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Sorcha Hogan 

MSc User Experience Design

I am an award-winning graphic and digital designer, portrait artist, film buff, cocktail connoisseur, Mammy and adrenaline junkie living in Wicklow. I have over 15 years experience designing for both digital and print. I believe better user experiences can be created by engaging users early. This way, we can learn quickly if what is being created meets their needs. I have just completed my MSc in UX Design in IADT and am looking forward to continuing my UX journey professionally.

The virtual assistant market has been growing over the last few years, expected to be worth $1.25 billion US by the year 2025. Virtual assistants are now used regularly throughout our daily lives – from being positioned in our homes to assist with tasks like creating shopping lists and finding recipes to on our phones helping us to book flights and set reminders. Virtual assistants are also widely used across e-commerce sites, helping bridge the communication gap between retailer and consumer that can occur online. In this way, they attempt to fulfil a traditional salesperson's role in an offline shopping experience. They add social presence online, helping increase trust between customer and vendor, which has been shown to increase customer satisfaction and purchase intent. However, to be used to their full potential, the timing of the virtual assistants’ introduction to the client must be considered.
Visual research was conducted on chat design. Blue was chosen as the colour for the VAs chat as blue is a trustworthy colour. Montserrat was chosen as the font as it has been deemed a trustworthy font. Trust being key in this study. [1, 3, 31, 33]
A guerrilla test was carried out at both Low and Mid Fidelity phases. Some of the amends made as a result of testing are marked opposite.
An unmoderated, high fidelity pilot test was conducted remotely online, with 12 participants – 7 in group SCJ (2 male, 5 female) and 5 in the group ECJ (2 male, 3 female). The main findings were: 1. The virtual assistant was quick, easy to use, friendly and helpful (ECJ, SCJ) 2. Searching through the website independently might be faster (SCJ) 3. The blue of the virtual assistant’s chat could be toned down – it was too saturated (SCJ) 4. They would prefer to use the virtual assistant when they choose to rather than being forced to use it. (SCJ) 5. Add to cart functionality could be added (SCJ)
This is the walk through of the 2 x prototypes
The effect of the suggestion timing of a virtual assistant on trust, customer satisfaction and purchase intent in an e-commerce sitProject Description

This paper examined the effect of the suggestion timing of the virtual assistant on trust, customer satisfaction, and purchase intent on an e-commerce site. An experiment was conducted with 40 participants divided across two conditions to discover which of the two points the virtual assistant had the most positive effect on trust, customer satisfaction, and purchase intent. While no statistical difference was discovered between the two conditions, this study added to the research conducted in this space and gave recommendations for future research.


User Experience Design
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