What is a voice bot?

A voice bot or a voice assistant is an AI-enabled solution that assists users with various tasks, such as answering questions or controlling smart devices. The most popular examples include Siri or Alexa.

Put differently, a bot helps the user to give different voice commands and communicate with its dedicated voice assistant on a preferred device, typically a smartphone. This allows users to have a hands-free interaction, without the need for manual input, unlocking many advantages.

From a consumer’s perspective, it’s incredible how fast voice assistants have become an affordable and even a necessary solution in an average household. Only a couple of years ago, these were the things we could only see in movies, and now they are as common as smartphones.

However, voice bots had trouble breaking the glass ceiling. It only happened after they understood how to comprehend one’s emotional state and respond in an empathetic manner. That said, you can think of today’s voicebots as emotion-aware voice assistants, ultimately. Even though some bots fall short in this ability, that’s definitely the end goal that all AI companies are striving for.

How do voice bots work?

Voicebots use artificial intelligence and large language models (LLM) to conduct natural conversations and context-aware interactions with a user. More precisely, voicebot technology combines machine learning, AI, data analytics, and cloud computing. They are either built from scratch and implemented in various industries, or they can be deployed to existing chatbots by adding voice services.

As a part of their improvements in the emotion intelligence field, some experimental models combine Speech Emotion Recognition (SER) and Speech Emotion Synthesis (SES) techniques. This allows for speech signal processing, enabling the voice bot to recognize emotions present in human speech and even synthesize them.

Although voicebots can to a great extent recognize user’s emotions, it is still challenging to effectively respond and behave based on them, which is why it has not yet become an industry standard but it’s definitely something to think about if you’re planning on integrating chatbots into your business.

What are the types of the voicebot?

Voicebots differ among themselves usually based on the industry they will be implemented in, the size of the company, and the variety of services a business is looking to provide through voice assistance.

Integrated Voicebot for Contact Center Automation (Inbound & Outbound)

If you’re thinking about implementing a VA solution to your contact center business, it’s enough to ask your employees and management if they think it would be beneficial. Most certainly, the answer will be yes. That’s because AI bot solutions are designed to be a helping hand to humans, focused on automating repetitive business processes so that humans agents can focus on more complex ones, advancing in their careers more rapidly.

Although there are definitely some limitations to it, such as their ability to answer queries of higher value, advantages for voice bots in contact centers prevail.

Voice-Enabled AI Chatbot Solutions

Chatbots have already become an extension of customers’ online activities, making it easier to find adequate answers and support, both in professional and personal life. However, in today’s modern times, one’s needs to multitask and a rapid pace of life often include the necessity of voice-enabled bot services.

Think of it this way: if you had to choose between two chatbots, whose only difference is that one is text-based and the other one includes voice bot commands, which one would you opt for?

Smart Assistants Powered by Voice AI

Virtual voice assistants for smart devices are designed to process, understand, and generate responses, using natural language. With the help of AI, they’re able to detect and execute commands related to home automated systems and smart devices. They’re based on the expectation-confirmation approach, so there’s a minimal possibility of drifting off the programmed script.

What are the voicebot benefits for business?

With the increased prevalence of voicebots in nearly every industry, it’s easy to pinpoint the benefits for businesses. Let’s just name a few:

• Immediate responses - What frustrates customers the most is waiting for a response or a reaction. Voicebots provide the feeling of immediate support;
• Non-stop availability - As with typical 24/7 chatbots, the satisfaction rate is skyrocketing. There’s something so convenient about being able to get support whenever you need it;
• Accessibility - Not only does the voice bot option appeal to users who prefer spoken communication, but it will also provide access to users with disabilities such as visual impairment;
• Customer retention - Customers love it when they know you provide reliable, always-available customers services. If they enjoyed experiencing your voicebot solution, it will greatly impact their loyalty to your business.

And lastly, it allows for scalability and cost reductions at the same time. Investing in an AI voice bot positions your business among those who prioritize and support industry innovations and development, showing your current and future hires that your values are centered around improvement, efficiency, and up-to-date policies.

What are the voicebot benefits for customers?

There were numerous studies conducted about why customers prefer voicebots to text-only chatbots, and it mostly has to do with the human mind. Namely, if users receive a voice response, they feel as if it was faster than a textual response. That’s because text requires a user to read the response - some are quicker readers than others - whereas voice bot responses allow users to focus on the meaning.

Moreover, voicebots allow users to continue doing other tasks, whereas text-only conversational agents require the user to stop with other actions and focus on typing and reading. Both are hugely beneficial, it just depends on the situation and personal preference.

