Voice everywhere
We are living in a world where you can talk to virtually everything – from our cars to smart speakers to our TVs. With more and more consumers becoming increasingly comfortable with voice technology, they are talking more and clicking less. And, it won’t be long before even the slickest apps and websites will feel slow and difficult compared to just talking.
This rise of voice is shifting consumer behavior and expectations. With Alexa in our living rooms and Siri on our phones, people are becoming accustomed to interacting with organizations, devices and the world around us in a different way. And if you are thinking maybe this trend is a fly-by-night fidget spinner, think again. This year, 35.6 million Americans will use a voice-activated assistant device at least once a month. That’s a jump of nearly 130% over last year.*
These rising consumer expectations for voice-enabled everything are a huge deal for enterprises – even if it may not seem like it just yet. Here’s why: very soon, consumers will expect these experiences everywhere. In fact, CapGemini predicts that as early as 2020, fully 40% of consumers will prefer to engage with organizations using their voice. Think about it: in less than two years, two out of every five of your customers will want to talk to your brand and get things done, just as they can with their smart speaker today.
Re-thinking the role of voice
This voice-everywhere world is going to force organizations of all sizes to re-think not just WHERE voice is used in their customer service, but also HOW it works. They’ll need to think about this voice-everywhere approach in their most popular use of voice – the IVR. It’s going to create a new paradigm – because people aren’t going to use voice just to turn on their lights or get the weather. When it’s easy to use voice for everything, when those same consumers call the IVR and get a clunky, frustrating, outdated, touch-tone experience, it’s a jarring, Back to the Future experience that degrades your brand.
With loyalty and revenue at stake, now is the time to re-evaluate the role of voice – and the technologies behind it – as part of your organization’s omnichannel customer engagement strategy.
What next?
The good news is that technology is forging ahead. Advancements in AI are fueling the development and evolution of conversational voice interactions including speech recognition, text-to-speech (TTS), natural language understanding (NLU) and biometrics, machine learning and deep learning. These advancements are making conversational intelligent dialogue a reality. So, the question really is – how should your enterprise leverage them? Is your enterprise ready for voice everywhere?