WHITE PAPER - TSC

VOICE
SPEAKING FOR YOUR BRAND

DECODING EXPERT ANALYSIS DISCOVERING

Why voice assistants are The challenges Innovations and key
an essential part of daily life brands must address initial experiences
 43.6M
smart speakers
are expected to be sold
in the United States alone
in 2018, a 60% increase
on 2017.
52% 55%
choose to set up their of users cite
smart speaker in the lounge, hands-free interaction
25% in the bedroom and as a voice assistant’s main
22% in the kitchen. attraction, while others think
they are fun to use.

50% 30% 75%

of Google searches of web browsing of US households
will be conducted will be screenless will use a smart speaker
by voice by 2020. by 2020. in 2020, compared with
17% in 2017.

Sources from left to right: Google/Peerless Insights, Voice-Activated Speakers: People’s Lives Are Changing, U.S., 2017;
PEW Research, May 2017; Comscore, 2016; Gartner, 2016; Edison Research, The smart audio report, 2017; CTA, 2017 - Gartner, 2016.

INTRODUCTION
Page 3 Why voice has everyone talking,
by Arnaud de Lacoste
IN THIS WHITE PAPER...

1| DECODING
Page 4 1.1 | Voice assistants: Say you want a revolution
1.2 | Why voice assistants are already in tune with daily life

2| EXPERT ANALYSIS

Page 12 2.1 |
2.2 |
How will customers hear your voice? by Geoffrey Boulakia
Time waits for no brand, by Josselin Moreau

3| DISCOVERING

Page 16 3.1 |
3.2 |
Voice assistants: talking brand innovation
Key initial experiences

CONCLUSION
Page 22 Say hello to the era of conversational business,
by Geoffrey Boulakia

2
 ARNAUD DE LACOSTE
WHY VOICE
HAS EVERYONE TALKING
The data speaks for itself. The Consumer Technology
Association (CTA) forecasts that smart speakers will hit
43.6 million in sales in the US alone over the course of
2018. That’s a 60% jump on 2017. In other words, a
revolution is well and truly underway.
Just as the punchcard gave way to the keyboard,
which was in turn augmented by the mouse; voice
represents the biggest transformation in the hu-
man-machine interface since the original iPhone
made touching and swiping a screen the norm.
And just as with the smartphone boom that followed
that first iPhone, the voice offensive, in the form of
Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Google Assistant
and Microsoft’s Cortana, has only just begun.
Voice, our most natural mode of communicating, is
making a comeback. It is primed to become the inter-
face for managing our connected homes and making
sense of the Internet of Things. Voice Assistants are
already being called upon to check the traffic report or
order pizza and soon that will extend to compiling the
grocery list, contacting customer care and managing
personal finances.
The rate at which consumers are adopting voice as
the clearest commercial channel for getting what they
want, when they want it means that all business sec-
tors could be affected by this vocal revolution even
before 2018 is out. Therefore, brands that want to be
heard in the future are going to have to start amplifying
their vocal presence now.
3
But companies shouldn’t treat voice as an all-or-noth­
ing investment. It won't become the only channel, but
it will soon be one of, if not the most important tool
at brands’ disposal for continuously improving their
­customer experience.
This is because optimising customer service is beco-
ming multimodal. Taken in this context, voice or more
specifically, the voicebot should be viewed as a ­natural
extension of the chatbot. A form of interaction that
can be delivered across different channels at different
­moments, making it an additional means of personali-
sing customer experience.
As such, by drawing upon its existing experience in the
design, development and implementation of conver-
sational tools, plus all available existing data, TSC has
been reflecting on the topic for some time. It has built
the clearest picture of this channel’s true business
potential, as well identifying the right strategy for
­
brands that are ready to create a vocal presence that
its ­customers will hear loud and clear.
Just as chatbots signalled that a new era of conversa-
tional business was on the horizon; with voice in its
role as the new gateway to content and web services,
that era has now arrived.
The message is clear. Voice will reshuffle the deck
and raise the stakes. Brands that choose to bluff will
be called, meaning that the only way to be sure of
playing a winning hand is to have a clear strategy
and act on it.
 1 DE-
COD-
ING

4
1 - DECODING

1.1 VOICE ASSISTANTS:

SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION
Consumers can’t speak highly enough of voice assistants. According to Tractica, the technology will have attracted
1.8 billion users by 2021. But whether it’s via a speaker or a smartphone, over 500 million people have already
fallen for voice as an interface. So what makes it so appealing?

