Your customers have spoken: they expect speedy, seamless service. Long hold times and complicated phone trees are no longer acceptable. How can you use voice technologies to provide the speedy, personalized support that today’s customers expect?

Learn best practices for integrating voice AI to impress callers and increase happiness. Prepare to transform archaic customer experiences into smooth voice-enabled journeys that span phone conversations, internet channels, and future technology.

What Is Voice Technology?

Voice technology refers to any system that utilizes voice recognition, synthesis, or biometrics to automate interactions and communicate with customers. This includes both speech-enabled AI chatbots, as well as more basic interactive voice response (IVR) phone systems.

The core components of voice technology include:

• Automatic speech recognition (ASR). This technology enables systems to understand natural voices and transcribe speech into text or commands.
• Natural language processing (NLP). NLP algorithms help systems interpret the meaning and sentiment behind words. This powers the conversational abilities of voice AI.
• Text-to-speech (TTS). TTS synthesizes computer generated speech from text, allowing voice systems to respond to customers with voice rather than just text.
• Voice biometrics. Vocal patterns can be fingerprinted for identification and authentication purposes.
• Dialog flow. The logical flow of automated voice conversations is managed by dialog systems. This includes steps such as intent recognition, response formulation, and context tracking.

By combining these core technologies, voice systems can understand customers, determine intent, provide information, authenticate users, and deliver personalized experiences safely and efficiently. Voice tech removes the friction of typing, buttons, and screens, making interactions feel more natural and human-like.

Voice technology comprises a wide range of solutions that change the way customers interact with organizations, notably in contact centers. These technologies not only expedite procedures, but also improve client experiences by making interactions more efficient, tailored, and accessible.

The following are the primary types of voice technology that promote customer engagement:

1. Interactive voice response. IVR systems use voice recognition to answer customer questions and complete tasks, such as making appointments or checking account balances. They are often the first line of defense for customer service, as they can handle simple queries without the need for human intervention.
2. Virtual agents or chatbots. Virtual agents are computer programs that can simulate human conversation. They can answer customer questions, provide support, or even sell products. Virtual agents are increasingly sophisticated, and some can now hold conversations that are indistinguishable from human-to-human interactions.
3. Voice biometrics. Voice biometrics uses the unique characteristics of a person’s voice to identify them. Beyond their obvious security applications, voice biometrics can be used to personalize the customer experience by greeting customers by name or remembering their preferences.
4. Speech analytics. Speech analytics uses artificial intelligence to analyze spoken language. This technology can improve customer service by identifying customer pain points or tracking the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Speech analytics can also be used to generate transcripts of customer interactions, which can be helpful for training purposes or for quality assurance.

Benefits of Voice Technology for Customer Experience

The numbers speak for themselves—voice technology is transforming customer experience. Statistics show that conversational AI, voice biometrics, and speech analytics are becoming increasingly popular. The data suggests increased security, efficiency, and consumer happiness. The report provides a message to companies that are still on the sidelines: adopt voice or risk falling behind.

• Voice technology is becoming mainstream—46% of adults in the U.S. own a smart speaker, using voice assistants like Alexa daily.
• By 2024, the global speech and voice recognition market is projected to grow to $26.9 billion. The AI-based speech recognition software segment will account for most of this growth.
• Almost half of contact centers (43%) have now implemented AI, with conversational chatbots being the most common use case.
• 80% of customer service organizations recognize the value of conversational AI, citing benefits like faster resolutions and improved efficiency per agent.
• However, chatbot satisfaction remains low, with only 23% of customers reporting a positive chatbot experience. This demonstrates the need for further improvement.
• Companies that implement voice biometrics report a 50% or greater reduction in fraudulent activity.
• Speech analytics adoption has risen 358% between 2017 and 2022 as companies seek to extract insights from customer calls.
• Top uses of speech analytics include: training agents (56% of users), improving IVR and self-service (51%), categorizing calls (49%), and monitoring compliance (36%).
• 64% of contact centers are now recording 100% of interactions, enabling widespread speech analytics use.
• Consumers increasingly prefer voice calls over other channels like email or text for complex issues, indicating the continued importance of voice technology.

Voice use is rapidly increasing due to the numerous ways in which this technology improves the consumer experience. Let’s look at some of the primary benefits that are driving businesses to adopt voice AI, biometrics, and analytics.

Voice technology is transforming customer interactions and changing the face of the customer experience.

Here are some of the major benefits of speech technology implementation:

Shorter Wait Times and Faster Resolution

Voice technology empowers businesses to automate and expedite initial interactions, drastically reducing wait times. Automated responses through interactive voice response (IVR) systems cater to routine queries, ensuring customers receive instant answers.

With the assistance of voice AI, customers can receive guided solutions, leading to faster issue resolution without the need for live agents. This not only enhances efficiency but also frees up live agents to address more complex inquiries.

24/7 Availability

Voice technology ensures round-the-clock accessibility for customers. Virtual agents and chatbots powered by voice AI provide consistent support regardless of time zones, enabling customers to seek assistance whenever they require it.

This availability goes beyond business hours, creating a remarkable customer-centric approach that contributes to higher satisfaction and loyalty rates.

Scalability and Consistency

As customer bases expand, businesses can seamlessly scale their operations with voice technology. Virtual agents and chatbots can handle a multitude of inquiries simultaneously, ensuring consistent support without compromising quality.

Read Also: The Role of Voice Commerce in Omnichannel Retailing

Whether serving a handful of customers or a global clientele, voice technology offers a uniform and standardized approach, maintaining consistent responses and information dissemination.

Personalization Through Data Insights

Voice technology thrives on data and analytics, enabling businesses to gather insights into customer preferences, behaviors, and pain points. This data fuels personalization, as AI algorithms tailor responses based on individual history and context.

