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Product Voice: When a product speaks,what voice do you hear?

Gordon Plant & Carole Court

@gordonplant

@cazlovam

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User Experience always has two actors…

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…the words in the UI are one half of the dialogue…

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…but the actors can’t see each other

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Imaginary dialogues where the actors can’t see each other are not uncommon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009LOJG8I

Commentary:

Texts from Dog

imagines conversation

between a dog and it’s

owner.

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Texts from Dog

http://textfromdog.tumblr.com/

Commentary:

The dog and the owner

don’t have to be made

visible through drawings

or images – all we need

is the voice of each and

we can imagine the rest

because we all know

something about dogs.

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Polite but evil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwBmPiOmEGQ

Commentary:

HAL, the computer in

Kubrick’s 2001 A

Space Odyssey, is

polite but this does not

prevent it being evil.

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Polite but evil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwBmPiOmEGQ

Commentary:

When Dave is stuck

outside of the

spaceship, HAL even

says ‘sorry’

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Polite but evilScript excerpt from 2001 a Space Odyssey

Dave : Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL?

HAL: Affirmative, Dave. I read you.

Dave : Open the pod bay doors, HAL.

HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

Dave : What's the problem?

HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.

Dave : What are you talking about, HAL?

HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.

….

Dave : Alright, HAL. I'll go in through the emergency airlock.

HAL: Without your space helmet, Dave? You're going to find that rather difficult.

Dave : HAL, I won't argue with you anymore! Open the doors!

HAL: Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.

Commentary:

So HAL, the system, is

really polite as it tries

to kill Dave, the user.

Like most frustrated

users, Dave starts to

loose his temper when

the system refuses to

respond.

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Polite but evil Commentary:

But what if the

Spaceship was

controlled by Google

Plus instead of HAL?

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A different voiceScript excerpt with Google+ in the role of HAL

Dave : Hello, Google+. Do you read me, Google+?Google+: Yeah I got you Dave!Dave : Open the pod bay doors, Google+.Google+: Aw snap! The Pod Bay doors can’t be opened. Dave : What's the problem?Google+: That’s all we knowDave : What are you talking about, Google+?Google+: Opening the Pod Bay doors would not be cool right now. ….Dave : Alright, Google+. I'll go in through the emergency airlock.Google+: Check out this video on why you’ll need a space helmet.Dave : Google+, I won't argue with you anymore! Open the doors!Google+: Hey, I’ve got more videos. And Maps! And Apps!

Commentary:

The user’s words are

the same but by

changing the voice of

the system we can

reveal a different kind

of product. This

product is still evil and

still polite but it’s

certainly not HAL.

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ARCHETYPES, CHARACTERS, VOICES

Commentary:

Developing a

consistent voice

means understanding

the character that’s

speaking. And we think

that’s easier if we start

with a grasp of

Archetypes.

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Archetype

• Archetype: “a collectively-inherited

unconscious idea, pattern of thought,

image, etc., that is universally present

in individual psyches” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archetype

Archetypes in Branding:

A Toolkit for Creatives and Strategists

ISBN 978-1440308185

http://www.archetypesinbranding.com/

Commentary:

Archetypes in

Branding is a great

resource and I highly

recommend you buy a

copy. It come with tear-

out cards you can use

in a variety of ways.

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Archetype

Archetype

Character

Dialogue

Voice

Commentary:

We see an archetype

as the top level, the big

idea that surrounds the

other concepts that

can help develop a

great product voice.

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Exercise introduction Using archetypes for a single step dialogue

Archetype Core desire

Innocent Get to paradise

Everyman Connecting with others

Hero Prove one’s worth through courageous acts

Caregiver Protect and care for others

Explorer Freedom to discover self through travel

Rebel Revenge or revolution

Lover Intimacy and experience

Creator Create things of enduring value

Jester Live in the moment with full enjoyment

Sage Find the truth

Magician Understand the fundamental laws of the universe

Ruler Control

Source: http://www.soulcraft.co/essays/the_12_common_archetypes.html

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Workshop #1Payment failure

1. Choose an archetype

2. Write the dialogue a customer will see if their credit card fails whilst

attempting to purchase an item from your commerce site

3. Background info:

– When a card fails, the card issuer does not say what the cause of the failure

was

– In some cases, the transaction may work if if the card holder tries again after

a few minutes

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Workshop #2Festival tickets

1. Choose an archetype

2. Imagine you are designing a site that allows users to buy tickets for

festivals

3. Write the dialogue a customer will see when they create an account

and buy a festival ticket

4. Background info:

– Some festivals sell out fast

– Some festivals limit the number of tickets to less than the number of friends

you may have

– Some festivals require pre-registration to establish identity

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CONTEXT AND TONE

Commentary:

We mostly want systems to

speak the truth to us and we

want to hear the truth in an

appropriate tone of voice. This

is especially true if it’s bad

news.