THERE'S ALWAYS TIME TO TALK

Voice is the easiest way of communicating an idea or
desire. Next to the act of thinking itself, nothing
­requires less effort or action than to speak.
As such, it is the most natural way for a person to
interact. Whether it's with another person, with a
­ Not to mention that voice assistance can help ­fight
­machine or, as the Internet of Things (IoT) takes root,
any number of machines, simultaneously. All of which
will make the act of reaching for a smartphone or
launching a browser on the desktop just to check the
weather or Google a subject feel redundant.
Speech is faster than writing or typing. The time taken
to send an SMS or add a product to the online shop-
ping list can be cut in half when talking takes over from
typing on a keyboard or tapping at a screen.
against digital overload. According to a Stanford
­University study, a voice interface allows the input
of 161 words per minute, with an error rate of less
than 3%, whereas the average person’s typing speed
is 53 words a minute, with an error rate of 3.68%.

AMPLIFICATION FOR ALL

Voice assistance is a technological advance on the
same level as smartphones or chatbots. It’s an
­innovation from which all businesses in all sectors
could benefit, as long as they focus on applications
that are truly adapted to their brand’s identity and that
genuinely enhance its customer experience.
The Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas has outfitted its
4,748 rooms with the Amazon Echo smart speaker.
With just a simple voice command, guests can adjust
the room’s temperature or its lighting, draw the cur-
tains, find the right TV channel, or inform staff that they
do not wish to be disturbed.

Major media, car manufacturing and hospitality
groups are already using voice assistance to im-
prove their customer service. Ford and Nissan, for
example, are developing partnerships with Amazon
that will enable drivers to search for music, find a
restaurant and book a table, or open a garage door
with their voices. While Mercedes and BMW owners
can already talk to their cars from the comfort of their
lounge via both Google and Amazon smart speakers.
Voice assistants offer new points of contact
between customers and companies. And while no-
vel uses and applications are growing quickly, expect
development to shift into an even higher gear as we
move closer to Tractica’s forecast 1.2 billion-strong
user base. At that point in time, 50% of web searches
will be made by voice and voice will also account for
30% of web browsing sessions.

Happy Customers
5
Better service.
1 - DECODING

A SOUND CHANNEL FOR CONSUMERS

As technologies and the means of communication
they enable change, so too do customer needs and
expectations. Consumers are now characterised by
a longing for greater simplicity, greater time savings
and greater personalisation in their relationships with
brands. In this context it’s no surprise that a virtual,
voice a
­ ctivated assistant that can be accessed via a
smartphone, smart speaker or smart TV and that lets
users call a cab, rearrange a meeting or order fast food
without swiping between apps, is proving popular.
A person’s voice is as unique, and as personal as a
­fingerprint. It carries emotion and personality traits
as well as carrying instruction or enabling communi-
cation, all of which makes voice as an interface a most
intimate form of connection.
But, as consumers actively search greater personali-
sation – a 2016 AgilOne Consumer Survey found that
70% of respondents would happily make the ­trade-off
between sharing more information in return for a
more personalised service – voice is quickly coming to
the fore as the channel for building such a service.
As well as providing a much richer source of data that
businesses can apply to improve service delivery, voice
is the most direct and therefore, most friction-free
channel for both sales and customer relations.
Therefore, if properly optimised brands have an
amazing opportunity to remove a customer’s need
to conduct research from the equation and instead
be able to deliver him or her with a specific product,
­service or content with nothing more than a simple
voice command triggering the request.
And according to a 2017 Capgemini report, this oppor-
tunity is already too good for brands to miss. By 2020,
sales via voice assistant are expected to have grown
six-fold. Therefore, businesses would do well to capi-
talise on its potential as a sales channel by getting on
to the voice applications market now, rather than later
and risk getting left behind.

