Use smart speakers to interact with your customers

summary

Smart speakers and voice assistants are one of the best new opportunities for companies to interact with their customers, interact with them and learn from their customers. With more than a quarter of US adults with smart speakers regularly interacting with brands via voice assistants, now is the time to think about how to take advantage of this technology. One of the common denominators between successful implementations of voice technology is the ability to reduce friction for the user – the time and effort that a user spends on completing a task. Companies can get started by determining which areas of their total offering offer opportunities to reduce friction and how to effectively extend their brand authentically. After developing their voice experiences, companies will need to experiment and understand the best way to motivate customers to the new vocal experiences they have created, by making them aware that these voice experiences are designed to save time and energy.

Smart speakers and voice assistants are one of the best new opportunities for companies to interact with their customers, interact with them and learn from their customers. According to the Smartbot Consumer Adoption report released by Voicebot.ai in March 2019, 66.4 million American adults have a smart speaker, which represents 26.2% of the US adult population. With more than a quarter of American adults with smart speakers regularly interacting with brands via voice assistants, now is the time for businesses of all sizes and segments to think about how to take advantage of this new technology. .

Reduce friction

One of the common denominators between successful implementations of voice technology is the ability to reduce friction for the user. Friction represents the time and effort that a user spends on accomplishing a task. Thus, if the opportunity arises to make a specific task more efficient via voice technology compared to the method in place, companies should seize it.

For example, companies can give customers the opportunity to make an appointment via Alexa. Hair salons, hairdressers, restaurants, health care clinics and other businesses by appointment can offer their clients the opportunity to plan their next haircut or book a table with a voice assistant. Rather than letting the customer call and make a reservation, he can do the same job with less friction with a simple voice command: "Alexa, make a reservation for dinner in Balthazar in Manhattan for 4 people on June 1st.^st at 20 hours."

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Companies can also reduce friction during surveys. Many fast food restaurants, retailers and family stores direct their customers to a URL via a receipt to fill out a survey. "Rather than engaging customers in an online quest to respond to an online survey, voice polls present a new, simpler, less intrusive and hands-free methodology for the client," said Stuart Crane, CEO of Voice Metrics, a Voice Activation Agency that allows companies to add Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri to their software products. "Companies can develop their brand in many new ways with voice, for example by using their spokesperson to issue the survey instead of the generic, automated voices typically associated with polls."

Extend the brand via the voice

Business leaders need to consider whether voice technology is appropriate for their brand and, if so, how to extend the brand name to a voice model. For example, Tide has expanded its brand by creating an Alexa skill called Stain Remover, which allows users to ask Alexa how to remove stains from over 200 different types of stains. When asked how to remove a stain of red wine, Alexa replied, "First step, pour soda or cold water on the stain; Second step, mop with an absorbent cloth; Third step, pour the liquid detergent on the stain and rub the fabric together; Step four, let stand for several minutes, then rinse with water; Step five, wash according to the care label.

Alexa's skills and Google actions, which allow you to extend the built-in features of Alexa and Google Home devices, are not limited to mainstream brands. The Boston Children's Hospital has made its mark on the voice by launching Kids®, an Alexa skill that allows concerned parents to ask questions about their children's symptoms. With the Boston Children's Hospital listing each answer in Kids®, parents can be confident that the information collected from this skill is credible and safe, as opposed to the uncertainty that could result from Google's request.

Voice technology offers businesses an excellent opportunity to engage and interact with other businesses and customers. For example, Anthony Johnson, executive vice president of Clayco, a design and building company, said, "Our Clayco Alexa expertise gives us the ability to communicate and stay in constant touch with our clients. We consider Alexa as an additional way to provide customers with information about what's new in our business or a specific project, directly via a smart speaker. "

Engagement is the key

According to a survey conducted by Deloitte among consumers in 2018, 69% of respondents indicated that they used smart speakers once a week and 47% used their speakers daily. While businesses can be confident that their customers are accessible via voice technology, creating a voice experience is not enough. "Having a voice experience is only half the battle," said Bob Stolzberg, CEO of VoiceXP, a voice platform service. "Marketing your voice experience successfully is the other part of the battle." Once the voice experience is developed, the next step is to educate customers about the experience in order to generate an ultimate commitment.

Marketers should recognize that voice technology has a learning curve similar to that encountered with digital marketing and social media. Just as they had to learn SEO, content strategies on social networks, the optimal time to publish content, etc., they will have to learn the nuances of voice technology while striving to integrate it into their overall strategy. communication and marketing. Businesses can leverage their existing communication channels to educate consumers about the new voice experiences offered by smart speakers.

Businesses of all types can begin by determining which areas of their total offering offer opportunities to reduce friction and how to effectively extend their brand authentically. After developing their voice experiences, companies will need to experiment and understand the best way to motivate customers to the new vocal experiences they have created, by making them aware that these voice experiences are designed to save time and energy.