However, one remarkable advantage of voicebots compared to other AI-powered bots is their ability to detect moods and deal properly with emotion. A conversational artificial agent that understands natural language is especially valuable today since it leaves great room for personalization and significantly enhances customers’ good experiences.

In the age of expansive generative AI, voice bot functionality might as well be the nuance that will determine the success of voicebot implementation. After all, recent surveys on the topic prove that users prefer voice assistant that understands human emotions and responds to them.

Use cases of voicebot technology in different industries

The diversity of voicebots’ implementation in different industries is quite impressive, especially when we look at solutions tailored for individual businesses or situations. The ease of voice bot implementation and the reliability of the technology behind it, make it possible to adapt to rapidly changing environments, thus reacting instantly to customers’ demands.

1. Travel

From car rentals with in-car voice assistants to speech-based virtual travel assistants, the travel industry has come up with innovative ways to maximize its profits by using AI voicebot solutions.

The key to its success is simple: tourists represent a group with the most questions and curiosity, and could therefore benefit so much from hands-free voice bot navigation and user query responses.

 2. Banking

Conversational IVR systems are becoming more prevalent in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector when it comes to answering bank-related queries, such as loans, policies, accounts, etc. What’s specific about this industry is that voicebots are providing more than just personal assistance, enabling users to perform banking tasks without physical interaction.

It’s in human nature to want to make finance responsibilities as easy as possible, and voice bots are to this day the most seamless way to do it.

3. Healthcare

Some may think of voice assistants as a modern-day privilege, when in fact they’ve proven to be undeniably helpful to the elderly or visually impaired, improving customer quality of life significantly.

Especially during COVID-19, it was crucial to be able to deliver healthcare remotely, so many adopted digital tools and telehealth, such as voice assistants and intelligent conversational agents.

4. Retail

In retail, using voice bot technology enables significant benefits for consumer engagement and customer interaction rates. Moreover, they’re proven to be more effective than chatbots when it comes to increasing cognitive and affective engagement, leading to more conversions and a higher satisfaction rate.

However, keep in mind that what makes the voice bot-customer relationship so powerful is localization, which is why you should ensure a solution tailored to the cultural preferences of your diverse audience, especially the language.

What is the difference between voicebot and chatbot?

Some chatbots include voice services as well but are primarily referred to as text-based conversational agents. On the other hand, AI-powered voice bot solutions that were initially designed as text-to-speech are much more convenient when it comes to the final output compared to their general chatbot counterparts.

In other words, chatbots are primarily used for textual communication and are integrated into various messaging platforms, although some of them may process voice messages, images, and videos. Voicebots are in essence optimized for text-to-speech conversations and, depending on the industry, different aspects of their potential are explored and enhanced.

How to use voicebot?

What happens during this machine-human interaction is that the automatic speech recognition (ASR) converts spoken data to text for processing, and then it has to convert it from text to speech for output. This is done in real-time, and the user usually should not be aware of the complexity of the process thanks to its immediate reaction. 

That’s why it’s best to opt for a proven AI voice bot platform such as Graphlogic.ai, whose voicebot solutions allow you to seamlessly import your own datasets for bot training. If designed and implemented adequately, the use of voicebots should be easy and intuitive according to user experiences. The activation method should be made obvious and accessible, preferably voice-activated or in as few clicks as possible.

With voice assistant, it’s usually enough to say the keyword out loud, whereas, with chatbots that combine textual and spoken inputs, the user usually has to choose if he wants to continue communication in a spoken utterance. Top-industry AI voicebot solutions go even further and allow you to customize the voice in fine detail, such as pauses or voices pitch. 

Conclusion

Voicebots are personalized, unique brand personas that enhance customer experience by detecting, processing, and responding to queries in a timely and efficient manner. Considering how convenient the voicebot technology is, it’s needless to say that it will become the industry standard in the near future, and we hope this article encouraged you to explore it within your business and provided you with enough voice bot information to decide on the optimal AI partner.

FAQ

How do I implement a VoiceBot in my business?

Voice assistants can be seamlessly integrated into smart mobile or stationary devices by a relevant AI company that develops these solutions.

Can VoiceBots understand multiple languages?

Not every platform supports multiple human languages, so it’s best that you check this in advance. The main operating voice bot language is usually English, although most platforms include more languages, such as Hindi.

Are VoiceBots secure to use?

If you choose a proven AI platform, voicebots are completely secure to use in businesses of any size, with defined data privacy policies and well-thought-out customer support.