Data Privacy

Key Features

New Webpage

Within Google Home’s existing product website, launch a new section dedicated to privacy. Google Home should be transparent about their privacy and security terms instead of burying them.

Mobile App Enhancement

On Google Home’s existing mobile app, add “Privacy Settings” to increase transparency and functionality to users. People will be able to see clearly what information and data is being used through their voice assistant.

Updated Pamphlet

Update Google Home’s on-boarding pamphlet to highlight privacy concerns. When new users use Google Home, they should feel secure about where their information is going.

Research

Target Audience

Primary users of voice assistants are those between 25-44. Their professions are ones that are busy at home or work.

Competitive Analysis

In order to understand the problem space of voice assistants, my team and I looked into different brands. We focused on Amazon’s Alexa, iPhone’s Siri, and Google Home. Amazon Echo also has a fairly strong conversation design but is unable to continue dialogue and differential users. We looked at iPhone Siri to see what type of tasks users were asking and why individuals are deterred to use it. After looking at these 3 main competitors, we decided to move forward with Google Home as it has the strongest conversation design and most seamless experience.

Secondary Research Learnings

1. Trust is heavily based on how information is being presented. For voice assistants, there is no clear way to see where information is going.

2. Information is available on the Google Home but it is hard to access and confusing to navigate. Brands should be transparent about where to go to find information.

3. The emergence of digital platforms has expanded the opportunity for brands to build trust equity. By building trust in voice assistants, brands have an opportunity to expand their network.

Problem Statement

After synthesizing my research and organizing key insights, I landed on this problem statement: How might we help users understand how their information is stored and used by virtual assistants?

Touchpoints

We chose existing touchpoints because we wanted to improve the overall experience of Google Home. We did not want to create new products or touchpoints that took away from the brand and customer experience that already exists.

Website

Within Google Home’s existing product website, launch a new section dedicated to privacy. Google Home should be transparent about their privacy and security terms instead of burying them.

Through this new tab within the product page, customers will be able to see how much Google prioritizes their customer’s concerns. There are a few FAQs to answer general questions but there is also an interactive search bar. Users can ask Google Home a question and receive an explanation on how it’s answered. Lastly, there is also a link directly to Google’s full page of Privacy and Security terms, making it extremely accessible.

Mobile App

On Google Home’s existing mobile app, add “Privacy Settings” to increase transparency and functionality to users. People will be able to see clearly what information and data is being used through their voice assistant.

Within the existing Google Home app, we’ve implemented a new section - Privacy Settings. Rather than adding this section within Settings or Account Preferences, we wanted to show how important privacy should be by itself. Users will be able to immediately see this section without having to search for it.

We framed privacy around “This is how well your Google Home knows you.” Not only did we want it to be friendly, we also wanted to encourage shared information without intimidating users. By sectioning off subsets of information into Google Account, Music, Payment, etc., people can see how well their voice assistant knows them within these fields.

Pamphlet

Update Google Home’s on-boarding pamphlet to highlight privacy concerns. When new users use Google Home, they should feel secure about where their information is going.

By adding privacy information to the on-boarding pamphlet, new customers will understand where their data is going right away. There is information about asking private questions, how Google Home knows information, and example questions to ask it.

Storyboards

New User

This is a storyboard of how a new user might encounter some of the updated touchpoints we have developed. They’ll see the pamphlet while unboxing the product and begin on-boarding. While they set up their new Google Home, they will naturally explore the mobile app and look through the settings.

Existing User

This is a storyboard of an existing user coming across the website. After getting concerned about privacy through their Google Home, they so some research and come across the product privacy section. They find questions they can ask their voice assistant and after talking with their Google Home, they feel reassured.

Outcomes

Through this project I learned about how people perceive voice assistants and how fast the digital world is rapidly evolving. Voice assistants are still very new and people are hesitant to adopt them. There is an opportunity for voice assistants to be transparent about privacy and how information is being transferred.

Future Steps

With more time, it would have been beneficial to do user testing to see how viable and understandable the concepts were. We didn’t have the chance to have any interviews with voice assistant users, but in the future we would have liked to get a better understanding of how they perceive voice assistants.

Voice assistants are an emerging field, and I would personally like to learn more about conversation design. Natural user interfaces have a lot of potential when utilized in the right way.