Voice assistants: What's still missing for the perfect customer experience
Technology: meeting the needs of users
A Study by the American think tank "Capgemini" recently interviewed several thousand users and non-users of voice assistants about their experiences - and wanted to know, among other things, what they found annoying or controversial about the technology. A full 48 percent of non-users stated that they had tried voice assistants but did not feel that they had been understood correctly: If their pronunciation was too much of a dialect or they did not emphasize syllables enough, the system was often unable to help them.Companies that offer voice assistants also have some catching up to do when it comes to transparency: 65 percent of non-users signed the sentence "I don't trust voice assistants with the safety and security of my personal data", supplemented by 59% with the statement "Voice assistants are intrusive and seek too much personal information." For many people, the potential benefits they could derive from using the technology are clearly still far behind the critical reservations.
Company: Building and maintaining a database
For companies, the growing success of voice assistants means above all that they need to get their online data in order. The reason for this is that the devices mostly a answer - for example, when they are asked for the opening hours of a store. Where Google's visual search displays information from different sources side by side and leaves the choice up to the user, Amazon's "Alexa" or Microsoft's "Cortana" make a preselection. If they consider an outdated data set to be promising, they pass it on to the user. With the rise of new technology, there is a growing need for "digital knowledge management", a specialist area in which the American company Yext is a leader. The 900 employees help companies of all sizes to publish their data on the Internet. to the latest version effortlessly via synchronization.
False information damages the fire
Managing Partner Michael Hartwig, who looks after business in the DACH countries and Eastern Europe from Yext's Berlin office, explains: "We have evaluated that customers really resent it when information on the Internet is not up to date. According to Hartwig, who likes to stand in front of the closed doors of a store or dial a number where there is no connection?"At Yext, we are convinced that professional digital knowledge management is essential - especially in times when more and more providers are competing on the Internet," the expert continues. Only if companies keep information up to date everywhere on the Internet can they avoid frustration on the customer side and the resulting damage to their brand image.
The triumphal march has begun
No matter how economic players position themselves in relation to voice assistants, experts are certain that their triumphal march has long since begun. However, before companies start dreaming of clever marketing strategies that use technology to whisper the benefits of certain products into customers' ears, the ground has to be prepared - starting, as mentioned, with the producers, but also making companies responsible. The digital search of the future will only deliver a few hits, and these must be correct. Or, to put it in a nutshell with an idiom: "There is no second chance for a first impression".
