Designing Embodied Virtual Agent in E-commerce System Recommendations using Conversational Design Interaction

System recommendation is currently on the rise: more and more e-commerce rely on this feature to give more privilege to their users. However, system recommendation still faces a lot of problems that can lead to its downfall. For instance, the cold start problem and lack of privacy for user’s data in system recommendation will make the quality of this system lesser than ever. Moreover, e-commerce also faces another significant issue which is the lack of social presence. Compared to offline shopping, online shopping in e-commerce may be seen as lacking human presence and sociability as it is more impersonal, cold, automated, and generally devoid of face-to-face interactions. Hence, all of those issues mentioned above may lead to the regression of user’s trust toward e-commerce itself. This study will focus on solving those problems using conversational design interaction in the form of a Virtual Agent. This Virtual Agent can help e-commerce gather user preferences and give clear and direct information regarding the use of user’s data as well as help the user find products, promo, or similar products that they seek in e-commerce. The final result of this solution is a high fidelity prototype designed using User-Centered Design Methodology and Natural Conversational Framework. The implementation of this solution is carried out in Shopee e-commerce by modifying their product recommendation system. This prototype was measured using the usability testing method for usability goals efficient to use and user experience goals helpful.