"Agent, agent, agent": designing conversations to reduce barge | Decagon

This post details how conversational design improvements, specifically reducing 'barge' (callers demanding a human agent), can be achieved through iterative design passes. By analyzing real conversations and implementing changes to agent responses – such as saying less, leading with what matters, avoiding system-serving questions, and preventing repetition – Decagon has demonstrated a significant reduction in barge rates in billing dispute workflows. The platform's ability to deploy these natural language-based behavioral changes rapidly (within a day) is highlighted as a key enabler for such iterative improvements.