Voicebot—the future of customer service.
Welcome to the world of interactions of humans and machines. At present, voicebots are capable of helping businesses provide voice-enabled conversational AI solutions at a rapid pace. Since the COVID-19 hit the world, voice AI has become more crucial than ever. More industry leaders now believe in an omnichannel future for customer service, citing how it helps ensure you are reachable on customer-preferred contact channels.
You should do the same and open up your business to the multiple advantages of AI-powered customer support.
Why?
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, expectations are volatile. Consumers have become more demanding and critical over the years. Since people are locked up for so long and are left with no choice but to embrace new technologies for convenience, and that includes shopping and paying bills online and adapting to a remote work setup. The more customers are adapting to these changes, the higher their expectations are for your business. They expect your company to do the same. That is why convenience and fast response are essential.
Conversational AI is among the most trending solutions businesses are utilizing in their sales and marketing strategies. It allows them to increase their revenue with prospective customers. The main job of a voicebot is to engage with your customer using natural language, sorting, and automatically replying to simpler customer questions.
In this blog, we’ll share examples of the most popular types of voicebot. We will also discuss how to automate calls with the use of Conversational AI to keep up with customer demand across various industries.
What is a Voicebot?
A voicebot is a software powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP). It allows the caller to interact with a device and navigate an interactive voice response (IVR) simply by speaking. It can understand a spoken question or request and structure an appropriate audio response, generally by using natural language. Although not identical, a voicebot can be viewed as something akin to a chatbot. Both are designed to answer a client’s question and provide the answer or assistance they need.
Voice is considered the quickest form of human communication—faster than typing or navigating through keyboards. It is why voicebots can offer massive opportunities for elevating customer experience. Also, the speed, accuracy, and 24-hour availability of voicebots can improve your customer support dramatically.
How Does Voicebot Work?
Voicebot uses Speech-to-Text or transcription systems and Natural Language Processing (or NLP) to interpret words. If you ever use voice assistants such as Siri or Alexa, you already know such systems. This technology allows its users to command the computer or device verbally to navigate their smart homes or in-car systems.
When it comes to customer service, IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is one of the oldest speech recognition systems known for allowing customers to reach customer service agents to resolve their queries via voice commands. It is also referred to as speech synthesis. Also, voice bots can use audio files or Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology, a computer-generated simulation of human speech commonly used by developers. Instead of playing pre-recorded audio files, TTS technology automatically generates a human voice from raw text.
Types of Voicebot
Obviously, as a company, you need to face the challenges to meet the needs and expectations of your customers with scalable resources. Not to mention, the new generation of customers is mostly tech-savvy. They are updated with the latest hypes and know how to connect with people through multiple channels at once.
Customers want to receive the right information at every stage of their purchase cycle. In response, businesses want to resolve customer problems easier and faster. People who are visually challenged, like the elderly, along with persons with disabilities that prevent them from using the typing tools can use conversational AI systems.
AI-powered speech technologies are indeed one of the biggest trends right now. They create dozens of interesting opportunities for improving customer experience. It is not surprising how small to medium enterprises are eagerly experimenting with how they can use voice AI-powered technologies and automation to enhance customer service.
Below are the most popular type of voice bots and a brief description of how each works:
Conversational AI Voicebot Integrated with Contact Center for Inbound and Outbound Call Automation
When it comes to offering a great customer experience, contact centers are very quick to adopt new technologies and try innovative solutions. The successful implementation of advanced solutions creates a competitive advantage for a company. Consequently, several brands invest a lot of resources in providing customer experiences.
Contact centers integrated with AI Voicebot function as a medium to communicate with the customer. It can automate both inbound and outbound calls without the need for humans to interject or be directly involved. With the capabilities of inbound voice AI, businesses can resolve queries quickly without having users navigate long and complicated audio menus. The seamless process eventually leads to higher engagement and satisfaction. In other words, zero wait times and no more IVR menus.
Conversational AI Voicebot also plays an important role in outbound calls. It can outreach campaigns and scale agent performance. For example, a voicebot can reach thousands of your customers in minutes and multitask. Among the additional roles that voicebots can take on include disseminating updates, confirming appointment schedules and reminders. Customers can respond to complete actions or requests for callbacks.
