As the number of smartphone is increasing, chatbot has appeared mainly on mobile devices through the Internet. These chatbots have text-based interfaces like Message, KakaoTalk, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram DM. Meanwhile, chatbot images such as c...
As the number of smartphone is increasing, chatbot has appeared mainly on mobile devices through the Internet. These chatbots have text-based interfaces like Message, KakaoTalk, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram DM. Meanwhile, chatbot images such as chatbot profile image and emoticon are used as important communication tools in chatbot conversations. This is because chatbot images helps text to express its emotions. So chatbots using various visual elements are on the rise, and Chatbot images are also actively being researched. However, studies on Chatbot image are concentrated in the non-task-oriented chatbot field, which carries out interesting communication. Studies on Chatbot image for task-oriented Chatbot that performs certain functions are still incomplete. Looking at the case of task-oriented chatbot that is used in actual service, we can see that the importance of chatbot image has not been established. On the other hand, famous scholars like Tufte said that additional visual images make it more difficult to understand information and data. It can be inferred that the use of chatbot images in 'task-oriented' areas can be a hindrance. However, according to various preceding studies, when visual image is used in an text-reading environment that requires concentration such as charts and surveys, It could improve understanding and memory of the text. So, In this study, I am going to find out if task-oriented chatbot images does actually improve understanding, reliability, and preferences by user experiences empirical research. The research method is as follows. First of all, through preceding research, I examined the effects of task-type chatbots and effects of visual images in task-oriented environment. After that, through case study and case analysis, I examined current status of task-oriented chatbot’s chatbot image and made the experiment based on the result. The experiment was conducted in the form of face to face interviews and face to face surveys. 112 people had participated in the experiment. They were in 20s, 30s and 40s. The experiment had proceeded in 55days, from September 2 to October 20, 2019.
The findings of the study are as follows. The presence or absence of task chatbot images differed in all of user experiences. The presence of chatbot images had a more positive impact on all user experiences. In particular, I found out that it has the greatest influence in understanding. It means the chatbot image actually helped participants to understand and remember the conversation. Secondly, preference was greatly influenced by the chatbot image. It is because chatbot images make participants to empathize. In reliability, the impact was relatively smaller than that of other user experiences. According to the participants interview, this is because the chatbot image is not suitable for the task-oriented chatbot because it performs professional functions. I think if chatbot images are used in less specialized areas of the task, they will have a greater impact on reliability.
In detail, I looked at the differences in user experience by “task”. According to the empirical research results, the presence of chatbot images affected positively on understanding, reliability and preference on shopping and mobile bill field. It means chatbot images in shopping and mobile bill field can help users to understand the context of the conversation and also make users to rely and like chatbot. However, although chatbot image in finance field did affect positively on understanding and preference, It didn’t affect on the reliability. It is because finance field could handle a large amount of money, so people get frustrated easily. So, In finance field It is better to use chatbot image more carefully.
The implications are as follows. First, while chatbot image research was mainly focused on non-task oriented research, this study has suggested the significance of user experience on task-oriented chatbot images. Second, through previous studies, the chatbot image elements were derived. And the chatbot images of the task-oriented chatbots that are actually being serviced were analyzed in detail. Lastly, by analyzing the user experience depending on task field, This study suggested the direction of the chatbot image expression method depending on task field. Therefore, I expects company to use this research strategically in developing their chatbot images.