Custom Voice-Controlled Virtual Assistants

Editor’s Note: This article is written for marketing professionals who need a primer on Custom Voice-Controlled Assistants. It primarily covers what branded virtual assistants are; why they’re different from Skills, Actions, and other apps; and a few other frequently asked questions about them.

 

These days, chances are good that you have either used a Virtual Assistant or own one. Or two. Or twenty.

They’re in homes, hotels (Marriott, Disney, Wynn, etc.), offices, and factory floors. They are used as personal weathermen, family squabble-settlers, taskmasters, order takers, and reminder-makers.

Have you ever thought about having one specifically for your business? A smart device that’s designed with your customers in mind? If so, this article will walk you through the pluses and minuses of having your own branded virtual assistant.

First, though, let’s address the elephant in the room. (He’s cute and all but elephants are 14,000+ pounds, and this guy is clearly taking up a lot of space.)

If you’re thinking, “We’re a small/medium/large (circle one) company with too many other To Dos on our list already. There’s no way that we can buy/build our own personal virtual assistant. Not to mention the money. It probably costs eleventy bazillion dollars. WHY DO I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS NOW?”

I get it. I hear the same thing every time I bring up the subject, whether it’s a Fortune 100 company or a new start-up that’s less profitable than an NYT paper route in Wyoming.

For most companies, building/buying your own virtual assistant is not the best use of your time/money right now.

Here’s the thing, though…. Voice is growing faster than any other medium in history. Faster than newspapers, radio, TV, streaming, and yes, even the Internet did way back when. Voice is different from the others for many reasons. One of the most important? It’s one-ask-one-answer. You ask a question. You get an answer. Not a search results page of answers but ONE answer. Maybe a couple, if you ask nicely.

Apple’s Siri. Amazon’s Alexa. Google’s Assistant. Samsung’s Bixby. You’re smart. You don’t need me to draw the enemy lines for you. Right now, the tech is controlled by a few companies, and those companies? Their relationship, well, it’s far more than Facebook complicated.

Take the companies who are competitors PLUS the companies who have different privacy/ethical standards PLUS the companies who want something better/faster/stronger than what’s currently being offered, divide it by whatever number you think is appropriate, and you’re still going to get a lot of viable marketplaces to sell your products/services AND new competitors for your business. It’s simply prudent to have a general understanding of how this all works and how you will use it to your advantage.

So, let’s get to the brass tacks, shall we?

 

WHAT IS A BRANDED VOICE-ACTIVATED VIRTUAL ASSISTANT?

Branded Virtual Assistants – also known as Owned Virtual Assistants, White-Labeled Virtual Assistants, or Private Virtual Assistants – are smart speakers/devices/digital agents that are “owned” by one company/brand.

So, are they just smart speakers with a logo on them? No. I mean, yes, you can find some regular Echo and Home devices in the wild with fancy stickers, but the “owned” virtual assistants typically have something special on the inside, not just the outside. An office supply company lists their deals of the day; free tips on improving productivity in your busy office; and quick access to your last order in case you want to replicate it. A prominent hotelier allows you to request extra amenities, call the front desk, hear Room Service’s dinner specials, change the lights and temperature and turn on the TV. A sizeable dental chain’s office has soothing playlists with custom, in-house ads playing every 2 minutes, encouraging you to add a teeth whitening procedure during your visit. Companies are filling the devices with things specially designed to make their listeners/visitors feel better about buying and using their products and services. They’ve already proven to be beneficial for customer service and the bottom line.

Are all branded/owned virtual assistants conversational? Yes, but not all of them speak. Some are SMS/text and/or video agents.

Do all branded/owned virtual assistants have some sort of proprietary information or added knowledge? No, but the vast majority of them have something special about them, whether it be a special “channel” to listen to, a custom welcome screen with easy access to past orders, direct and/or enhanced customer service capabilities, and so on.

Does a branded/owned virtual assistant always look like an Amazon Echo or an Apple HomePod? No. You see them all over the place – in your TV, remote controls, phone, car, and exercise equipment. You also see them at fast food drive-throughs and in financial institutions. Voice purists will hate this oversimplification, but basically an “owned virtual assistant” is just a brain that you own and manage. You choose whom you want to use it – your customers, prospects, employees, all the above? Anyone is fair game. Sometimes it’s housed in your own device. Other times, it’s not.  (Please note: many non-marketers consider ONLY devices to be OVAs. Most marketers consider both the device and the bespoke technology.)

 

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CUSTOM VOICE/VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS AND PRIVATE, OWNED, BRANDED, OR WHITE-LABELED ONES?

Yeah, so, right now, they’re all pretty much the same. Different players/vendors/intermediaries are using different names to sell their products. (Because we’re still in the early stages of Voice, it’s pretty much the Wild West in terms of names and standards for many things.)

