Conversational Designer: the new profession
Thomas Leek
| 3 min
Conversational designer is probably a phrase you haven't heard of yet. But that is about to change. With the rise of chatbots, a new profession has also come to life. But while designing and implementing a chatbot can be very easy nowadays, designing all conversations yourself can often be a bit more complicated. That’s exactly where a conversational designer comes in. This experienced professional has specific qualities that ensure that the chatbot will be a success and that it fits seamlessly with the brand identity. In this article, you’ll read what these specific qualities are, and how a conversational designer can add value to a company.
What is a conversational designer?
A good implementation of a chatbot can save a company a lot of money. But if you start a chatbot without any experience, it can be difficult sometimes to get started and make your chatbot a success. That's exactly where the conversational designer comes in handy. A conversational designer is someone who designs chatbot conversations. Since chatbot use cases are expanding further than just customer service, to lead generation, HR and internal communication, the role of a chatbot has also become a lot bigger.
Nowadays, we speak more of a modern digital assistant than a chatbot. And that is exactly why it has become so important that there is someone who knows all the ins and outs of designing all conversations and the user experience perfectly. This can help companies with customer service, but also offer their own employees a more pleasant experience and even increase sales! As you can see, there is reason enough to look for a conversational designer.
What exactly does a conversational designer do?
So, now you know roughly what a conversational designer is, it is time to discover what this person does exactly. Firstly, a conversational designer will look at the brand image and the target group of a company. The chatbot must always be an extension of the company itself. Moreover, the target group must be addressed as effectively as possible. When the tone of voice perfectly matches the target group is when a chatbot really becomes effective.
A conversational designer not only uses words for this but will also think to great lengths about a name, avatar, and the chatbot's own personality. Only after this has happened, the texts for the chatbot will be written. This is a critical part of chatbot design. A chatbot with humour can sometimes cause frustration for the customer if it is not implemented properly. Or even worse, if it's not used at the right time. Fortunately, a conversational designer is a professional who knows very well when it is appropriate to use humour, and when the chatbot should be a bit more serious.
But this is not all, because a conversational designer has “designer” in the name for a reason. It is actually a profession where brand marketer, copywriter and UX designer come together into one. A conversational designer also thinks carefully about the user experience and the desired customer journey that your customers take. Did you know that website visitors regularly scroll back to choose a different option than they initially chose? Luckily, a conversational designer certainly knows this. With a good knowledge of copywriting, brand building and design, a conversational designer knows how to create the perfect digital assistant for customers, applicants and employees.
Using a conversational designer or not?
Although a conversational designer can be a very important addition to creating a chatbot, you don't always have to use one. In fact, most of our customers that are using the chatbots with great success, have designed them all by themselves from scratch! Well, all by themselves? Maybe they got some good tips here and there from their own Customer Success Specialists.
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