What is a conversational UI?

Conversational UI (also known as conversational user interface, or CUI) is an interactive design pattern which enables people to communicate with digital products through natural language, voice commands, and chatbot-style computer interactions.

It’s quickly becoming a potential game-changer for modern user experience, and one of the key technologies underlying conversational AI.

How does a conversational UI work?

At its simplest level, a conversational UI consists of two fundamental elements — the user input and the system output.

A dialogue loop will develop between these two activities: the user will type in a phrase or ask a question and the system responds back with an answer to that question or piece of information requested.

That response may be formatted in multiple ways including written text, audio notations such as voice synthesizers, or increasingly to help build relationships with more lifelike visual avatars via augmented reality (AR).

For example, a virtual assistant might help book flights by responding back with questions about which dates someone would like to travel on as well as how many passengers are going until enough information has been gathered by ‘the machine’ in order for it make recommendations that fit those initial criteria based on previous data searches offered by similar users.

What are the benefits of using a conversational UI?

The main benefit of using conversationally designed UIs is to give people easier access to software solutions via text conversations which feel more natural than trying to navigate menus filled with features they may not want or even understand.

Additionally, those same advanced tools can provide insights into customer behavior directly from collected data. Advanced intelligence gathered from customer data analytics/machine learning; insightful recommendations made via natural conversations; and real-world transactional activity— businesses have unprecedented opportunities when harnessing exactly how customers interacts online.

Feb 23rd, 2023
2 min read

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