With that said, you do hear more about Private speakers in the medical and dental industry. The “private” part usually refers to the fact that they’re sold with an extra layer of security and/or special keyphrases for activation. (In other words, no drop-in listening.) Whether this actually happens is suspect at best, but that is how they are marketed….

 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF HAVING YOUR OWN VIRTUAL ASSISTANT?

In the interest of full disclosure, this question is usually worded as “I get why it’s best if Amazon doesn’t have ALL my data but what are the other benefits of having my own custom assistant?”

One of the biggest reasons companies choose to have their own digital assistant is because they realize the value of first-party data and want to give less of it away. (The challenge with how big players control everything now is that it’s basically a handful of Foxes who own ALL the chicken coops. You never know when they will get hungry enough to eliminate you and start selling your products.)

Other good reasons are:

You want to decrease friction in the buying journey. When set up correctly, Voice is AMAZING at making things easier for your visitors. And that’s not hyperbolic; it’s just a fact. With a branded assistant, you have a more remarkable ability to provide a customer-centric experience. You can streamline how your users find things and customize your cart, and checkout the exact way your visitors will use it best. You can also add all the information you wish – how you want to add it. This is a big selling point for companies with a lot of data/information, who use or plan to use their voice assistants for more direct Customer Service efforts, and who want to try some of the innovative, new marketing efforts that come along with Voice.

You control the brand and can personalize the messaging as you see fit in your voice and with your personified identity/personality. Customer interactions can be as hyperpersonalized and, frankly, as consistent as you’d like them to be. You control the wake word, the sound, the tone, the dialect, the personality, and the full aural/sonic signature. If you’re using a device with a screen, you also control the device’s overall look and visual representation. The entire conversation is yours to design.

Shines a bright light on your domain expertise. Many companies have intellectual property that they’d prefer to keep to themselves and/or share in a particular way. Having your own assistant allows you to use your proprietary knowledge in the way(s) you’re most comfortable with. Plus, it minimizes the ease with which people can replicate it or steal/claim it as their own.

You control the raw data and audio. This means you get to hear it all – all the pauses, all the utterances, and all the different languages/dialects that go along with it. Companies use this raw data to do things like gauge sentiment; determine where a customer is in the buying process, and stuff the device. (Stuffing, another one of those things with about twenty other names, is when you customize your device with your brand names, custom words, proprietary language, FAQs, and their respective answers.)

Seamless integration. Your custom virtual assistant and all the information it contains can port directly into your systems. No more middlemen. No more wacky translations and missing information.

You have more control over how, where, and when you’re seen. There are hundreds of thousands of Skills, Actions, and other apps in the marketplace. Even with money, it can be difficult to get the visibility you want and the recommendations you think are best suited for you.

You own the metrics. For many folks, this is THE reason to develop your own assistant. You get control over the data, the results, and the insights that go along with them. Plus, you can dump all that info directly into your own models/algorithms. No begging for visibility information so you’ll know the best way to promote your app. No more wonkily anonymized data that’s been shared with all your competitors. No more conversion problems because the third party’s cart/checkout can’t accommodate your business rules. Not only do you get complete access to the raw data, but you get to decide what to do with it.

Faster and more efficient Customer Service. There’s no doubt that having a direct line to you can be great for your users when it comes to Customer Service. It’s faster, more convenient, and can be used on everything from customer deflection and propensity ranking to warranty registration. Also, all the data from your user conversations can be ported into your backend systems for future use.

You have the first say on all things privacy and security. Look, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. This whole Voice privacy thing is not for the faint of heart. With that said, controlling your own virtual assistant can be easier than having to follow someone else’s rules. Remember, “someone” here is not your grandmotherly neighbor who has your spare key and gets your mail while you’re away; it’s Amazon, Google, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, etc.

You choose the way to monetize it. Developing strategic partnerships is becoming more critical than ever. With a custom virtual assistant, you can choose whom you want to showcase and how you want to showcase them. Have a bunch of suppliers who offer co-op dollars or would like to advertise on your device? Sell/trade them the space. (This is working quite well in B2B and is sneaking into more and more consumer marketing.)

Speaking of money, payment solutions (read: the current lack thereof) are a big thing for many companies who currently have their own branded assistants or are looking to acquire them. Companies favor different payment types, how/when/to whom they want to offer credit, and other special terms. With your own virtual assistant, you control what you offer and to whom.

 

CAN’T I JUST DEVELOP AN ALEXA SKILL, GOOGLE ACTION, BIXBY CAPSULE, SIRI SHORTCUT, ETC?

For many companies, it’s beneficial to have apps for the virtual assistant(s) your customers use most. With that said, it’s important to remember that the competition for third-party apps is FIERCE and growing daily. Unless you’re a brand with a ton of recognition, you’re not likely to get a bunch of FREE press when you launch. Discoverability issues coupled with increasing competition and poorly organized marketplaces mean visitors have a more challenging time knowing/finding what they want/need. On top of all that, even when it’s easy to get someone to download your app and use it once or twice, many businesses have found that retention is an ongoing challenge.

