A TELUS Digital report has revealed the growing trend of customers embracing AI-powered voice technology.
Indeed, the findings revealed that 81 percent of Americans admit to using voice tech daily or weekly, with 68% having increased their usage over the past 12 months.
While the number of respondents having used the tech during the customer service process is much lower (36 percent in the last two to five years), recent figures paint a different picture.
In the last month alone, 25 percent of surveyed American consumers said they tried voice technology for the first time.
For TELUS Digital, these statistics emphasize the increasing role of voice tech throughout the customer journey, from initial brand interactions to fostering long-term retention and customer satisfaction (CSAT).
The study also provides insights on why adoption of the technology is “skyrocketing.”
Unsurprisingly, generative AI (GenAI) has played a large role in the proliferation of the tech, with the report explaining how it has helped to deliver more sophisticated interactions with virtual agents and is now capable of providing brands with a “competitive edge.”
This suggestion is supported by the fact that 58% of respondents stated that they would be motivated to try a brand that integrates voice technology into its customer engagement channels.
In addition, nearly 69% of consumers had a positive first experience with voice tech and continue to use it, while only 6% had a negative experience and stopped using it.
In discussing the findings, Tobias Dengel, President of TELUS Digital Solutions and author of ‘The Sound of the Future: The Coming Age of Voice Technology’, made a bold prediction about the future of the tech:
Over the next year, every consumer app and website will have to be rebuilt with an AI-powered voice and multimodal interface to take full advantage of advancements in natural language processing, GenAI, technology.
“We see multimodal experiences that combine voice, visual, and touch inputs as the future of how people will interact with technology, and our survey findings show that consumers increasingly want more natural and intuitive ways to engage with digital platforms.”
Despite Dengel’s proclamation, the study still outlined some of the issues currently impacting the technology.
Pitfalls and Solutions
Like most customer service scenarios, consumers gravitate towards the quickest and easiest solution. And voice technology is no different.
Those surveyed listed speed and efficiency (35 percent) and convenience (31 percent) as the two major selling points of voice tech.
However, issues with misunderstanding commands (65 percent), executing commands incorrectly (33 percent), and providing the wrong information (27 percent), are undermining the key benefits of the tech.