Personalized customer interactions foster deeper connections, enhancing customer satisfaction, and engendering loyalty.

Enhanced Customer Engagement

Voice technology transforms interactions from transactional to conversational. By understanding natural language and context, virtual agents provide engaging conversations that simulate human-like interactions.

This engagement transcends basic queries, fostering positive emotional connections between customers and the brand.

Empowering Live Agents

Voice technology isn’t about replacing live agents, but rather empowering them. By handling routine inquiries, voice AI allows human agents to focus on intricate issues that require human insight, empathy, and problem-solving skills.

This collaborative approach ensures a synergy between human touch and technological efficiency.

How to Provide a Satisfying Voice Commerce Experience

The ability to order and buy products and services using only your voice and a smart device has caught on in a huge way, particularly in the US, to the point where “Alexa, play…” has reached the point of mummification. 

Alexa and other virtual assistant tech haven’t just got cultural clout though, as voice assistant eCommerce transaction value is expected to exceed US$19 billion worldwide by 2024. In addition, almost 40% of the US population is estimated to have used voice assistant tech monthly in 2024. It’s becoming more important than ever for eCommerce companies to provide customers with a satisfying voice commerce experience as the adoption of the technology increases.

While voice commerce is part of eCommerce, the unique characteristics of the medium mean customers have different needs when using their voice. So how exactly do you go about satisfying voice commerce customers?

Keep it Simple

KISS is more than just an outdated rock band; it’s also an easy acronym to remember when it comes to voice commerce. Keep things simple, stupid. If you simply take one thing away from this research and article, it should be that convenience is key in voice commerce. Convenience is sometimes cited as the most compelling feature of voice assistant technology, as individuals can use it to conduct a variety of other tasks with their hands, such as making meals.

So, when clients use your eCommerce site with a voice assistant, it should be as simple to order a new pair of trousers or a laptop as it is to play the latest Beyonce song. Limit voice search results to a few alternatives, lead customers to previously ordered things, and never (under any circumstances) ask for an address or billing information by speech.

This should have all been collected and saved through another channel as part of a proper omnichannel strategy; otherwise, customers would be completely turned off by voice commerce. Remember that, while voice assistants are becoming more popular, many people are still unfamiliar with them, so don’t have them jump through unnecessary hurdles.

Develop Some Skills

By developing some skills we don’t mean going back to university or taking up woodworking. That’s because “skills” in this context means a voice application that is specifically designed to carry out a specific task. In essence, you’ll be building apps for voice assistants, though keep in mind each voice assistant calls them different things (Alexa has Skills, Google Actions, and Cortana Skills), and building a skill for Alexa won’t translate to a Google device.

A prime example is the Starbucks Reorder skill with Alexa. Once the skill is enabled on a user’s Alexa device, they have to link their Starbucks account to it. A user can only make an order if they have previously made a mobile order with the Starbucks app on iOS or Android, then they can place an order at one of the last 10 Starbucks locations they’ve visited in person. 

Starbucks Reorder ticks plenty of boxes as it keeps the amount of work a user has to do with their voice to the bare minimum, keeping it real simple. It’s also a great framework for any eCommerce business that deals with a lot of reorders.

Curate

Similar to keeping it simple, it’s important to curate the selection of products you offer via voice commerce. It’s tempting to have everything available on your site on offer via voice commerce, but doing so could overwhelm the customer with choice in a channel that doesn’t offer rich media to help them make a choice. It could also lead to the voice assistant launching into a confusing, wordy spiel as it attempts to convey the information overload that you’ve created

Consider limiting voice commerce customers to products they repeatedly purchase via other channels or just your best-sellers. You can always slowly add more options and gather more data to see what’s working and what’s not, but starting off with too much all at once will be a turnoff.

How your customers should feel after trying out voice search on your website.

Future Trends in Voice Technology and Customer Experience

Rapid advances in AI-powered voice technology—predictive engagement, new use cases, and hyper-personalization—are paving the path for more natural, contextual consumer interactions.

1. More natural conversations. Advances in AI will enable more natural voice interactions that go beyond basic commands. Generative AI can formulate highly contextual, nuanced responses tailored to the customer. Voice tech will mirror human conversation patterns more closely.
2. Predictive capabilities. Voice assistants will increasingly anticipate customer needs and make proactive recommendations by analyzing customer data and context. This predictive personalization will provide greater convenience.
3. Expanded use cases. Voice tech will expand beyond service to sales, marketing, support, and more. Customers may engage brands through voice-activated social communities. New discovery and engagement pathways will emerge. In fact, a survey by Voicebot.ai found that 57% of smart speaker owners have used their devices to make a purchase.
4. Multimodal interactions. Voice AI will incorporate more multimodal capabilities blending voice, touch, visuals, and sensors for intuitive omni-channel experiences. Voice tech won’t be siloed to smart speakers but embedded into wearables, cars, appliances, and more.
5. Emotion detection. More advanced speech analytics will help voice assistants recognize subtle emotions like frustration or excitement. This emotional intelligence allows brands to respond appropriately to enhance connections. Currently only 33% of chatbots can detect customer emotion, but Juniper Research predicts emotion AI will be key to enhancing CX, projecting a 128% CAGR in emotion detection adoption through 2025.
6. Hyper-personalization. Voice biometrics and AI will enable hyper-personalized experiences addressing customers by name, understanding preferences, and referencing previous interactions to foster relationships.

As voice technology grows more human-like, contextual, emotionally intelligent, and pervasive, it improves self-service by making encounters feel more customized and conversational. This adjustment may improve customer satisfaction and loyalty in the future.