“ Voice is the most direct and therefore,

most friction-free channel for both sales
and customer relations

6
1 - DECODING
THE TERMS
TO KNOW
CHATBOT
A computer program that conducts automated conver-
sations with human beings via a messaging service.
MULTIMODALITY
User-machine interaction that combines multiple
­modes of communication.
NATURAL LANGUAGE GENERATION (NLG)
A machine’s ability to aggregate information in a cohe-
rent, grammatically correct text in a given language.
NATURAL LANGUAGE RECOGNITION (NLR)
A machine’s ability to recognise natural language
based on the grammar proper to a given language.
Recognition of a noun, the adjectives associated with
it, the verbs that act on it and the complements that
describe it.
NATURAL LANGUAGE UNDERSTANDING (NLU)
A machine’s ability to understand natural-language
text in a given language and assign it meaning and
­attributes.
PERSONAL ASSISTANT SEARCH
OPTIMISATION (PASO)
Use of SEO techniques for the purpose of being
­indexed by personal assistants.
SMART SPEAKER
An internet-connected speaker with an integrated
voice-activated virtual assistant.
7
SPEECH SYNTHESIS
A machine’s ability to transform text into sound
by producing its spoken equivalent in a way that is
­understandable by a human being who speaks the
same language.
SPEECH SYNTHESIS MARKUP LANGUAGE (SSML)
A programming language used to control aspects of
speech such as pronunciation, volume and rate of
speech. It enables emotion to be added to the spoken
text and can give the voice application a personality.
It has the advantage of being an open, standardised
language.
VOICEBOT
The speaking version of a chatbot.
VOICE DESIGN
The design process for a voicebot, which takes into
­account the characteristics of the spoken conversation
and gives it a unique personality.
VOICE REPUTATION
A reputation composed of the information conveyed
by a voice request.
VOICE SEARCH
A spoken search engine request.
VOICE SEO
Optimisation of natural indexing for voice search.
Happy Customers
Better trust.
1 - DECODING

1.2 WHY VOICE ASSISTANTS

ARE ALREADY IN TUNE WITH
DAILY LIFE
According to the US Smart Audio Report, 39 million Americans, or 16% of the country's adult population, already
have a smart speaker. And if the devices are continuing to grow in popularity, it can only be because their
simplicity means they’re meeting the everyday needs of a bigger and more diverse audience.

SHOWING A SOCIAL SIDE

“OK Google, turn off the kitchen light.” “Hey Siri, what is
the shortest possible route to the airport at rush hour?”
“Alexa, what will the weather be like next Saturday?” In
the time it takes to construct a question, a consumer
with a voice assistant can find out if they’re going to get
stuck in traffic, if they’re going to get wet when they go
out next week, or if they’ve forgotten to turn the smart
oven off before leaving their equally smart home.
Even with just that handful of simple scenarios, it’s
easy to see how voice assistants are poised to
become the hubs of our connected homes and
­ leading applications are relevant to social and
increasingly connected lives. And it’s also easy to
understand why more and more brands are develo-
ping voice applications for the various platforms that
will reflect these changing customer needs - Voicebot
data shows that by the end of 2017, Amazon’s Alexa
platform was already supporting 37,000 such apps, or
'skills' as the company calls them.
“At the moment, voice assistants are primarily
used in private settings, with friends, at home or in
the car, but rarely in public,” says Geoffrey Boulakia,
General Manager EMEA for TSC. “These are moments
of cocooning or sharing between friends, and the most
widely-used skills are in tune with these use cases.”
According to Edison Research’s Smart Audio Report,
52% of voice assistant users keep their device in
the lounge or dining room (just 25% put theirs in the
bedroom) and 66% of owners are most likely to use
them while with friends and family.
Toni Reid, Vice President of Alexa Experience & Echo
Devices at Amazon, has drawn up a list of the most
successful voice applications for his assistant. The
­domestic life, such as general knowledge quizzes like
Jeopardy, followed by applications related to everyday
brands such as Starbucks, Domino’s Pizza or Uber.
Third up are practical skills related to the connected
house, home improvement or banking services.
A recent Creative Strategies report that complied data
from both Amazon and Google devices, shows that the
most common uses, regardless of device, are music
playback, checking the weather forecast, web searches
for shopping or product information, and checking the
news headlines.

