A week ago, I was traveling from Hyderabad to Coimbatore by flight. During the flight, I thought it would be a good idea to check the conversational UI offline experiences of few mobile apps that I access regularly. I opened the specific apps and looked at the UI message displayed. Even though these apps were not designed for offline use, I was able to see few similarities in the UI messages.
Key finding – All but one app informed that Internet connectivity was unavailable. However, none of the apps were able to provide a clear message as to why Internet connectivity was unavailable, which is the context of lack of telecom availability when traveling by flight.
The UI messages were evaluated on the following parameters:
- Primary message to customer
- Identification of customer’s context
- Conversational tone
- Next activity to be performed
The apps accessed offline on my Android mobile device were:
- Facebook Messenger
- Uber
- Ola
Sharing the findings of each app below.
- Primary message to customer: Clearly states that Internet connectivity is unavailable.
- Identification of customer’s context: Fails to inform as to what could be the reasons for unavailability of Internet Connectivity.
- Conversational tone: Friendly.
- Next activity to be performed: Requests customer to retry.
Facebook Messenger
- Primary message to customer: Clearly informs that app is in offline mode.
- Identification of customer’s context: Informs the highlight of the offline mode even though the specific device is offline. The reasons for the cause of the offline mode is missing.
- Conversational tone: Formal and helpful.
- Next activity to be performed: Informs the next activity to be performed in offline mode.
- Primary message to customer: Clearly states that Internet connectivity is unavailable.
- Identification of customer’s context: Fails to inform as to what could be the reasons for unavailability of Internet Connectivity.
- Conversational tone: Pleasing and evokes a sense of human conversation.
- Next activity to be performed: Requests customer to retry.
- Primary message to customer: Message is unclear to customer as to what could be the issue.
- Identification of customer’s context: Very unclear.
- Conversational tone: Abrupt.
- Next activity to be performed: Requests customer to dismiss message without letting the customer know what to do next.
Uber
- Primary message to customer: Displays two key messages: 1. Enabling Location Services (primary) 2. Missing Internet Connectivity (secondary).
- Identification of customer’s context: Fails to inform as to what could be the reasons for unavailability of Internet Connectivity.
- Conversational tone: Formal tone.
- Next activity to be performed: Requests customer to enable location services.
Ola
- Primary message to customer: Displays a key message of Missing Internet Connectivity.
- Identification of customer’s context: Fails to inform as to what could be the reasons for unavailability of Internet Connectivity.
- Conversational tone: Formal tone.
- Next activity to be performed: Requests customer to enable location services.
Assessing the current customer experience of edge cases of existing products or services could possibly lead to new opportunities for companies to serve their customers in a better way through new products and services!
Thoughts on Services and Design 