{"id":68163,"date":"2025-12-01T20:24:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T09:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=68163"},"modified":"2025-12-01T20:24:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T09:24:37","slug":"what-is-conversation-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/au\/blog\/what-is-conversation-design\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Conversation Design and How Does It Shape AI\u2019s Behaviour?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Humans innately know how to communicate. So, when they participate in a conversation, they understand how to take turns talking. In that exchange, people expect a familiar and predictable flow. They don\u2019t have to know anything about linguistics or conversation design to interact with other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As AI becomes the front door to product experiences across industries from healthcare to financial services to sales and more, it\u2019s not a given that people will know how to interact or collaborate with agents<\/a>. They may not even have confidence that AI will deliver the outcomes they seek. To build AI experiences that earn the trust of users, it\u2019s necessary to shape how AI behaves end-to-end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where conversation design comes in. More than the transactional ability to prompt an AI assistant and receive a grounded response, conversation design empowers you to build holistic AI experiences that are clear, accurate, empathetic and, importantly, trustworthy. Let\u2019s talk about what this means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what we\u2019ll cover:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What is conversation design?<\/a>
Build the infrastructure for trust<\/a>
Learn four conversation design principles<\/a>
Where conversation design shows up<\/a>
Ask these questions to get started<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is conversation design?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To begin to understand conversation design<\/a> and AI, it\u2019s important to distinguish between a prompt and a conversation. A prompt is a single instruction. A conversation is a dynamic, goal oriented exchange. Prompts are entry points to conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversation design for AI is the craft of shaping how AI agents behave across an entire interaction\u200c \u2014 \u200cnot just what they say, but how they reason, respond, recover and reflect your brand\u2019s voice. It moves beyond prompts<\/a> to design agent behaviour that\u2019s clear, helpful and human-centred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, these enable AI<\/a> to act less like a tool and more like a trusted teammate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Salesforce, I lead a team of conversation designers who have a deep understanding of human linguistics, how people communicate and how they expect to be communicated to. We design agent behaviour across four core dimensions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n