{"id":7801,"date":"2021-08-12T17:03:32","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T17:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog-stg.cheesecakelabs.com\/blog\/voice-search-usability\/"},"modified":"2022-07-01T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T17:00:00","slug":"voice-search-usability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog-stg.cheesecakelabs.com\/br\/voice-search-usability\/","title":{"rendered":"Usability challenges in voice search \u2014 and how to overcome them"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve kept an eye on the latest eCommerce tech trends, then you\u2019ll no doubt have heard of the growing relevance of voice search. It’s a sector that\u2019s becoming more sophisticated every year \u2014 and more popular, too.<\/p>\n

But voice search isn’t without its challenges.
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In many ways, voice search is an inherently unintuitive medium for user interaction<\/strong>. There are little to no visual cues and that in itself can undermine the years of UX theory we’ve all worked so hard to build.<\/p>\n

So what does usability look like in the voice search era?<\/p>\n

Voice search usability: lessons from the front line<\/h2>\n

As we said before<\/a>, voice search is an emerging and exciting digital trend. So you can bet the Cheesecake Labs team has an opinion on it \u2014 and the experience to back that opinion up.<\/p>\n

One of our recent development projects allowed us to get up close and personal with the challenges that businesses face when embracing voice search. And here are the key lessons we think you\u2019ll find useful…<\/p>\n

You need to understand the tech available on the market<\/h3>\n

First, we learned that you have<\/em> to understand the current state of voice search tech. There is far more to voice search than the surface level “Command > Wait > Reaction” cycle most of us are familiar with.<\/p>\n

Succeeding in this sector will require dedicated research to understand the tech, the associated best practices, and the latest advancements being made.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are the three components that make up every voice search as we understand it today.<\/p>\n

Intent<\/h3>\n

The first component of a voice search experience is intent. This is the goal a user has when they initiate the voice search in any form. It\u2019s independent of how they phrase their intent or how the voice application responds<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It refers specifically to what the user wants, and that’s it.<\/p>\n

Utterance<\/h3>\n

The second component is the utterance. Although this is the first interaction a user has with the voice application, it’s the second component of the voice search process \u2014 and that\u2019s an important distinction.<\/p>\n

The utterance is the phrasing the user employs to spark the action that will satisfy their intent.<\/p>\n

Slot<\/h3>\n

Third, we have the slot. The slot (or slots, depending on the request) is the variable component of a person’s request. For example, if a user says, “Show me cute dog pictures”, the slot would be “cute dog”.<\/p>\n

The action aspects of the phrase stay the same with each request to see pictures. However, the slot “cute dog” could be interchanged with “angry cat” or “scary rollercoaster” or “beautiful mountains”.<\/p>\n

Every voice search (and nearly every voice command) will contain at least one slot.<\/p>\n

Next, ask how you can create a great<\/em> UX<\/h3>\n

Once you understand the basic components of a voice search \u2014 and have researched the latest tech in this sector \u2014 it’s time to start ideating a great voice search experience.<\/p>\n

Building a voice search UX is unique in that it exclusively includes the user’s voice. There are no other components to the experience of using a VUI (voice user interface).<\/strong> This should radically<\/em> change your approach to design. The responding voice’s persona will be key to getting this right.<\/p>\n

Privacy is another key consideration when building a great voice UX. We’ve seen in recent history how important privacy is to users, especially with the vulnerability associated with vocal interactions.<\/p>\n

When users are being listened to, they want total confidence that the listening party is being as responsible and respectful with their privacy and data as possible.<\/p>\n

Then you need to build the user’s journey<\/h3>\n

The user’s journey through a voice search interaction is probably the most complex facet of creating a voice search experience. That’s because it needs to appear as (and in many ways is) a completely fluid and natural interaction.<\/p>\n

Simultaneously, the interaction needs to be very precisely orchestrated and predicted. You should consider all of the options and possibilities that could occur during a voice interaction.<\/strong> Unlike a graphical user interface (GUI), where you create the environment that your interactions take place in, VUIs present a far more amorphous and haphazard interactive plane.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, you’ll be crafting this interaction with a concrete design process. You’ll be pulling on research, experience, and strategies. And other times, your team will be sitting around a table, spitballing all of the different questions, phrases, and requests that could be thrown at your voice application.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t skip this stage. An ill-thought-out user journey for a voice search application will fall flat on its face.<\/p>\n

After that, you’ll create the “copy” for your voice search experience<\/h3>\n

The “copy” of your voice search experience is the flow that your VUI conversations will follow. This includes the request and the reply, and the following requests and replies that come next.<\/p>\n

Again, this is a complex process \u2014 and each project will have copy unique to itself \u2014 but we do have some pointers:<\/p>\n