WhatsApp Voicebot
On average, the WhatsApp platform has over billions of monthly users. Although initially renowned for facilitating customer-to-customer communications, their customer service is rapidly expanding at an impressive pace among industries. Several companies are looking for an AI-powered, remote customer interaction tool. It is one of the reasons why businesses use this platform as a quick, mobile way to update, send receipts, tickets, and handle various concerns.
The setup process is easier for anyone who has already set up a voice profile on Alexa or Google Assistant, but even quicker. Whatsapp allows users to send voice messages via the WhatsApp application. They are then redirected to the Twilio Programmable Messaging service which is used to transcribe the message into text. Its framework is designed to let the customer send queries using speech on WhatsApp, and then get appropriate replies from Text Service through a custom application. It just shows how Whatsapp can handle queries from sent over voice.
Chatbot with Voice AI
A voice chatbot can capture, interpret, and analyze vocal input given by the user and answer relevant responses in the same natural language. Meanwhile, a voice recognition bot can answer information about products that you view in real-time with accuracy. It is a convenient and cost-effective asset for your customer support services. It can act as both a virtual assistant based on voice AI and respond in a rich text format through chat and voice support.
Voice chat bots exist to solve different predicaments that customers face while browsing online. As consumers get used to using voice as the primary mode of interaction, text-based input and response becomes a secondary choice. Voice chatbots are capable of handling both voice and text-based assistance so that customers receive an answer instantly.
Voice AI-based Smart Assistants
We’re all familiar with voice assistants embedded into our smart devices. It works purely with voice-powered functionalities. It exists locally on most smartphones and can interact with other services and apps. Also, it powers routines that can automatically run based on predetermined parameters.
Voice assistants are more than just the cool, agent voices that respond to end-user requests to solve their queries. They are the point of communication between you and your customers. You can consider it the best assistant to streamline your business’ relationship with technology.
Examples of voice assistants:
- Amazon’s Alexa: It can answer extensive questions and carry out tasks such as providing a press briefing or a calendar reminder. One of its most recent updates include a Follow-up Mode that allows you to give multiple commands to Alexa. Simply give your follow-up command after your first, and Alexa will respond without having to be awakened or reactivated. Significantly, these conversational skills show that Alexa is keeping up with the rapidly changing world of voice assistant technology. Alexa is gradually exhibiting a high level of competence with an increasing ability to handle natural language requests.
- Apple’s Siri: Its main advantage over competitors is the ability to understand multiple languages—even more than what Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant can handle. Its multilingual capabilities are vital, especially for those who speak a language outside of Alexa or Google Assistant’s limited language options (English, French, German, Japanese).
- Google Assistant: Its capabilities are unimaginable. It can answer a test of more than thousands of questions correctly. It is also capable of deciphering two commands at the same time. Alexa can tell you the indoor temperature and then adjust the thermostat, but Google Assistant can adjust the thermostat and switch on the TV.
What is the future of Conversational AI Voicebot?
Current market trends predict that voice assistants will continue to gain popularity and adaptation. According to a US-based study, it is revealed that around 20% of the U.S. population has access to smart speakers today. That’s less than 1% increase compared to the collected data of a similar study from two years ago. The customers’ inclusion of voice AI technology is consistently exceeding industry expectations. Right now, the main focus is largely on the world’s tech giants, with high anticipation that conversational AI will soon be available and applicable to everything, from cars to wireless listening devices.
Conclusion
To sum it up, voice bots are highly effective when it comes to delivering a favorable customer experience. Several companies globally are quickly adopting voicebots and investing in more AI-powered automation. If you want to regulate your business’s costs, you should definitely consider developing a voicebot or employing the services of one.
Voice AI, voice assistants, and other voice technology, is increasingly becoming sophisticated and gaining traction among all business parameters and sectors. Enterprises that have started using Voice-based customer services are already reaping revenues. Not only are they able to meet customer demands, but they are also seeing clearer results in terms of sales, productivity, and profit.
In a post-pandemic world, it is likely that tons of small businesses will be under stress and customers will rely more heavily on digital contact channels. Now that people have gone past the early-stage challenges of the new normal, technology is set to provide incredible potential to personalize user experience and build customer loyalty. Voice AI is paving the way for innovative customer support solutions. Therefore, it is time to think about how to leverage voice AI to create and cultivate a more strategic business advantage.
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