Despite the fact that by 2022 the majority of users would prefer to complete transactions at their bank or insurer viavoicebot, only 17% of companies in this sector use them.
Voicebots for the financial sector
According to the study prepared by Capgemini Research Institute, conversational assistants are a key element of the business and customer acquisition strategy for most organizations (74%).
If we focus on the use of voice assistants by industry, only 17% of companies in the financial sector (personal banking and insurance companies) apply this technology. This represents a great opportunity to innovate and stand out from the competition.
Within the industry, consumers indicate that by 2022 they will prefer a voice assistant over a chatbot for the following actions: making a transfer or payment to another account; handling inquiries or complaints and resolving issues; and upgrading an existing product or purchasing a new one from the same bank or insurer.
The benefits of a voicebot for the area are notorious: 82% of the organizations surveyed reduced the number of calls to customer service by more than 20%. Moreover, after incorporating a voice assistant, 65% of the companies lost 20% fewer customers.
They also improve the user experience. 92% of financial services companies said that after incorporating a voicebot, the waiting time for customers on a call was reduced by at least 5 minutes. Eighty percent reported that first-call resolution of problems or queries increased by 20%.
Despite the auspicious numbers, there are still concerns about the security issues involved in implementing voice-automated technologies. Industry benchmarks, such as this bank in Turkey, go a long way toward allaying some of these concerns. As success stories grow, adoption in the industry will increase.
The impact of voice technologies in marketing
As consumers use voice technologies as a normal part of their lives, the way they interact with advertising is changing considerably. Likewise, marketing efforts are focusing on this point.
What explains this transformation for companies? One of the reasons is that voice assistants provide users with personalized recommendations and offers, which makes marketing actions more effective. Also, strategies such as upselling and cross-selling can be used more naturally through voice. Another reason (and advantage) is that conversational assistants provide information and feedback from consumers directly to marketers.
What do organizations need to leverage voicebots?
The first is a connected organization: conversations with customers trigger internal processes, and therefore voice technologies must be linked to enterprise systems (and customer data). It also requires a deep understanding of consumer profiles: for example, knowing how they feel about different tones of voice.
For their part, they must establish how their employees and the bots complement each other. Defining ways of working that include conversational assistants alongside human agents can be beneficial for all parties.
Many organizations lack a mature approach to these technologies, lacking organizational capabilities and a customer-centric view when implementing them. As a result, they are missing the opportunity to build deeper and more valuable relationships with consumers.
One of the challenges is to understand how, where and when a user interacts with a conversational interface. From that knowledge, they must find the best combination between humans and bots.
By:
Fabricio González, Head of Quantik Lab ( Quantik's idea incubator).
Fabricio has a background in Systems Engineering and Business Administration (refresher course at the University of Salamanca) and a Product Management certification from the Pragmatic Institute (USA). He has been involved in consulting and software development for projects related to various industries for more than 20 years.