Nir Eyal is a renowned expert in behavioral design, an angel investor, a Stanford lecturer, and the bestselling author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products. Today, we're diving into a fascinating conversation inspired by his ideas, focusing on the evolving landscape of conversational interfaces and the concept of "assistant-as-app," and how betterfeedback.ai can help you understand these principles.
Understanding "Assistant-as-App" in the Age of Conversational Interfaces
The world of user interfaces is constantly evolving. How can businesses keep up and leverage these changes effectively?
What is it? Think of "assistant-as-app" as a human enhanced by AI. Instead of directly interacting with a bot, users engage with a human who is using a bot to streamline the process.
"The assistant-as-app is somewhere in between, it's a bot-assisted human. You don't directly interact with the bot, you interact with a human who is interacting with a bot. And I think it's a more powerful idea because it's something we already do made easier."
Real-World Applications for Businesses
How can this concept be applied practically?
Imagine a customer service scenario. Rather than a customer waiting on hold or navigating a complex phone tree, they text their query. The request is analyzed by a bot, which narrows down the potential responses. The bot then provides the service rep with the three most likely solutions, allowing the human to quickly and accurately address the customer's needs.
Beyond Dashboards: Where Assistant-as-App Excels
Nir highlights another powerful application: products that rely on dashboards. We are drowning in dashboards. The Salesforce dashboard looks nothing like Google Analytics, which is completely different from the PeopleSoft dashboard, which means users are constantly relearning buttons and configurations.
Imagine instead of a complex dashboard, you interact with software through a conversational UI, where the service reaches out to you with a message saying, "Hey, you just had a spike in traffic, here's what you should do next." This simplified interaction reduces cognitive load and makes the software more accessible, especially for infrequent users.
The California Roll Rule: Familiarity Breeds Adoption
Nir introduces the "California Roll Rule," which states that people prefer something familiar done in a novel way, rather than something entirely new. Unfamiliar interfaces hinder adoption. SMS and chat interfaces are already familiar. This familiarity should be leveraged to facilitate user interaction.
The Future of Interfaces: Voice and Beyond
Nir envisions a future where voice user interfaces (VUIs) become increasingly prevalent. Siri, Alexa, Google Home, and Cortana are just the beginning. However, the key is to find the right interface for the task at hand, not to force everything into a single mold.
Hooked: Habit Formation and Conversational Interfaces
How do conversational interfaces tie into the principles of habit formation outlined in Hooked?
The Hooked model consists of four key stages: Trigger, Action, Reward, and Investment. Conversational UIs make the 'Action' stage easier by simplifying the process of getting what the user wants. This ease of use is crucial for forming habits and increasing product engagement.
Building Healthy Habits with Technology
It's a topic of national, of international conversation. People realize that we can't escape technology. Now, the problem is when people point their finger at the technology and say, "Oh, it's Facebook that's addicting me." And that's just not true.
The technology will do whatever you are predisposed to do with it, so if you want to use that technology to escape reality, there are plenty of people out there who will happily take your money to help you.
Enhance Your Product Strategy with Betterfeedback.ai
At betterfeedback.ai, we understand the importance of incorporating user feedback into your product development process. Our platform helps you gather actionable insights to create products that are not only engaging but also address real user needs.
By focusing on user understanding and habit formation, we can help you:
- Design intuitive and user-friendly conversational interfaces.
- Apply the principles of the Hooked model to create habit-forming experiences.
- Leverage data to personalize user interactions and increase engagement.
Ready to build products that users love? Explore betterfeedback.ai today!