Conversational AI and its Impact on Future Consumers
As many as 10.8% of smart speaker owners have used them to buy groceries, eMarketer reports.
Even when people don’t use their voice-enabled devices to make the final purchase, they use it ‘shop’ around and discover their options 26% of the time.
Conversational AI is at the heart of this.
It’s the tech that makes it possible for users to speak to their smart device as they would with a person, and be understood well enough for this kind of functionality to work.
To define it, conversational AI is the combination of AI and natural processing, and it leverages data to automate communication between a human user and a machine. And this is done to an accurate enough extent that the dialogue resembles human conversation.
Commerce is one of the areas where conversational AI is finding application, and that poses interesting questions about the consumer experiences of the future.
Typical Use Cases for Voice Assistants and Chatbots
With user adoption at 3.25 billion people worldwide, there are varied uses for conversational AI, especially where consumers are concerned.
Customer support is among the most obvious choices for enterprise applications, offering customers the chance to detail their problems and receive voice answers. A clear advantage is that the customers don’t have to hold, and they also don’t need to wait while a human customer support rep goes through a manual to find a solution.
The conversational AI can retrieve the answer from a database instantly.
Shopping is another area that consumers are using voice assistants for, and it’s an area that accounts for 14% of all smart speaker use.
In response to this customer use case, businesses are increasingly making it a priority to optimize their websites and product listings for voice search.
Current Trends and Adoptions
Companies like Google, IBM and Amazon are conversational AI specifically aimed at consumers.
This is consistent with research that shows that consumers are finding conversational AI more helpful than human customer support, by a margin of 80% in some cases.
A study by Facebook shows that automated chat options are playing a big enough role in today’s business-consumer dynamic that 50% of respondents would prefer online merchants that offer them.
And 62% of people surveyed in one study went so far as to say they actively enjoy using them.
This is a sign that business’ readiness to integrate conversational AI into their brand experience is being rewarded by increased consumer engagement.
From a consumer perspective, the adoption of voice user interfaces is just as rampant. As many as 58% of people who own voice-enabled devices use them to create or manage shopping lists — another sign of consumers adopting
The same Think With Google study that the statistic above is pulled from shares another interesting insight. Adoption of conversational AI by consumers is not limited to simply making purchases.
They want voice user interfaces to play a deeper more involved role. Up to 52% of them are interested in brands actively reaching out to deliver news about deals and perks.
Overall, the most notable trend is that consumers have readily incorporated conversational AI into their shopping experiences, and are continuing to do so at a rapid pace. Brands are using it to build new customer experiences as well, both to innovate and to keep up with fast-changing consumer expectations.
Impact on Future Consumers
The data shows that conversational AI’s influence on customer experiences is only continuing to grow. Heading into the future, voice user interfaces will likely factor into overall brand experiences at a much greater scale.
Research carried out by IBM suggests that in the coming few years, up to 85% of purchases will be completed without person-to-person contact.
Conversational AI is a large part of that, especially with the rise in shopping through smart speakers and other voice-enabled devices, plus consumer sentiment that has been generally warm.
On websites, too, consumers are increasingly coming to expect that conversationally capable chatbots should be able to walk them through the entire purchasing process, queries included.
And to the progressively small extent that future customers will need to speak to someone, the positive effect of wider adoption of conversational AI will be felt there too.
A Forrester study has shown that automating some customer service functions with conversational AI leads to more productive staff.
So where a conversation is needed, customers will speak to customer service reps who can deliver better and more helpful experiences.
On the whole, consumers of the future can expect easy, hitch-free experiences, with voice assistants and chatbots instantly attending to their queries.
Preparing and Planning for the Future
A voice-centered customer experience will be centered on effectiveness and ease of use, most of all. That means, from the brand’s perspective, user experience is no longer limited to navigating or perhaps an app.
Natural language — whether through text with a chatbot or through verbal exchanges with a voice user interface — plays into the mix just as heavily.
So to future-proof themselves, businesses need to prepare for an online shopping experience in which conversational AI plays a bigger role.
But fully preparing for a future like this calls for skilled people to build the conversational experiences that, as the data shows, are becoming increasingly prevalent. And that means conversation designers will be front and center as this change rolls on.
Aspiring conversational designers can turn to the Digital Assistant Academy for courses to help them acquire the skills necessary to build the seamless automated conversations that are growing in demand.
Whether they’re talking to a chatbot or a voice user interface, tomorrow’s consumers will expect helpful, convenient, and smooth experiences. And well-trained, capable talent is crucial for delivering on that expectation.
And these conversational designers will deal with crucial aspects of the conversational AIs, such as maximizing inclusiveness, for one.
As a future characterized by consumers engaging with conversational AIs across different stages of the brand experience approaches, it’s clear that the wheels have already begun turning. Voice user interfaces and chatbots are playing fast-growing roles in overall customer experience, and the conversation’s shifting to how best to prepare for this sweeping change.
About Digital Assistant Academy
Digital Assistant Academy provides Voice Interaction Design and Conversation Design training and Certification. In this program, we will take you from the very basics of voice interaction and conversation design, through to how voice technologies work. We’ll do a deep-dive into conversation design strategy, and it will be fully hands-on with your Capstone projects. By the end of the course, you will have two voice applications successfully designed, developed, and deployed. Learn more at Digital Assistant Academy https://www.digitalassistant.academy/
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