Why growing businesses should craft a voice strategy
Updated: Jan 13, 2023
As the world moves toward automation and AI, brand voice is becoming an essential business component. More often than not, we are talking to an AI. Think Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and all automated voice assistants available across multiple platforms.
40% of adults use voice technology in their daily lives, and the number keeps growing.
This trend will shift how customers interact with businesses and brands - which is why it is essential that your growing business crafts and implements a voice strategy.
What Is Voice Technology?
Voice technology is a term that encompasses AI technology that receives, interprets, replies to, and translates dictation. Think voice and speech recognition, audio engineering, voice auto-replies, voice computing, and speech assistants.
Voice technology helps consumers to interact with technology through speech and makes for hands-free and disability-friendly interactions. It is also suited to today’s busy and intense lifestyle. With voice technology, we can transcribe, book tickets, send texts and emails, make calls and get information without lifting a finger.
Voice assistance is one of the most popular forms of voice technology. It paved the way for businesses to integrate voice technology into their brand identity.
How Can Voice Technology Enrich Your Business?
So, why should your growing business bother with a voice strategy? The answer is simple: voice technology will transform your business for the better. Voice technology is advantageous to your business for many reasons.
Increased Productivity
Having voice automation, speech recognition, and automated voice assistance can increase the productivity of your business. This is because your customer service employees can better allocate their time to urgent or human-needed tasks.
Improve customer connection
People connect with voices, and those connections help them feel closer to the person they are speaking with. This is why your business needs voice technology. While chatbots are quick and easy, they often lead to customer dissatisfaction, making them likely to complain about poor customer service.
Using a voice automated bot can significantly improve this as it improves virtual connection. Whether it is a voice assistant on your app or a voice bot on your phone systems, the integration of voice automation into your customer service will improve it.
Faster service
The average person types at 40 words per minute but speaks at 120 words per minute. Giving your clientele the chance to get their requests and feedback done faster improves their experience. No one likes waiting in line for hours whether it be physical or a phone line.
Automated voice assistance can help speed up the line at a customer service call center. Also, having your website be searchable by speech will help more people use it. This will make them more likely to come back and become loyal customers of your brand.
Building brand awareness
As more people move to use voice search, businesses with voice search optimization are winning big. Designing and optimizing your web content for voice technology will help your small business rank higher in search engines.
This means that more users will find you and connect with your business. More clicks and connections equal more brand awareness which in turn will boost turnover through sales and interactions.
Inclusivity and Adaptability
Bringing in more customers means diversifying the people you target. Voice technology makes it easier to include those with disabilities and various health conditions. Voice search and voice assistance make it easier for them to find you and interact with your business without jeopardizing their health.
How To Incorporate Voice Technology In Your Business
For your growing business, you want to strategize on how you can use voice to enhance the customer experience. This is especially critical if you do not have the budget to hire manpower. The human aspect is the more important aspect of any business. If you fail to connect with your customers or potential customers on a human level, they are unlikely to buy what you sell.
The key is to incorporate voice technology in a way that enhances the services you provide or goods you sell. People have already bought into voice technology, saying it makes their lives better and easier. Jumping on to this value train adds value to your business.
Some suggestions for incorporating voice technology into your growing business are:
Voice assistance in web or app
Voice bots at customer service portals or call centers
A voice-activated expert in whatever field you are in. Like a voice-activated skincare expert or mental health buddy.
A speech-to-text option for queries, questions, or searches.
Researching what voice technology works for your business is an important part of your voice strategy. It should fold well into your brand’s mission, vision, and voice.
Factors to Take into Consideration
Understanding the concerns of customers regarding voice technology can help give your business a leg up in the game. Two of the issues raised are:
Trust and Transparency
Some people feel like companies are not open about what data they collect and what they do with your data. Be prepared to answer this question to build trust between you and your customers.
Privacy and Control
Data protection is the next big thing. Businesses that have lax data protection guidelines and remove control from the customer are likely to lose the game. It is important to strategize and implement a way to protect your customer’s privacy as you use voice technology.
Additionally, providing your customers with control over their data is essential to remain in their good graces. If a customer feels like they cannot access, change or delete any data collected by your voice technology, they will likely stop using it and your service altogether. It could also mean a legal case.
The Takeaway
Growing businesses are starting to tap into the wealth of benefits that voice technology can offer. While it’s still a developing industry, initial success is making the future of voice technology in business look pretty optimistic. As your business continues to expand, consider the various ways to implement voice technology, and you could become the next pioneer in your industry before you know it.