If you’ve built and marketed an app, you know how crazy the app world can be. It’s rife with mandatory updates that you are responsible for keeping on top of, new rules, knockoffs, spammy competition, and so on. Plus, no matter how great your relationship is with the provider, you’re still a renter, not an owner, which means they have the upper hand. This is a big issue for many companies, regardless of size.

The juice is often still worth the squeeze, and it’s essential to know the limitations, just in case. With a partnership, you’ll likely get more reach. With your own custom-branded assistant, you get more control.

 

WHAT ARE THE DRAWBACKS OF HAVING YOUR OWN VIRTUAL ASSISTANT?

The costs are usually the big dealbreaker. If you’re white-labeling someone else’s technology, it’s pretty affordable. It gets pricey if you’re designing something that’s 100% yours. Most of the well-known case studies are around financial institutions, and the prices are insane. (For the record, the price most financial institutions pay for almost anything is insane. Unless you’re a central bank, don’t use them as a cost model. It’s worse than comparing yourself to the government.)

Frankly, it’s also another project that you need to manage, do, and maintain. Because so many artificial intelligence elements are involved, it can sound scary for people who are not yet doing much work in AI. It’s not, and the AI stuff that’s used is fun stuff (like natural language processing), but for newbies, all the new language can be admittedly overwhelming.

Should I be listing more drawbacks? Maybe but the truth is the majority of people bail because of the time or the money. Plus, it really is just like another development project. You know in your gut whether your folks can handle it. Plus, as I said at the beginning, I just want you to learn more about them. They’re not coming up in enough conversations and discussions yet, and they should. Voice is growing F-A-S-T.

 

SO, ALL THE SUCCESS HERE IS WRAPPED UP IN VOICE? NO ON-SCREEN EFFORTS?

That’s a fair question. Until now, many of the most successful case studies were about the smaller devices. They’re less expensive and frankly easier (read: not as easy to damage and have fewer technological issues), so many of the early adopters used them. Today, we’re seeing more screens, stronger chat and texting abilities, improved entertainment and engagement opportunities (selected games and apps), and much better personalization.

Voice is still a big part of most strategies, but other things are coming into play. The Voice backbone is fueled partly because of how positive the customer service attributes of a “company butler” or “personal concierge” are.

 

 

These questions and answers were added after the initial publication of this article.

ARE ALL OWNED VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS THE SAME AS ALEXA FOR BUSINESS?

Alexa for Business is a pay-as-you-go service that allows you to use Alexa in your organization. It charges for the number of shared devices and the enrolled users. You also need the devices. Plus, Amazon allows you to voice-enable your products and services for your customers.

Alexa does white label its product and is, by far, the most aggressive of the traditional tech companies to get businesses to use it. They have special programs for Hospitals, Hospitality, Residential, Senior Living, and more. The platform offers all kinds of integrations, from back-office systems to front-of-the-house services. You can build many things yourself and/or find a solution provider to help you.

In answer to your direct question, though, no. Not all owned virtual assistants are Alexa/Amazon-owned.

 

ARE CUSTOM VOICE ASSISTANTS THE PRELUDE TO SOMETHING MORE OMINOUS? I MEAN, IT SEEMS EARLY TO BE TALKING ABOUT THESE THINGS. IS THERE SOMETHING BIGGER COMING DOWN THE PIKE THAT I SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?

Do you mean, besides Singularity? Heh.

Many folks believe that wearables and embeds are just around the corner. Meaning less than ten years away. (Many think it’s more like five years.)

For those of you who thought they had been promised a personal spaceship while watching The Jetsons as children, I understand your skepticism that these will ever happen. With that said, it’s important to remember that we each have places we prefer to get our answers from. We also trust different places for different items, and we all have our favorites, but we’ll likely have 1-2 sources.

You see this sorting out in a smaller scale now in eCommerce – people who use Amazon as the place they start when researching a purchase vs. the people who start at Google, YouTube, or TikTok.

Do you sell on third-party marketplaces? Are you good at? Where are you ranking? How does that compare to what you’re doing on Google?

Are you comfortable with {insert your choice of Devil here} – their pricing, seller policies, performance, reputation, and privacy? How will your business change if the majority of your purchases went through them?

How much artificial intelligence are you employing now in your marketing efforts? What’s your long-term (read: two years) plan for it? Would controlling the raw text have an impact on your outcomes?

What things are you doing to streamline your Customer Service efforts? How are you using Voice? What are your plans for it?

How much control do you have over your data? Your brand? How much do you want? How vital is sonic expression and ownership to you?

None of this is intended to be Dystopian, and all of it is figureoutable. It’s just prudent to determine where you stand.

 

Do you own a branded Virtual Assistant, or are you considering buying or building one? Have any tips you’d like to share or any questions you’d like to ask? Tweet @amyafrica or write info@eightbyeight.com.