I have definitely appreciated your approach to problem solving, creative spirit, ability to solicit/consider/implement feedback, and iterate quickly. You make being productive an absolute pleasure while maintaining exacting focus on professionalism and producing top of class work. "

    P.K., Content Strategist