new resource:

report: elements of a successful digital assistant and how to apply them

Since Apple’s launch of Siri in 2011, we’ve witnessed a surge in market commitment to digital assistants from both tech giants and businesses across industries. Digital assistants that successfully streamline the user's interaction with a brand can improve customer experience, increase brand loyalty, and decrease customer support costs.

We conducted a 2-week diary study with 37 smart speaker owners across the United States to understand what makes a digital assistant successful, followed by in-person in-depth interviews with a selected group of participants from the diary. The results are captured in our latest report, Elements of a Successful Digital Assistant and How to Apply Them. (PDF)


Regardless of a brand's approach, all successful digital assistants need to balance these three dimensions: 

Value: Adding value is key to adoption. Otherwise, users revert to existing ways of interacting with the brand. Digital assistants that add value enable users to do more in less time, or have a richer experience in the same amount of time.

dimension elements

Effectiveness: The ability to speak to the digital assistant in a natural manner and get accurate answers is also key to adoption. Teams must consider and design for the timeless challenges in human interaction to stay ahead of technological changes.

Engagement: There are clear markers (word choice, tone, sound, gender, etc.) of personality that users notice in digital assistants. Brands succeed by using personality to enhance already effective experiences, and fail by poorly executing personality as a buffer for bad experiences.

There are nuances to getting each of these elements right, especially in regards to industry, function, and audience. Our research dives into the pitfalls and recommendations of each dimension so you can determine your digital assistant strategy and approach.

Download the report (PDF) to learn more about these experience dimensions, best practices for designing digital assistants, and the nuances for designing for anthropomorphism and gender.