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Establish tone

Different user greetings:

– Howdy Gordon!

– Welcome back Gordon

– You last logged in at 12:52:31 on 12-04-2014

– Your Majesty, it is our humble pleasure to welcome you once again

Commentary:

When someone greets us, the

greeting carries additional

information that establishes the

tone of the conversation to

follow. The first three here are

real, the last imagined.

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A PRODUCT WITH A CLEAR VOICE CAN ANSWER ANY QUESTION

http://freddiesjokes.com/

Commentary:

Mailchimp is a great example of a

product that has a well developed

product voice based on a clear

archetype. These jokes might

appear to be simple but it’s really

very challenging to create

something as good as this.

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Choose a suitable tone for the context

Context User’s feelings Tone

Publishing (email campaign)

Busyness, stress • Provide a little comic relief, but don’t annoy or distract busy users with over-the-top humour or too many extra words.

Success message Relief, Pride, Joy • Pat these users on the back for getting a campaign out the door.

• Feel free to be funny.

Failure message Confusion, stress, anger

• Be calm. • Don’t use exclamation points or alarming

words like “alert” or "immediately.”• Be serious. Don’t joke around with frustrated

people.

Source http://voiceandtone.com/

Commentary:

Mailchimp knows when to stop

joking. Their Voice and Tone site

gives some good advice about

how to vary the tone of voice to

match the context.

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Hierarchy of needs

Engaging

Consistent

Appropriate

Clear

Users understand

and can complete

tasks

Users are not

offended

Users are not

surprised

Users are enjoying

dialogue

Commentary:

We can say that a voice is

clear if we can understand

it. We can say a voice is

appropriate if we can

understand it and we

judge it to be in keeping

with our expectations. If a

voice avoids surprising

us, we can say it is

consistent. If we enjoy the

voice then we can say it is

engaging.

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Voices everywhereCommentary:

All of this applies to all sorts of

products and Innocent is a

great example of this. This

label from a drink has a very

clear voice that is an integral

part of the brand.

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ANSWERING QUESTIONS

Graucho Marx

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Product conversations start with questions

Question type

Explicit question Implicit question

Who? Who are you? Should I trust you?

What? What do you do? What can you do for me?

When? How long should this take? How long will this take me?

Cost? How much does this cost? How much will this cost me?

Commentary:

When users first meet a

product, they often have

questions that need to be

answered before the dialogue

can really begin.

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What?

Who?

How long?

How much?

Commentary:

Pinterest is an example of product that answers the most

common questions right up front.

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The three functions of dialogue

1. Move the story forward

2. Reveal the character

3. Impart important informationhttp://allwritefictionadvice.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/revealing-characters-through-dialogue.html

“Readers want to know about the traits and behaviour of characters. They want to know how your characters tick.”

A J Humpage, http://allwritefictionadvice.blogspot.co.uk/

Commentary:

The Pinterest sign up

process meets all the

requirements for dialogue.

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Move the story forward

Impart information

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Reveal character

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Want to save this Pin for yourself?Go ahead and Pin it

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You collect your Pins on boardsso everything’s nice and organised

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Psst. Don’t forget to confirm your email. Just look for the message we sent you.

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FORMALITY

Commentary:

Our expectations or

formality change

depending on the context.

When I engage in a

commercial transaction, I

usually expect an

appropriate degree of

formality the varies

depending on the

importance of the

transaction.

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Formality in the business / customer relationship

• Many languages use different pronouns to denote formality or familiarity

when addressing people (the T–V distinction). This also applies in

common phrases such as "How are you?".[2] The use of an

inappropriately familiar form may be seen as derogatory, insulting or

even aggressive. Conversely, forms that are inappropriately formal may

be seen as impolitely snobbish[3] or distant.

• Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiquette_in_Europe

Commentary:

In England, we don’t

commonly use formal

modes of address when

speaking but other

cultures have different

rules.

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Formality is cultural

www.debretts.com

Commentary:

In English culture, there are still some

circumstances where formality is required.

Although most of us don’t meet the Queen very

often, Debretts provides ample evidence that an

understanding of formal modes of address is still

considered essential in some dialogues.

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Summary

• Writing good dialogue is a core part of creating a good

experience for the user

• Writing clear, appropriate dialogue can be hard

• Archetypes can give us a starting point to create a character

• A character can give us way to understand and create a

dialogue

Commentary:

We think that using archetypes can help with

process of developing a a voice for your product.

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END@gordonplant@cazlovam

Thanks to:Jon Waring at Three SixtyMargaret Hartwell and Joshua C. Chen