“ Voice assistants are poised to become

the hubs of our connected homes and
increasingly connected lives

”
8
1 - DECODING
DIGITAL DELEGATION
As we become increasingly, constantly and ubiqui-
tously connected, voice assistants will make mul-
titasking simple and safe. With Siri, or Google
­A ssistant in the passenger seat, it’s possible to drive
and search for a parking space while keeping both
hands on the wheel and both eyes on the road.
Likewise, parents won't need to stop comforting a
distressed or sick baby in order to cue up some soo-
SPEAKING FOR THE MASSES
Don’t mistake voice for the latest gadget or gimmick
that has managed to grab Millennials’ attention. Voice
assistance is not exclusive to digital natives, it is
­inclusive and open to anyone of any age with an
internet connection and a voice. This technology has
what it takes to survive.
Speech is our most natural way of communica-
ting, of socialising and of bringing others together.
­Generation Y is currently serving as the technology's
loudest ambassadors – just as they were the group
that p
­ opularised smartphone-based vocal assistants.
They are also predicted to be the first generation to
make the wholesale leap to an at-home smart ­speaker
­(eMarketer has forecast that 93% of this cohort will
have a voice-activated home assistant by 2019); but
voice assistants have already found fans across all
age and socioeconomic groups.
Indeed, according to Verto Analytics, which recently
conducted a study of 20,000 US consumers to create
a composite picture of the typical voice assistant user,
9
thing music, Google the child's symptoms, or add
­diapers or formula to the shopping list, they just need
to say what they want.
In London, where Amazon-owned Whole Foods offers
delivery in under an hour, Alexa helps amateur cooks.
Those who begin a recipe and then realise they’re mis-
sing an ingredient can place a voice order and the store
will deliver it before the dish is finished.
she is a 52-year-old woman who spends 90 minutes
a month in conversation with her smart speaker.
Likewise, the PEW Center for Research notes that
37% of US voice assistant users are both over 50 and
­describe themselves as reluctant to use the web via a
graphical user interface.
At the other end of the generational spectrum,
children are also taking the technology to heart.
Asking Google or Alexa to put on the Cartoon Network
is much more straightforward than asking mummy or
daddy, either of whom may say "No!"
All of which means that voice is sounding more and
more like an interface for all ages and an opportu-
nity for all business sectors, be it media outlets like CNN
and Buzzfeed that are already offering breaking news
on the major platforms, to FMCG brands like H ­ ellman’s
who are offering up recipe suggestions when the user
tells the vocal app what ingredients are at hand.
Happy Customers
Better experience.
1 - DECODING

WHO ARE THE

LEADING PLAYERS?

Assistant name Launch date US Notes

Google Assistant November 2016 Google Assistant is
available as an iOS app
Physical product name Launch date UK and is natively built
Google Home April 2016 into nearly all Android
smartphones.
GOOGLE
Models Launch date France It is now appearing in
Google Home Mini August 2017 cars with Android Auto.
Google Home Google says its assistant
Google Home Max Products sold has 400 million users
14 million (CIRP figures across devices.
Price for all models combined –
$49 - $129 late 2017)

Assistant name Launch date US Notes

Alexa November 2014 Alexa is integrated with
many partner products,
Physical product name Launch date UK from smart speakers
Echo October 2016 and robots to cars and
vacuum cleaners.
AMAZON
Models Launch date France
Amazon Echo Spring 2018
Amazon Echo Spot
Amazon Echo Plus Products sold
Amazon Echo Connect 31 million (CIRP figures –
Amazon Echo Show late 2017)

Price
$50 – $230

10
1 - DECODING

Assistant name Launch date US Notes

Siri February 2018 Apple claims to have
500 million active users,
Physical product name Launch date UK primarily on iPhone.
HomePod February 2018
APPLE
Price Launch date France
$349 Spring 2018

Assistant name Models

18
03
MARCH 2018
Bixby Galaxy S8, Galaxy note,
Galaxy S8 plus
Physical product name
Vega (release date not Launch date
announced) April 2017 in English
SAMSUNG

Assistant name Launch date Notes

Cortana January 2015 A partnership has been
announced between
Physical product name Alexa and Cortana. Its
Integrated with a third development is primarily
-party speaker (Harman B2B focused.
MICROSOFT
Kardon’s Invoke)

Assistant name Models Notes

? ? Aloha, Fiona For the time being,

Portal is largely a rumour.
Physical product name Launch date
Portal July 2018
FACEBOOK

