9 Helping users succeed through consistency

 

This chapter covers

  • Helping users navigate with familiar voice commands
  • Building standard behaviors that users expect from VUIs
  • Implementing VUI consistency that avoids repetition

In chapter 8, you learned the importance of reassuring both user and VUI that a request is correctly understood. There’s an additional piece to user reassurance: feeling in control. If users can navigate a VUI to get what they want, know how to start over, or get help when needed, then they feel comfortable with the whole interaction. The outcome is greater willingness to explore and try new requests, and greater success in reaching their goals; it’s greater discoverability and findability. When users feel in control of their own fate, they’re happier users—even when they don’t reach their goal! If you’re familiar with usability heuristics, you’ll recognize several in this chapter: consistency, standards, familiar metaphor and language, help, feedback, and user control. Consistency is reached by

  • Consistent dialog strategies, prompt wording and voice throughout
  • Recognizing what users say if they use the words the VUI uses
  • Responding to the same words and phrases throughout a VUI—even across VUIs
  • Handling and fulfilling a request identically in the same context throughout a VUI

You can easily find lots of information about usability heuristics online and in books; we’ll of course focus on how they apply to voice-first interactions.

9.1       Universals

9.1.1   Providing clarification and additional information

9.1.2   Providing a do-over

9.1.3   Providing an exit

9.1.4   Coding universals

9.2       Navigation

9.2.1   Landmarks

9.2.2   Non-verbal audio

9.2.3   Content playback navigation

9.2.4   List navigation

9.3       Consistency, variation and randomization

9.3.1   Working with built-in global intents

9.3.2   Consistency and standards across VUIs and frameworks

9.4       What’s next?

9.5       Summary