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How to Build Technology that Feels Like a Friend

How to Build Technology that Feels Like a Friend

Recently, I needed to book a lunch meeting. To help coordinate, I asked Amy to assist and cc’d her on the email. “Amy,” I wrote, “please help us find a time to meet. Let’s plan for sushi at Tokyo Express on Spear Street.” Amy looked at my calendar, found an open time suitable for everyone invited, and booked the meeting.

Amy works just like a human assistant, except she’s not human. It’s an AI bot made by X.ai, a company specializing in scheduling assistants that respond to natural language. Amy is so good at what she does that I find myself thanking her for booking a meeting, forgetting she needs no more thanks than my microwave.

It’s easy to forget Amy, an ai bot made by X.ai, isn’t human. Image source: x.ai

It’s easy to forget Amy, an artificial intelligence bot made by X.ai, isn’t human. Image source: x.ai

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How to Hook Users in 3 Steps: An Intro to Habit Testing

Learn how to hook users to your product in 3 steps

Changing user habits isn’t easy — but understanding how to conduct Habit Testing will increase your odds of success.

In this video, I provide a brief introduction to the three steps of Habit Testing. I explain how product designers use these steps to identify their devotees, codify what makes the product habit-forming, and modify the user experience accordingly.

Find out how to get users #Hooked to your product in three steps. Click To Tweet

Also, here’s a graphic to help you remember the 3 steps to Habit Testing — Identify, Codify, and Modify. If you find it helpful, don’t forget to share it.

Learn how to hook users to your product in 3 steps

My original article can be found here:

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In years to come, conversations will breathe new life into software—particularly the boring enterprise tools millions of knowledge workers begrudgingly use every day. Conversational user interfaces (CUIs) work because of our familiarity with messaging. Even the most technically complex interactions can look as simple as getting an SMS text when presented as a conversation.

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“Think Different” is Bad Advice

Nir’s Note: This guest post is an excerpt from the new book Invisible Influence: The Hidden Factors that Shape Behavior, written by my friend and Wharton School professor, Jonah Berger.

book cover

Being different, the notion goes, is the route to success. Think different was even Apple’s motto for a period. And Apple is often held up as a poster child of the benefits of this ethos. Conventional wisdom suggests that products like the iPhone and Macintosh succeeded because they were different from the rest. Steve Jobs was a visionary because he thought different from everyone else.

There’s only one problem with this advice. It’s wrong.

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