11
 2 EX-
PERT
ANA-
LYSIS

12
2 - EXPERT ANALYSIS
GEOFFREY BOULAKIA
2.1 HOW WILL CUSTOMERS
HEAR YOUR VOICE?
HELLO, IS IT ME YOU'RE LOOKING FOR?
Brands will need to talk up their reputation if they
want to be heard, once voice becomes the gateway to
the web. The days of a page of search results are
­numbered because when a user asks a voice assis­
tant a question, they usually get a single answer.
Therefore, brands must move from SEO (Search
­ that appears in position 0, before natural results.
Engine ­
­ Optimisation) to PASO (Personal Assistant
Search O
­ ptimisation) if they want to continue being the
answer to their customers’ questions.
Access to users via PASO is set to be fiercely competi-
tive. For companies that want to reach an audience via
those assistants that use Google’s search technology –
DOES YOUR VOICE ADD VALUE?
But search is only half the story. To really stand out
from the crowd, a brand must have absolute focus on
using voice to provide genuinely useful, efficient and
personalised services that clearly demonstrate how
they add value to the existing customer experience.
If brands really want to speak to customers, they
first have to listen to and understand their au-
dience’s needs. How else can they build sustainable
customer relationships?
Hearing what their users want will help to ensure
brands build a voice application that is in line with their
central strategy and that offers customers a unique
and welcome experience.
In 2018, voice is a vector for innovation, value creation
and differentiation. Furthermore, brands that have
seized upon the benefits of chatbot ­implementations
13
i.e. Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant – the work starts
with their existing website. Its content will need to be
designed in terms of questions and answers and the
microdata implemented, while the site itself will have
to be optimised for “featured snippets" – the content
Although best practices, they alone cannot ensure
that the site’s content will appear in a voice-powered
search. It’s why brands will also have to look at how
voice assistants use other reference sources, such as
Google Maps and user reviews, that together contri-
bute to what’s known as the brand’s voice reputation.
have a head start on the competition. They have
already moved part of their customer relationship to
a conversational model. With the careful implementa-
tion of a voice-integrated experience they can now add
the most decisive moments of the user journey to the
same model.
The idea is not to copy what has been done with
brands’ smartphone applications or chatbots, but to
take a
­ dvantage of independent expertise that already
exists in what is still a nascent field to help build
­something new.
At TSC, we can integrate voice into brands’ conversa-
tional multimodality and remove friction from the cus-
tomer journey. Our teams develop voice applications
for deployment on voice assistants in order to create
value-added interactions between businesses and
their clients.
2 - EXPERT ANALYSIS

JOSSELIN MOREAU

2.2 GOING VOCAL: WHY TIME

WAITS FOR NO BRAND
The clock is ticking. By 2020, 50% of web searches will be voice activated. Therefore, businesses that still need
to overcome challenges before they can add their voices to the revolution could already be running out of time.

THE CONVERSATIONAL CHALLENGE

It is much more than simply being able to answer a
question. It’s about turning an answer into a form of
engagement - a conversation that will build loyalty with
a customer and increase the number and frequency of
touch points.
Brands will only succeed in reaching consumers
wherever they are and meeting their expectations,
once they’ve truly adapted their approach to the
way in which a voice assistant functions.
Businesses must also consider their own vocal
identities to be certain that their vocal applications
speak their brand’s language.
Should it be a feminine, masculine or synthesized
voice? Does a slower or faster rate of speech align with
brand values? Will informal English prove a hit with
users or would customers prefer the Queen’s English?
All of these questions, and more must be considered
in advance.

It means imagining and anticipating every specific user
scenario and user request or question and construc-
ting a clear response.
There’s no shortcut to undertaking such a complex
task. What works for a typed query can't simpy be
­reformatted for this new channel. Being able to decode
and respond to the spoken question: “Do I need to take
an umbrella?” will require a paradigm change.
Because, if a brand sounds out of tune to its customers,
it will open itself up to often ruthless online criticism.
And, in a world set to be dominated by smart spea-
kers, a brand’s success will be measured by whether
it’s found its voice.
TSC understands the challenges and can assist com-
panies facing up to this new, rapidly developing tech-
nology to set themselves apart from the competition.

“ If a brand sounds out of tune to its customers,

it will open itself up to often ruthless online criticism

”
14
2 - EXPERT ANALYSIS

The higher the risk, the greater the reward. Therefore,
unless all issues have been considered and the use
case is absolutely clear, a voice application has a bigger
potential for failure than a new website, smartphone
app or even a chatbot, which also has a conversatio-
nal framework but with fewer restraints. For example,
with voice, it is less appropriate to offer a user mul-
tiple choices and directness is highly recommended.
Likewise, journeys must be shorter to hold users’
­attention, while the characteristics of each assistant
and speaker must also be considered as part of the
design of a new relationship.

PLOTTING A CLEAR PATH

Brands need to remember that voice is a path to Having considered all commercial aspects, TSC is confi-
offering unique customer experience rather than dent any brand can start to find its voice, if it starts by
simply a means of creating more touch points. aligning itself with TSC's guiding principles.

