Conversational design is the strategic practice of creating seamless, human-like experiences through natural, intuitive interactions between people and systems, whether through voice assistants, chatbots or Agentic AI.

The business problem: High tech, high stakes

Today's businesses are pressured to adopt the latest AI technologies and improve customer experience while cutting costs. Leaders want to drive efficiency by increasing automation rates and reducing agent handle times, without sacrificing customer satisfaction. But many organizations lack a clear strategy, the right data or the inhouse expertise to navigate this transformation. That’s where conversational design bridges the gap.

The solution: How conversational design helps

Conversational design isn't just about writing prompts or building flows; it’s about understanding users and aligning every interaction with business goals. Our approach is rooted in deep user research, smart design strategies and continuous optimization that leverages AI for speed and efficiency. It all starts with building a foundation of understanding the users and what they want to achieve.

Building the foundation: Understanding users and the business

Great conversational design starts with deep understanding, not scripts. We analyze the business context and user needs, ensuring our solutions are tailored to solve real problems.

• Pinpointing the pain points: We combine our team’s expertise with advances in GenAI to identify friction points, service goals and areas where automation can improve efficiency and outcomes.
• Mining existing data: We analyze user data (support calls, chat logs and service tickets) to identify common requests and user intent while considering business processes and brand voice to ensure consistency.
• Mapping the user journey: We map out the user journey to identify gaps, inefficiencies and emotional highs/lows, aligning design decisions with user goals and business objectives.
• Designing for real people: We create user archetypes based on actual behavior and needs, ensuring the design is intuitive, inclusive and effective.

By grounding our design in real-world research, we ensure that each conversation is meaningful, efficient and aligned with user needs and business goals. 

Engage with experience

In years past, solutions were designed based solely on business priorities and processes, forcing users into unnatural design characteristics and essentially making the solution prohibitive. By understanding both the business and users, we can now focus on designing the experience to enable users, allowing them to successfully complete their tasks, which in turn achieves business goals.

Applying conversational design to voice: Smart, human-centered dialogs

Once we’ve built a strong foundation through user research and journey mapping, we apply conversational design strategies that make voice interactions feel intuitive, intelligent and natural. Voice is one of the most demanding interfaces. Users expect it to “just work,” and there's no screen to fall back on for guidance. That’s why our design approach combines linguistic expertise with user-centered thinking to craft experiences that adapt to the way people actually speak.

We use four user-centered goals to design conversational voice experiences that feel like you’re talking to a friend.

1. Know who I am
   We start by incorporating what we know about the user, whether from their previous interactions, customer profile, or session context. This allows us to personalize the experience dynamically. For example, recognizing a returning user means we can skip unnecessary questions, tailor offers or surface relevant information faster. Smart personalization doesn’t just save time, it builds trust.
2. Make it easy for me
   People come to voice systems to get things done, not to decode complex menus. We reduce friction by designing prompts that are clear, concise and context-aware. Smart prediction plays a significant role. By understanding intent history and business logic, we can anticipate what a user will likely need next, minimizing the number of turns and cognitive effort required.

3. Understand what I mean

   Human conversations are fluid. We correct ourselves mid-sentence, refer back to previous statements and expect to be understood without repeating everything. That’s why we design for natural dialog behaviors using linguistic techniques such as:

   • Anaphora resolution (e.g., understanding “change that to tomorrow”)

   • One-step corrections (e.g., “No, I meant 3 PM”)

   • Elliptical phrases (e.g., “Yes, that one”)

   These capabilities make the experience feel less like talking to a machine and more like a real, responsive conversation.

4. Do what I say

   We empower users to drive the conversation, especially in voice, where users often come in with a clear goal. This means supporting multi-slot input, intent switching, entity editing and contextual awareness. A user might say, “I want to reschedule my appointment from Friday to Monday and change the time to 2 PM,” giving us all the information we need without asking follow-up questions. 

   But not all users interact this way. That’s why we also provide guided structure when needed, offering step-by-step support for those who prefer or need it. The goal is flexibility: meeting users where they are and supporting multiple interaction styles within a cohesive experience.

Enhancing digital experiences with conversational design strategies

While voice-first interactions demand clarity and fluidity, many conversational experiences occur in visual interfaces, especially in messaging apps, mobile apps and web chat. Here, we don’t just rely on words. We leverage digital design elements to improve discoverability, speed and comprehension, helping users move through tasks more efficiently and confidently.

1. Give me flexibility
   Not every user wants to type out a complete response and some aren’t sure what options are available. That’s why we incorporate buttons and quick replies that guide users without restricting them. These elements help surface possible next steps, reduce ambiguity and allow users to navigate easily, while still offering the option to type freely when they prefer, resulting in more control and less confusion.
2. Make it digestible
   Even the best-written content can fall flat if it’s hard to scan or absorb. We use smart text formatting (like lists, bullet points, bolding and visual separation) to break up complex information and highlight what matters most. In some cases, we send content in multiple short messages, mimicking natural conversation pacing and making it easier to follow.
3. Speed it up
   Some tasks require more than just text input. That’s where rich media elements come in, such as carousels, embedded forms, date pickers and image previews. These not only streamline the experience, but they also boost completion rates and reduce user frustration. For example, a carousel of products or FAQs allows users to browse and act quickly, instead of reading lengthy text descriptions or navigating elsewhere.

Know when to fall back on proven strategies

The rapid pace of technological advancement has led more companies to push for cutting-edge conversational experiences, where users can engage in free-flowing, open-ended dialogue with minimal structure. And while the allure of AI-driven conversations is strong, it’s essential to remember that not all innovation is universally beneficial.

Pushing for an entirely open, unstructured dialog assumes that all users interact the same way, in every situation. The reality? People engage with technology in diverse ways, and the most tech-savvy users may not represent the full spectrum of your customer base. In fact, over-relying on open dialog systems can alienate users who prefer more straightforward, guided interactions or need additional context to feel confident.

The balance between flexibility and structure

Instead of abandoning proven directed dialog strategies, we advocate for a hybrid approach. One that can adapt to multiple user interaction styles, ensuring that no one feels left behind. This approach allows us to design a single flow that meets different needs:

• For confident, tech-savvy users, we offer flexibility, letting them drive the conversation with advanced user-initiated features like changing multiple entities or switching intents mid-dialog.
• For less confident users, we ensure there is enough guidance to make them feel comfortable. This includes offering clear prompts, step-by-step instructions and easy-to-follow choices when needed.

The goal is adaptive conversation, not one-size-fits-all. By combining structured prompts with the ability for users to take control when they feel ready, we ensure that every interaction, whether from a beginner or an expert, leads to a successful outcome.

Ultimately, the driving goal behind any conversational design is to align the strategy with the user's needs. Whether you choose to use open dialog, structured prompts or a hybrid approach, the key is to create a system that meets users where they are and effectively supports them in achieving their tasks.

In today’s competitive digital landscape, conversational design isn’t just nice-to-have, it’s a must-have. By combining user-centered principles, innovative design strategies and the right mix of technology, businesses can create conversational experiences that not only meet users' expectations but exceed them.

Whether through voice, messaging or AI-powered chat, every interaction should feel seamless, intuitive and designed with purpose. By understanding your users, applying proven strategies and staying adaptable, you’ll create conversations that empower your customers, drive efficiency and ultimately, fuel business growth.

So, as you integrate conversational design into your applications, remember that it’s not just about the technology. It’s about creating useful, meaningful interactions that help users complete tasks that ultimately drive success for your business, and we’re here to help.