Affordances for Conversational Search
Source: https://queryunderstanding.com/affordances-for-conversational-search-3e7f1c2d9b5a Author: Daniel Tunkelang
Summary
Conversational search promises to handle ambiguity through dialogue — but it fails in practice because of an affordance gap: users don’t know what kinds of clarifying questions or reformulations the system can handle.
What Is an Affordance?
In UX, an affordance is a design element that communicates how it can be used. A door handle affords pulling; a flat plate affords pushing. Good affordances make valid actions obvious.
The Conversational Search Affordance Gap
Traditional search boxes have clear affordances: type keywords, get results. Conversational interfaces claim to understand natural language — but users don’t know:
- What can I ask?
- Will it understand follow-up questions?
- What reformulations are valid?
This leads to over-trust (users phrase queries the system can’t handle) and under-use (users revert to keyword search out of caution).
Shopify Example: Clarifying Questions
Tunkelang cites Shopify’s search feature that asks structured clarifying questions:
- “Are you looking for a product or a store?”
- “Do you mean X or Y?” These are designed affordances — the system signals exactly what it can distinguish.
Design Principles for Conversational Affordances
- Surface the query space — show examples of what kinds of queries work
- Offer structured clarifications — multiple choice > open-ended follow-up
- Progressive disclosure — start with keyword search, escalate to dialogue only when needed
- Fail gracefully — when the system doesn’t understand, say so and suggest alternatives
Relationship to Autocomplete
Autocomplete is a form of affordance: it shows users what queries are in-vocabulary. Conversational systems need analogous mechanisms.
Key Concepts
- Affordance — design element communicating valid interactions
- Affordance gap — mismatch between system capability and user mental model
- Clarifying questions — structured dialogue to resolve ambiguity
- Progressive disclosure — escalate to richer interaction only when needed