Improving the Watson Assistant Onboarding Process
Bringing the power of Watson Assistant to a new type of user
I worked on improving the onboarding experience of Watson Assistant to educate and empower business users to build their own chatbots quickly and efficiently. I developed several prototype iterations based on an in-depth analysis of user testing with each new implementation.
– 40% conversion rate (user gets a successful response from their assistant)
– Get our users to the “wow moment” in as close to 14 steps as possible
Who?
I worked with a product manager and developer to coordinate design efforts based on business goals and implement each version.
When?
Summer 2019
Where?
IBM, Watson Assistant (Austin, TX)
How?
Wireframes, Prototypes, User Testing, Competitive Audits
Sketch, Invision, Appcues
My work is organized in three versions that build off one another. Each version was tested with real users, and the following iteration builds off of the results. I inherited the beginnings of V1 from my coworker and completed it, designed V2 entirely myself, and began work on V3 before handing it off to a coworker when I completed my internship.

After user testing, we found only 10% of users continued with the tour after the welcome modal. We also only reached a 12% conversion rate, falling short of our 40% conversion rate goal. Finally, we found that starting the users directly on the Assistant page led to a higher percentage of users testing their assistant.

I also wanted to allow users to enter their own content in this iteration. Previously, we required users to follow a specific example for a sample use case. I hypothesized that letting users enter custom content would make them more engaged in the process.
I implemented a few additional design elements: a compressed welcome modal, refined tooltips, and a new checklist.


The final design of this version would depend largely on the performance of version two, so I worked on getting this iteration to a good point for handoff to my coworker when my internship concluded.
Want to learn more? Let’s chat!
Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn to learn more.