Consumers prefer to interact with intelligent voice and text assistants over humans; Do you believe it? This is the headline of a piece of information that the Capgemini Research Institute sent to the media in early September. The truth is that I don’t know whether to believe it. In Spain there are no exact figures for how many smart voice assistants there are, although if we consider that most smartphones have it, there must be several million, if not many. And that’s not counting those who have already begun to occupy some rooms in the homes, whether they are from Google, Amazon or Apple, above all.
Still, I find it hard to believe what Capgemini says, which has asked more than 12,000 consumers who use virtual voice or text / chat assistants regarding services and products from companies in the automotive, consumer products and retail sectors, and banking and insurance in 10 countries -the United States, Sweden, Italy, India, the Netherlands, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany and Norway-, and a thousand executives of organizations that operate in the aforementioned sectors, including companies that work exclusively by Internet.
The study shows that consumers increasingly prefer to interact with intelligent assistants than with human beings, especially when it comes to inquiring about products, obtaining information about new services or keeping track of their orders. According to the report, about 70% of the consumers surveyed affirm that, in the next three years, they will progressively replace visits to physical stores, dealerships or the bank with smart speakers .
On the other hand, companies, says Capgemini, are already seeing the benefits of conversational assistants and position them as a fundamental element for loyalty and, in general, to enrich the customer experience. More than three-quarters of companies (76%) report having obtained measurable benefits from initiatives to implement voice or text / chat assistants in their processes, and 58% say those benefits have met or even exceeded their expectations. These benefits include a reduction of more than 20% in customer service costs.
However, the report shows that the pace of development and effective implementation of virtual assistants by companies lags behind the intensity of enthusiasm and consumer demand. According to the study, less than 50% of the world’s top 100 organizations in the automotive, consumer and retail, and banking and insurance sectors have voice assistants; And the same can be said for text / chat assistants.
The report also shows that consumers value the increasing ability of conversational assistants to improve their experience. In 2017, 61% expressed their satisfaction with the use of the virtual voice assistant, such as Google Assistant or Siri, on their smartphones; a proportion that rises to 72% in the 2019 study. Furthermore, in 2017 46% of consumers declared themselves satisfied with the use of a smart speaker, such as Google Home or Amazon Echo, and 44% with an assistant smart-screen voice, such as the Amazon Echo Show and Amazon Fire TV; figures that grow to 64% and 57% in 2019, respectively.
“Once trust has been built with virtual assistants, consumers are willing to go to a new level in their relationship of use, with higher levels of personalization, emotional connection and value,” says the consultant’s report. More than two thirds (68%) of consumers value that a voice assistant allows simultaneous multitasking in hands-free mode and 59% that text / chat assistants are continually improving the level of personalization. The study also shows that users aspire to a more human interaction with their assistants: 58% would like to be able to personalize voice assistants, for example, giving them a name (55%) or defining their personality (53%).
The report also identifies four critical factors that companies must consider to take advantage of this growing consumer interest in conversational interfaces: finding the right balance between human and robotic interactions to build stronger and longer-lasting customer relationships; provide conversational assistants with additional features, such as images and videos; dedicate more efforts to gain consumer trust by resolving friction points, offering individualized information of greater interest to each user, and designing and selecting use cases that demonstrate the positive impact on the experience compared to other business criteria ; and develop competencies in user experience design, architecture / technology, and regulatory compliance.