It requires a substantial effort and specialist support

but will ensure that any consumer-facing brand can
create a voicebot that really speaks to their customers.

TSC'S FIVE GUIDING PRINICPLES

1 A VOICE FOR EVERY BRAND

A brand’s vocal identity and personality
must be considered and defined during the
4 TO EACH HIS OWN PROBLEM
A voice application must be based on a speci-
fic user need and provide a specific solution.
­development stage, because the application But voice doesn’t have to be an end in itself,
­becomes the brand’s mouthpiece, with which and can be combined with other interfaces to
users can directly interact. better meet users’ needs.

2 SIMPLICITY IS BEST
A voice application must be simple in order to
be effective, relevant, useful and, therefore,
5 THINK BIG, START SMALL, SCALE FAST
The concept of voice assistants is still very
new, so explore in stages and test, often. This
used. is crucial for brands that want to take voice
beyond being a communication tool and into
the realms of long-term added value.

3 NO COPY-PASTING
A voice application must reflect the specific
characteristics of the conversational model,
and more specifically those of voice.

15
 3 DIS-
COVER-
ING

16
3 - DISCOVERING

3.1 VOICE ASSISTANTS:

TALKING BRAND INNOVATION
BEFORE GETTING STARTED

Have you decided to start a voicebot project? Then ask yourself the following key questions to increase your
chances of success. TSC can help you answer them.

What kind of experience?

There are four kinds of voicebot that meet different goals and expectations.
These approaches can be used in combination.

Companion voicebot Conceptual voicebot

To request personalised informa- To become immersed and have an

tion related to a brand’s products experience. Can engage the user
or services. Can strengthen the in a brand universe for an event or
bond with the consumer. a period of time.

Command voicebot Commerce voicebot

To perform simple or complex To request and track orders by

tasks by direct order. Can simplify voice. Can facilitate purchases,
use of the product. ­especially in a recurrent context.

With which assistant and speaker?

This choice must be made based on the target (profile, geographic coverage, language, etc.) and the technical
­characteristics of each ecosystem (openness to third parties, accessible user data, etc.).

Which device combination?

Is a voice conversation enough? Should the experience also include the display of content on a screen?

Which point in the customer journey?

Which moments are most suited to voice interaction?

What is the problem?

The best way to provide value is through an approach that is based on user pain points and the unique way that
voice can provide a solution.

Which KPIs?
Performance measurement is a factor that should be considered from the very start for effective long-term
­optimisation.

17
3 - DISCOVERING

3.2 KEY INITIAL EXPERIENCES

ADDING VOICE TO
A MULTIMODAL MENU
Satisfying customers’ cravings as fast in 2014 added support for iPhone and
and as easily as possible is the guiding ­A ndroid smartphones.
challenge of the Domino’s Pizza chain. The
world leader in home pizza delivery offers In February 2016, it used the Super Bowl
10 different ways to place an order on its to officially launch its Alexa voice applica-
website, Domino’s AnyWare. tion and then followed it up with a Google
­A ssistant equivalent in December.
Customers can complete their transac-
tions from their cars, within Facebook And it’s been a huge success. Two months
Messenger, via their Apple Watch, or
­ after going live on both platforms, almost
even using an emoji. The group also relies one-in-five US customers are ordering via
on voice, via Amazon Alexa and Google voice. Little wonder that one of Domino’s
A ssistant. Customers no longer have to
­ biggest competitors, Pizza Hut was forced
lift a finger: they can simply speak to the to jump into action. It launched its own
­assistant to place their orders in just a few ­application on Alexa in December 2016.
seconds.

