Agent Design
The Agent Design phase is where you plan the overall structure and purpose of your voice agent. Think of this as the blueprint for your agent's role in your business. Keep it simple: focus on what the agent should achieve, how it should sound, and the key workflows it will handle.
Step 1: Define the Agent's Purpose
Start by answering these basic questions:
- What problem does the agent solve? (e.g., "Handle restaurant reservations" or "Assist with product searches and sales.")
- Who is the target user? (e.g., Customers browsing your website or internal staff.)
- What are the success criteria? (e.g., "Complete a booking in under 5 minutes" or "Increase sales conversions by 20%.")
Tip: Keep the purpose narrow for your first agent. For example, if you're in hospitality, focus on reservations before adding support queries.
Step 2: Set the Tone and Personality
Your agent should reflect your brand. Choose a tone like "friendly and helpful" or "professional and efficient." This will guide the prompt design later.
- Example for a sales agent: "Enthusiastic, concise, and always ready to recommend products."
- Example for customer support: "Empathetic, patient, and solution-oriented."
Step 3: Outline Workflows
Map out the main conversation flows as simple steps. Use bullet points or a flowchart.
- Greeting and intent detection (e.g., "Hi, how can I help today?")
- Key actions (e.g., Search products, check availability, confirm details.)
- Endings (e.g., "Booking confirmed! Anything else?")
Tip: Consider edge cases, like what happens if data is unavailable or the user changes their mind.
Step 4: Plan for Data and Tools
Identify what data the agent needs (e.g., inventory from your API) and what actions it can take (e.g., book a reservation). This sets up the Tool Design section.
Step 5: Consider Limits and Monitoring
Note basic safeguards like rate limits to prevent abuse (e.g., max sessions per day). Detailed technical setup comes later, but plan for monitoring conversations to ensure quality.
Once planned, you're ready to build. Test a demo at strategicmachines.ai to see these concepts in action.