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Structuring a Usable Help System for Callers

No matter how carefully you craft your application's Voice User Interface (VUI), chances are that callers to your Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system will at some point need help interacting with it. They may need help simply because they are novice users of IVR and are apprehensive about using an automated system, or they may need help because at some point in their interaction they encounter a problem with your application and need some guidance to get back on track. In this issue of the VUI View, I touch on some basic guidelines for building a VUI Help system that lives up to its mission of being helpful.

Structure your help system
The first step to designing a useful and usable help system is predicting the types of problems people may encounter while using that system. Given the linear and constrained nature of VUIs the necessity of coming up with a parsimonious, focused help system is especially pressing. There is no room for any sloppiness or inefficiency that may be tolerated when interacting with a visual, GUI help system. Make sure your help system is not a manual describing what the system does, but rather a tool the caller can use to help them overcome their challenge.

1. Mention the basic task that the system is trying to solve: "I can help you locate the store location closest to where you live..." .
   
2. Offer help to the most frequently encountered problems first.
   
3. If your system is complex and the number of potential problems is large, offer the caller a structured menu of help topics.

Tell the caller that help is available
What good is a help system if users are not aware that it even exists? If you expect a good portion of your application's callers to be first time or infrequent users, let them know from the opening prompt that they can ask for help, and tell them exactly how they can ask for help: e.g., "If at any point you need help using the system, please say 'help' or press *9."

Detect when the caller may be in need of help
A user who is not answering your application's request for input (no-input) or is answering with input that the system does not understand (no-match), is probably a user in distress and in need of help. Similarly, a user who is responding negatively to requests for confirmation that a task was successfully performed by the system is also probably a user in need of help. Make sure that your application takes note of any occurrences and lets the user know that they can ask for help if they need it.

Remind the caller that they can be helped
It never hurts to occasionally remind callers that they can invoke the help system. If nothing else, the reminder is a reassuring signal to the caller that the system is sensitive to the need to make their exchange with the system as pleasant and hassle-free as possible. Make sure, however, that you do not get in the way of your callers as you offer help. Reminding the caller that they can ask for help every other prompt is more likely to irritate the caller than to reassure them. A good guideline is to remind the caller of the help system during transitions from one phase of the call to another (e.g., end of task, end of survey section), or prior to beginning a complex interaction.

Return from where you left off after giving help
Since VUIs are time linear, chances are that after listening to help instructions, the caller will need some more help to be reminded where they left off. A simple way to remind the caller is by telling them where in the menu tree they are positioned. Usually, a word or two will suffice: "main menu" for the highest level menu, "here are your flights" before announcing a list of flight numbers, etc. Make sure that you also repeat, probably using a different phrasing, the system's request prior to the user's invocation of help.

Be concise and specific with your help
Remember that a user seeking help is a user who has had some problem using your system. Keep this in mind when you craft your help prompts and avoid the temptation of turning your help prompts into an audio tour showcasing all the marvelous things your system can do. Keep your help prompts short and focused on trouble shooting the caller's problem.

Use context to guide your explanations
Context is your best indicator as to what type of problem your caller is having, and therefore what kind of help your should offer them. For instance, if a user is having trouble answering a question (no-input or no match), start by first offering them clarifications on what the system expects from them by, for example, rephrasing the question more explicitly or by offering an example (see below), and then offering for them to ask for general help about using the system.

Illustrate your explanations with examples
Take advantage of the fact that callers reflexively mimic the VUI systems they interact with. Users will emulate a system's language patterns, its vocabulary, and even the pace of its speech. In the context of providing help, you can exploit this by giving examples of how the caller should interact with the system. Instead of simply instructing the caller with, "You can speak your birth date by first saying the month, followed by the day, and then the year," the system would do better if it added, "for instance, July tenth, nineteen seventy nine."

If you are interested in professional help with optimizing your voice applications, feel free to contact me at bouzid@angel.com or call 1-888-MYANGEL (1-888-692-6435) and ask for "Bouzid".