The brand, a pioneer in the field, intro-

duced voice ordering in 2013 via the v­ ocal
assistant on the Windows Phone, and

“ Almost one-in-five US customers

are ordering via voice

”
18
3 - DISCOVERING
A COMPANION
FOR THE BIG DAY
Wedding Planning brand, the Knot, has
two Alexa voice applications. One provides
daily generic advice. The other offers per-
sonalised scheduling, giving daily updates,
reminders of outstanding tasks to com-
plete and a countdown to the wedding.
However, while fuelled by data amassed
through helping to plan over 25 million
weddings over the past 20 years, neither
voice app has been designed to replace
the company’s existing services. Instead,
“ Voice becomes a welcome complement at
key stages in the customer journey
19
The Knot has used the technology to
­design an experience that uses the special
characteristics of voice to enrich its exis-
ting ecosystem of services.
By providing tips and customised informa-
tion, voice becomes a welcome comple-
ment at key stages in the customer journey.
All of which allows the company to define
itself as the “First wedding p
­ lanning brand
to offer a comprehensive ­experience on
smart speakers.”
”
3 - DISCOVERING
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MAKEOVER
Thanks to always ensuring it’s at the cutting
edge of digital innovation, when beauty
and well-being brand Sephora decided to
launch a voice application, it already had
experience of a chatbot deployment to
draw and build upon.
Following the mantra that you should
launch quick, then test and scale, the initial
app allows users to interact with the brand
via the Google Assistant platform in order
to book an in-store beauty treatment.
FROM CHATBOT TO KITCHEN
Following the success of 'Émile et 1 recette',
its first Messenger-hosted culinary assis-
tant chatbot, food giant Nestlé is about to
take the concept one step further by adap-
ting the service for Google Assistant.
By being able to ask for help and listen
to instructions, users won’t need to keep
washing their hands in order to type ques-
tions into their smartphones. Instead, they
can stay focused on preparing the meal.
However, as well as a massive opportunity,
moving to a smart speaker and into the
kitchen presented Nestlé with a challenge
– reimagining all existing content so that it
is voice-optimised.
20
It also offers access to quizzes and pod-
casts made by the top beauty influencers.
However, this is just the start. Further
functionality will be added as the year
moves on. Sephora believes that this new
channel will enable it to more closely follow
its audience and that voice is “much more
than a trend, it is a small digital revolu-
tion and a key channel.”
Though the new app is due to arrive this
year, the company is yet to give an official
launch date.
However, at this year’s CES in Las Vegas,
Pete Blackshaw, Nestlé’s Worldwide Head
of Digital Innovation and Service Models,
stated that he believed chatbots and voice
assistants made up a ‘concierge economy’
and said that brands must centre their
efforts on consumers, rather than on
technological capabilities.
This mind-set is why the company is
looking at how different devices and diffe-
rent channels can be combined to deliver
enhanced products and ­services.
3 - DISCOVERING
TRAVEL WITHOUT THE TEDIUM
With the launch of OUI.sncf's voice app on
Google Assistant, it’s possible to book and
pay for tickets with nothing more than your
voice. well, almost.
The new app lets users take a conversatio-
nal approach when searching for the best
ticket prices on the best days, for confir-
ming whether it’s a single or return and
whether or not they need a child’s ticket.
In other words, each of the most tedious
and time-consuming elements of buying a
train ticket.
Once everything is confirmed, the ­vocal
assistant directs the customer to the
­ often have a head start in moving further
smartphone app or website to confirm and
pay for the ticket.
21
This ability to move from voice to the web
and back again also allows customers to
take a one-step-at-a-time approach. They
can begin their ticket search at home, via
voice, then pick things up again later on
their smartphone while out and about or
via a desktop browser.
OUI.sncf has been able to move quickly to
voice as a channel thanks to the existing
work that it has carried out via its chatbot
implementation, which laid the ground-
work. It also goes to show that companies
that have already started down the conver-
sational business route with a chatbot will
down the channel with voice.
Happy Customers
Better branding.
CONCLUSION
GEOFFREY BOULAKIA
SAY HELLO TO THE ERA OF
CONVERSATIONAL BUSINESS
More than a passing phase or epiphenomenon, voice
assistants represent a major change in the relationship
between humans and machines, and between consu-
mers and the web. For proof, look no further than
adoption rates.
Demand for these new devices and services is
growing at a speed never before seen in the h ­ istory
of communication technology – not even the smart-
phone won over so many people so quickly. And that’s
because voice assistants have a significant advantage
over everything that has come before them: they
­represent the first interface that can serve potentially
anybody, anywhere in the world. They connect just as
easily with children and baby boomers as they do with
Generations X, Y and Z.
It is this complete inclusivity that will make voice the
leading digital channel, for web access, connecting
with brands, and therefore consumption and c­ ustomer
­relations.
According to Gartner it will take less than five years
for the smart speaker to become a permanent fixture
in the average consumer’s lounge or dining room. It
means that even in the short term, it’s a channel and
interface with huge brand potential.
However this potential can only be realised by
adopting an approach that is representative of
a company’s brand message. One that is clearly
­integrated into the future business strategy and one
that has a clear aim regarding customer service or
­customer relations.
22
But this is just the first stage. An occasional misinter-
preted request aside, smart speakers already seem
technologically advanced thanks to the artificial
­intelligence and big data that fuel them, but they are
yet to reach their full potential.
In the coming months and years, performance will
continue to improve, spurred on by better data and
by a concerted push by Google, Apple, Amazon,
­Facebook, Microsoft and Samsung, each of whom will
be fighting to have the loudest voice and the biggest
say over which device and which platform will become
the web's new gateway.
With the full force of GAFA behind the technology,
voice will quickly start drawing the most innova-
tive and powerful businesses from each sector into
the fray.
At TSC, we believe that voice is part of a more general
strategy of listening more carefully to consumers. It’s
a massive opportunity to boost customer satisfaction,
to eliminate pain points and friction on the customer
journey and in doing so enhance customer relations.
However, it will also require a new approach to
­marketing – now more than ever it should be indistin-
guishable from the services a company provides and
feed further into strengthening customer relations.
Digital has already disrupted and reinvented business
many times in the past decade but now with chatbots,
voice and voicebots, the next reinvention has arrived.
Welcome to the era of conversational business.
 THE STAGES OF A CONVERSATIONAL PROJECT

