Struggling to create unique user experiences with dated
technology? Learn the basics of AI-driven experiences – the future of
customer experience design.
AI has proven to be a lucrative investment for organizations across industries. A well-crafted AI-driven experience can strengthen your brand and drive customer loyalty, all while automating your business’s workflow.
But as digitally native consumers continue to drive the world forward, user experience designs (UXD) must embrace increasingly forward-thinking AI applications to keep users engaged. Without creating a progressive conscious machine experience, many organizations risk falling behind and losing relevance.
One study reports that as many as 75% of C-level executives expressed a fear of going out of business if their brands don’t considerably scale their AI capabilities.
So what exactly does it take to design a practical AI-infused application? Here are four core principles to integrate into your AI-driven experience design to create an engaging conscious machine experience.
The Four Principles of AI-Driven
User Experience Design
01
Prioritize
ease and intuition.
When it comes to designing an AI-driven experience, the first primary consideration is the technology’s feel and flow. Users expect that the experience will be intuitive and easy to navigate.
If your design is challenging to use, it will discourage people from using the technology at all.
For example, if you design a banking application that requires users to complete several steps before transacting any money – such as entering too much personal information or battling with security questions – you risk creating an experience that feels clunky and slow. In addition, such designs create friction for users, which ultimately leads to less engagement and a poor overall customer experience.
To evolve the user experience, many banking apps have integrated bio-markers such as fingerprint technology or facial recognition software, creating a secure yet seamless user experience.
Many brands make the mistake of designing AI with the product in mind rather than the user. A simple mindset shift will give the AI a far more human dimension and expand the possibilities of engagement with your AI-driven user experience.
02
Provide
a differentiated user experience.
Our digitally native consumers have come to expect technology to feel hyper-tailored to their preferences, and brands must deliver if they hope to keep users engaged.
Consider the design of Netflix’s AI-powered Netflix recommendations search engine (worth $1 billion a year). As users make their selections, the AI learns how to engage them more effectively by making appropriate suggestions, immersing users in an increasingly tailored experience with every interaction.
A differentiated user experience requires your AI to have a meaningful understanding of the human perspective, including mechanisms that bridge the gap between nature and machine to allow for human-AI collaboration.
Such means include human influence, such as Netflix’s recommendation engine, and multi-modal interactions like voice activation that allow choice in how users interact with the technology.
03
Empower
users and solve problems.
An effective AI-driven user experience is frictionless. To achieve an effortless interaction, designers should engineer an AI that intuits user needs and generates experiences built upon the tenets of human emotional intelligence.
For instance, an empowering AI design is empathetic to a user’s potential problems and responds accordingly. The system should preemptively present appropriate paths or options, prompting users to engage with minimal effort. This kind of design creates an experience that’s more accurate and efficient, as it helps people steer clear of obstacles by guiding them in the right direction.
04
Conduct research
and use a defined data strategy.
To apply the first three principles to your brand’s AI-driven user experience design, you need to build a strong foundation for your system. This starts with auditing your customer journey and learning more about the people who will engage with your technology. For example, conduct interviews and observe pain points to identify tangible opportunities for AI-powered solutions.
Finally, remember that AI relies on human data input to operate efficiently. Therefore, you need a strategy for both collecting and protecting customer data. In addition, you should keep in mind that AI adapts the biases of the people that create them, so be sure to employ equitable frameworks to your data collection process.
Whether your brand is evolving an existing AI-driven user experience or creating an entirely new one, these four guiding principles will help you develop the most forward-thinking conscious experience possible. AI is a living system that will need to grow and improve over time, so stay perpetually ready to embrace the future.
In summary:
The principles of user experience design include:
– Prioritizing ease and intuition.
– Differentiating user experience.
– Empowering users and solving problems.
– Conducting research and using a defined data strategy.
