Technology today has taken a very fast pace and has changed our lives. Companies today are able to provide quick and personalized responses to customers. Hence, have increased the level of customer satisfaction. The use of voice based chatbot is on the roll. Different companies are adopting it to be at the top in this competitive world.

Today, the bots are powered by artificial intelligence. They are thus, capable of assisting via text or voice. They provide the best solutions to both the customers and agents in various areas. As per a study, by 2020 about 85% f customer relationships will be automated. It can help in various sectors like education, insurance, travel, etc.

Considering the usage of a voice enabled chatbot, 47% of the people are already using voice search devices at least once a day. As voice recognition technology continues to improve in accuracy, and services are getting added to it. As a result, more consumers are shifting to voice engagement.

What is a voice enabled chatbot?

Voice activated chatbots are the ones which can interact and communicate through voice. They are capable of accepting the command in an oral or written form. They are programmed to reply through voice. This can be further categorized into two types – one which responds via text and voice together. And the other, which responds via voice only.

The popular examples of voice enabled chatbots are the Amazon Echo, google Home and AI Timey. A voice based chatbot uses pre-recorded and text to speech responses to address the queries of the users.

Types of voice enabled chatbots:

• Voice + Text Bots – Hybrid Voice + Chat Support Model:
  These are text-based bots with a layer of voice on top of it. The input form is speech as well as text.
• Voice Only Bots – Voice Controlled Devices:
  These bots can handle everything from simple tasks like setting alarms, playing music to more complex tasks like controlling your gadgets, turning your house into a smart home.

Demand and usage of voice assistant devices:

Voice is a more natural way of functioning for humans than texting. It is informal, intuitive and immediate. This shift provides a natural and seamless flow to processes. Hence, it gives more mobility to employees. It is expected that by the year 2020, 50% of searches will be voice based. Companies need to be on that platform as well, with the customers. About 1 in every 5 teens (14–17) plan to purchase a stand-alone digital voice-enabled assistant within the next 12 months. Therefore, the demand for digital voice assistants is increasing. This is also satisfying consumers’ wants and needs.

Accenture’s Digital Consumer Survey in 2017 included 26,000 people from 26 countries. The survey found that 46% of US consumers are using “voice-enabled digital assistants”. This numbers were even higher in India and China — 55%.

If we consider the breakdown by age group, it shows more usage among the younger users. Over 30% of 14–17 year old use the voice assistants regularly with another 20% that just started and 33% interested. Thus, 84% of teenagers either already are using any kind of voice assistant or plan to.

According to a research by Canalys, the smart speaker installed base will approach the 100 million mark by the end of this year. This makes it almost 2.5 times bigger than at the end of 2017. The installed base is assumed to grow and reach 225 million units by 2020.

In the long run, the customer service department will be able to function more efficiently and it will cut costs.

Why consumers prefer voice?

Voice bots can be integrated with other services and data delivery channels. Bots are acting as personal assistants today. They are able to perform simple tasks like making phone calls, read messages, or setting alarms and reminders.

• Voice AI augments customer insights
  

  Having a voice enabled chatbot increases the capabilities to provide reliable data insights to the customers. It helps in giving correct real time information. It also helps in increasing the customer’s side experience. A seamless connection between the customer and the service personnel is maintained.

• All text and no voice is monotonous:

Having a good customer engagement is important in today’s competitive world. The biggest worry about engaging in a text-chat conversation is that it requires patience, time and voiceless understanding of the matter under discussion. The simple text often lacks transparency, context and personalized sentiments. This makes the interactions inorganic and strenuous, eventually resulting in misinterpretation of an actual conversation. Voice gives highly automated, intelligence driven business communication.

• Faster responses and zero wait time:

Customers today don’t have time to wait for a deal with a company and queries. Thus, optimizing he customer experience a vital part in giving the best customer service. At the same time, it does not make fiscal sense to have an oversupply of live agents waiting to respond on each incoming chat instantaneously.

as per a statistic, a 10 seconds ay in playing a video line makes 50 of the viewers to abandon  the site or just close the video.

• Better two-way interaction:

The best part about voice enabled chatbot is the two-way communication. Thus, it gives a better customer experience.

• Better customer experience:

Voice enabled assistants help in giving the best customer experience. Customers appreciate innovative ways of engagement with a brand. Hence, direct advertising will not elicit much from customers. Using talking bot is an exciting concept. It is able to create a positive sensation in people who experience it. Adopting this technology gives the opportunity to provide more integrate, delightful and rich customer experience.

• Business Expansion: 

Businesses today have been using messaging apps and the audience is already enjoying that. they have managed to achieve success in the market. Thus there is a great opportunity for voice to enter since it will be easily accepted.

• No human physical touch required:

Today we are moving towards the touch free devices. Voice recognition chatbot offers new opportunities of personalization. This intimates engagement for companies where such technology does a lot more than traditional approach. The two-way chat happening between human and a robot is way too profound. This eliminates many obstacles faced while dealing with customer requirements.
Pure text-based chat solutions require a presence of a supporting device. But intelligent voice chat robots do not latch on any special hardware devices. They simply get rid of physical means of interactions and costly customer engagement barriers. New and advanced AI technology allows you to speak to your voice assistant robot without using many control buttons or hassle provided you are loitering within its available range.

• Increased productivity using multitasking:

Voice enabled chatbots help us in providing good customer service and quick assistance with the daily tasks and shopping dilemma. Apart from this, one can use it as on-demand virtual assistants that helps in enhancing the office productivity by integrating with existing apps on our computers and digital devices.

With a voice bot you can also do the following thing to increase the productivity:

• schedule, organize and modify meetings with the clients
• write and send emails
• set reminders

• Voice helps in providing value:

Voice enabled services are close to humans and have interactive capabilities. This adds the unbelievable value to the business. Voice based customer services  drive better and faster conversations in personal lives. It also entices the customer about the brand.

• The ability to pause and listen:
  

  Voice activated bots are not only good listeners but they also help in determining the next steps. You can also pause it when the person on the other end is talking.

• 24*7 Availability:

Human services might not be available throughout the day. But voice bots are available 24*7.  Along with the availability it can handle high volume of calls at once giving quick and instant results.

• Increase in sustainability:

Voice bots help in increasing the employee satisfaction, as well along with customer satisfaction. Constant monitoring and analysis of all conversations is possible by creating n interactive dashboard that gathers information om historic chats.

• Finding the best fit:

Voice bots powered with AI have the capability to give the best solution. They provide personalized responses for the particular customer. With the excessive data these days, voice bots have the capability to scan it. Along with this they provide the best solution which is suitable for the consumer.

• Fraud Detection: 

With the incredible capability of data mining and quantitative analysis of data, voice bots help in reducing the cost and data analytics helps in detecting the fraud.

In the era of extreme competition, it is important that companies don’t leave a chance of converting leads into their customers and provide the best personalized customer service experience.  Voice bots are a great way of a businesses to use automation and connect with the world at the human level.

Apart from this, there are certain points which should be kept in my mind before using a voice enabled chatbot:

• data security
• Likability of the bot
• understanding the emotions
• language specialization