FRAMING PRODUCTION HELLO WORLD

General Development Creation of links

conversational between channels
architecture Integration
Launch campaign
IT audit Education
Constant improvement
Content Tests and revisions

Conversations and
storyboards

Identity

With 75,000 employees – including 25,000 in Europe –
across 150 sites in 25 countries, Sitel Group Contact
Centres are populated by multilingual teams that strive
daily for operational excellence. Our global presence,
combined with our local knowledge and flexibility, plus
our 48 working languages, allow us to respond quickly
to local needs and market changes across multiple
­business sectors – wherever and whenever they occur.
A Digital CX agency Incubated within the Sitel Group,
TSC specialises in Customer Relations Innovation,
conversational expertise, chatbots, social networking
and communities; to assist brands with the develop-
ment of new customer trust ecosystems.
We draw our professional inspiration from analysing
customer conversations and interactions. Our team
of 50 digital professionals, from data analysts and
designers to creative technology experts, have the
­capabilities and agility to deliver projects that s­ ucceed.

Happy Customers
23
Better business.
CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS WHITE PAPER:
ARNAUD DE LACOSTE
CMO and co-founder
Sitel Group
A graduate of the Skema Business
School, Arnaud de Lacoste is a foun-
ding partner of The Sitel Group, which
today is the number-three firm globally
in its sector.
In his role at the head of the Group,
he is responsible for leading the deve-
lopment of transformation and digital
strategies that will define the future of
Customer Experience.
A curious and passionate entrepre-
neur, his vision is informed by exten-
sive travel and meetings with startups
from all over the world.
His book: What if Artificial Intelligence
Could Make Us More Human?, offers an
optimistic vision of the technological
revolution currently underway, that
will create both economic and ­human
value in the future.
TSC IS A COMPANY OF
GEOFFREY BOULAKIA
General Manager EMEA
TSC
A graduate of the EM Lyon Business
School, Geoffrey has been involved
in relational marketing within d ­ igital
agencies for over 10 years, keenly
tracking all creative, ­social and techno-
logical innovations.
Convinced that the quality of customer
marketing will become a pillar of user
experience, he joined TSC in 2015 to
drive the development of the agency in
line with evolving client needs.
As a specialist in digital marketing
and in integrating new inter­actions
within brands’ ecosystems, he works
towards educating, communicating
and promoting the agency’s solutions
and expertise.
Earlsdon Park,
53-55 Butts Rd,
Coventry CV1 3BH
United Kingdom
JOSSELIN MOREAU
Strategic Planning Director
TSC
A graduate of Paris IX Dauphine and
CELSA, Josselin Moreau has over 10
years' experience in strategic planning
with digital communication agencies
and digital services companies. This
led him to co-found an ‘Innovation Lab’.
A pioneer in adapting and applying
new modes of interaction to create
customer expereinces that add value,
Josselin joined TSC in 2017.
In his current role, he is instrumental in
assisting brands that have a desire to
innovate, to foster conversation with
their consumers and to tailor their mar-
keting goals to customer expectations.
© SITEL GROUP - CONTENT FACTORY - MARCH 2018 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Sales contact UKI
+44 (0) 800 444 221
contact@tsc.digital
http://tsc.digital