Voice technology is quickly becoming the status quo for brands looking to reach and better engage consumers. Today, adding a Voice User Interface (VUI) to your product or device can feel as daunting as Mars mission planning.
“If I ask you to describe your brand in one phrase, what exactly would that sound like?”
Just give it a try.
“Do you think your consumers would be able to recognize your brand based on hearing just that sound? “
“How would you translate that to a voice experience?”
These are the questions that many industries are currently tackling — and for good reason.
According to an Adobe survey, brands are seeing an incredible potential of voice, with 66% of “business decision-makers” strongly agreeing that voice can help lead to conversion and increase revenue. In fact, 71% see it improving their user experiences. Even with such strong evidence in support of a voice-first strategy, many companies are still in the discovery phase. For many, knowing where to start and find the voice of their brand is the greatest barrier to entry.
Find your Brand’s Voice and Persona
How will your voice assistant represent the personality and attributes of your brand?
Once established, the most important next step is to maintain consistency with that persona across all channels. Begin by carefully identifying the values you want your voice assistant to convey. For instance, how do you want your product/brand to carry itself as an entity that people talk to? Will its tone always be formal? Does it identify itself as any particular gender?
In the early stages of your design, consider the following :
• Vocal characteristics
• Persona
• Tone/mood
• Brand values
• Brand attributes
For example, in the movie “Her,” Scarlett Johansson plays a voice AI that becomes — for the most part — a wonderful confidant and assistant to the protagonist Theodore, played by Joaquin Phoenix. Her personality is sweet, thoughtful, helpful, humorous and proactive.
“It might help to think of your voice assistant as an entity that personifies all the positive values of your company”
Research by Google has revealed how a lot of people ascribe human characteristics to voice assistants. It is human nature to perceive human traits such as gender on inanimate objects. With voice assistants, Google discovered that users went as far as saying ‘please,’ ‘thank you’ and ‘I’m sorry’ when speaking to them.
Now think about your own voice assistant. Do you want it to be trustworthy, authoritative, friendly or some combination of the three? A good start would be to write down a list of positive attributes that you would like it to have.
After all, the new and niche market that is VOICE requires that you do it right or not at all.
