Supporting conversational UX (CUX) designers for developing task-oriented conversational agents in multi-channel environments

Abstract

The rapid expansion of multi-channel service environments, coupled with changes in the industrial landscape, has led to the proliferation of interactive agents. However, little is known about the challenges faced by UX designers involved in the development of conversational agent. This study aims to comprehend the challenges faced by Conversational UX (CUX) designers while working as a member of a multidisciplinary team throughout the process of transforming traditional GUI-based services into conversation flows, and this research seeks to provide support by understanding the CUX design process and the specific needs of CUX designers. Through a qualitative study involving CUX designers working in real-world industrial settings, I gained insight into their work environment by analyzing the obstacles and challenges they face. To comprehensively understand the complex dynamics of multi-channel service environments within a multidisciplinary team setting, this study adopts a socio-technical system perspective, which incorporates independent components such as technology, social and organizational factors. Based on our main findings and a comprehensive review of existing literature, the integrated guideline for facilitating the design process and an evaluation guideline to assess the design outcomes were jointly introduced.