3 min read

Why Your Company Should Establish a Voice Technology Strategy

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Speech recognition technology has grown incredibly sophisticated—and popular. Many of us regularly take advantage of voice software on our phones and other devices through voice assistants. The widespread use of speech recognition tools presents an opportunity for companies to develop voice technology strategies that expand customer communication.

Businesses can use intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) to directly improve customer experience (CX). These IVAs use voice tools to provide customers with intuitive self-service options.

Advances in Speech Recognition: A Recent History

In the more than 11 years since Apple introduced Siri, speech recognition technology has come a long way. Our phones, laptops and devices take advantage of voice software in a variety of ways. Speech recognition has helped make some tools so intuitive that using them quickly becomes second nature.

For us humans, interpreting speech comes naturally. In everyday conversation, we actually mishear one to two out of every 20 words spoken—but our brains are so good at using the surrounding context that we don’t even notice.

But for computers, it’s a different story. Voice software doesn’t have a human brain with a highly evolved language center. Voice tools can’t use visual cues to help fill in conversational context. But in recent years, AI has driven major advancements and applications of voice technology for businesses and consumers.

Graphic of a person interacting with Mosaicx on a giant smartphone

How Speech Recognition Technology Shapes Consumer Behaviors

In the U.S., most people who have adopted voice tools use them daily. But these impressive usage numbers come with an interesting caveat: Most people don’t use speech recognition technology to shop. Big tech bet large on that eventuality, but it has failed to materialize. In a survey of 6,000 respondents tracking how voice software shapes customer behavior, only about one in 10 individuals use speech recognition technology to purchase items, most often to book concert tickets.

Amazon’s recent layoffs bear this out. The unit that works on Alexa has had annual losses of more than $5B in recent years—and $10B in 2022. And Amazon’s not alone. Google is reportedly investing less in non-phone uses of Google Assistant.

While consumers generally don’t use voice technology to make purchases, they still want to speak with companies on the phone. They also want and enjoy the immediacy and convenience that voice tools provide. By integrating voice technology into their platforms, businesses can communicate with customers according to their expectations. Meeting those expectations is a critically important driver in overall CX.

Four key benefits of voice tools

How Voice Tools Can Enhance CX

As mentioned above, the frankly surprising reality is that consumers don’t want to use speech recognition tools at the time of purchase. So, when developing a cohesive voice technology strategy that takes full advantage of advances in conversational AI, one question looms large. What do consumers want from voice tools?

Customers want convenience and control. They also want self-service options that let them resolve issues quickly, anytime and anywhere, without speaking with a representative. When you consider the benefits of voice tools, it makes perfect sense that customers like using IVAs in a self-service context.

Customers benefit from voice technology because it is:

  • Fast and convenient. No matter when or where a customer decides to reach out, self-service with IVAs means they don’t face a risk of getting stuck on hold.
  • Easy to use. Conversational AI understands customers, not menus. Talking to IVAs is easier than typing (let alone going somewhere in person).
  • Efficient: Customers don’t have to worry about getting transferred to different agents and being obligated to repeat themselves over and over.
  • Intuitive: With the AI-powered advancements in speech recognition technology, the best IVAs are now so good that customers can speak in their own accents and at their own pace.

Today’s sophisticated IVAs meet customers where they are. Now customers can get immediate answers to their questions and quick resolutions to their concerns. Voice technology helps keep customer satisfaction levels high. And on the other side of the equation, it helps both minimize costs and outperform KPIs.

The Financial Benefits of Voice Technology for Businesses

Taking advantage of speech recognition technology isn’t just about elevating CX. It’s also about what voice software does for your bottom line. Let’s take a quick look at the financial benefits that voice technology—specifically IVAs that harness AI in voice interactions—can bring to your business.

Raise productivity. IVAs automate service and can support multiple customers simultaneously. Your contact center can take more calls and address more customers. But this is about more than just volume. Conversational AI facilitates intuitive conversations that resolve customer issues. This lightens the load for customer service agents and gives them time to focus on more complex tasks.

Outperform KPIs. IVAs help customer service ops increase efficiency across interactions. Voice technology with conversational AI can be used to acquire data during customer interactions and then use that data to help predict customer behaviors and preferences.

Minimize infrastructure costs. IVAs do more than increase the number of successful customer interactions. They also improve the overall quality of service. And because they do this without adding headcount, they functionally enhance your scope of service without added infrastructure costs.

How Voice Technology Leads to Sustainable Value Creation

Voice software and IVAs create new avenues to optimize CX. Companies can build relationships with their customers by letting them use the communication tool they prefer most: their own voice.

In the big picture, this is about more than optimizing processes and minimizing costs. IVAs both speak with your customers and help you understand your customers’ wants and needs. These dual benefits are what make developing a cohesive voice technology strategy doubly important for long-term success. IVAs can help you provide your customers the experiences they want—and help pave the way for sustained growth in the process.

The future of self-service is unfolding at an incredible rate. Voice technology tools powered by conversational AI will continue to elevate CX to new heights. Mosaicx provides your customers with the personalized self-service interactions they desire—including voice technology tools.