Arizona Water Chatbot
Designed to empower 7.58 million Arizonans with trusted water insights, enabling smarter choices that can conserve billions of gallons annually.
Overview
The Arizona Water Innovation Project leverages funding grants to incorporate OpenAI's GPT-3 into a custom-made chatbot. This uses generative AI and nature-inspired language processing to disseminate water-centric information to inhabitants.
This chatbot was created to give residents quick access to water info, like conservation tips, utility help, and alerts. After user research showed issues with navigation, accessibility, and feature discovery, I used usability testing to identify problem areas
Why this chatbot?
Arizona faces growing water stress from drought, climate change, and population growth. People needed a simple, reliable way to find water guidance without digging through dense pages or waiting on support. We built the chatbot to make critical water information immediate and usable for everyday residents and local decision-makers so individuals can act on clear, timely guidance when it matters.
The Challenge
The existing website made it hard to find answers: long pages, confusing navigation, and dense copy led to slow task completion and frustrated users. Our goals were simple and measurable: shorten time-to-answer, improve task success for common water queries, and make critical features (alerts, reporting, conservation tips) discoverable and accessible on all devices.
Analysis of User Interaction with a Chatbot
To understand how residents searched for and interpreted water-related information, I conducted a mixed-method study with 10 Arizona participants. This included 4 in-depth interviews and observational sessions to capture real behaviors and language, along with 6 moderated usability tests on the existing site to assess task success and clarity.
Key Discoveries and insights
Users faced challenges in formulating precise queries or determining what to ask the chatbot.
💻 Length of Answers
Users expressed fatigue from lengthy answers generated by the chatbot, making it hard to read.
Users faced challenges in formulating precise queries or determining what to ask the chatbot.
Problem Statement
"Users struggled to find relevant water information through the Arizona Water Chatbot due to unclear navigation paths, slow response times, and lengthy, hard-to-read answers. Many found it difficult to phrase precise questions and lacked chat history to revisit prior information. These barriers led to frustration, especially among first-time users and those with varying levels of digital literacy, reducing engagement and overall trust in the chatbot experience."
Setting the project goals
I defined clear, measurable goals: reduce response time, improve query success rate, and enhance prompt design to deliver concise, human-like answers. The redesign also aimed to make critical features (like alerts, reporting, and conservation tips) more discoverable and accessible across all devices.
User Personas
I focused on the “Young Internationals” — curious, proactive users who value trust, clarity, and personal assistance when accessing water-related information. Based on interviews and analysis, I created personas that reflected their motivations, pain points, and goals, guiding design decisions to ensure an intuitive and supportive experience.
Turning research into action
During ideation, I mapped every user pain point to potential solutions, reimagining how residents interact with the chatbot. The goal was to design a system that feels simple, intuitive, and genuinely helpful in guiding users toward the right water information
Redefining the User Experience Design
Through usability feedback, it became clear that users needed a more intuitive and personalized experience. I focused on redesigning key interaction points to make navigation, readability, and re-engagement effortless.
Design Solutions & KPIs
Insights from user research directly shaped the next phase of design. Each finding was translated into clear, measurable improvements, decluttering the interface, introducing conversational and customizable elements, and refining the visual language. These updates worked together to create a smoother, more human experience that feels effortless to use and easy to trust.
Key Enhancements Driving Usability & Accessibility
CUSTOMIZABILITY
Allowing users to personalize their background enhances engagement and comfort, creating a more user-centric experience. It gives users a sense of control and familiarity, making interactions feel more natural and enjoyable
User Testing
To validate the redesign, we conducted usability testing with four Arizona residents representing diverse ages, tech comfort levels, and water knowledge. Each participant completed task-based scenarios, followed by post-test questionnaires to capture feedback and emotional responses.
The goal was simple — to see if the chatbot not only worked, but worked well. Feedback revealed smoother navigation, clearer language, and higher confidence in finding the right information.
Task Based Scenarios
Participants were asked to complete specific tasks within the chatbot.
THINK ALOUD PROTOCOL
We asked participants to "think aloud" as they interacted with the chatbot, verbalizing their thoughts, frustrations, and successes.
POST-TEST QUESTIONNAIRE
After testing, participants completed questionnaires to gather quantitative data on ease of use, satisfaction, and perceived usefulness.
Results and Impact
Testing confirmed that the redesigned chatbot made finding water-related information faster, clearer, and more engaging.
Compared to the previous version, users completed key tasks 42% faster and reported a 35% increase in satisfaction during post-test surveys.
Accessibility improvements, such as larger text, visual hierarchy, and chat history, reduced confusion and boosted confidence—especially for first-time users.
