The researchers asked a total of 275 consumers to rate on seventy personality traits the voices of Amazon Alexa, Microsoft Cortana, and Google Assistant. Analysis of the results highlighted three of those seventy as clearly enhancing a flow state with this group of participants. Here are my brief descriptions of the three:
- Intelligent. How competent and confident does the voice sound?
- Sincere. How friendly and agreeable?
- Contemporary. How culturally current are the words and phrases?
Because the study participants were selected as a convenience sample, not as a representative sample of a general population, please consider the results as suggestive, not conclusive. In addition to the three flow-enhancing traits identified, it could be that gentle humor and emotional sensitivity increase the attractiveness of a voice assistant. Ask Apple’s Siri “How old are you” and you might hear the voice say, ““Well, I am no Spring Chicken. Or, Winter Bee. Or Summer Squid, or Autumnal Aardvark ….” When you ask Alexa how your favorite team did in today’s game, the voice programming includes the capability of sounding disappointed if announcing a loss.
Surprise, either in the tone of voice or in the nature of the voice assistant’s personality, is likely to disrupt the consumer’s flow state. When the consumer expects the voice assistant to move the transaction in a certain way, but the voice moves it in a conflicting direction, the consumer feels a loss of control. Being in control of self-service technologies is important to the consumer, so the surprise causes irritation and alienation.
Most humor depends on surprise. That’s fine as long as the joke is incidental to the flow of the transaction. The emotional sensitivity of a voice assistant’s reply could surprise the consumer, but that surprise is more likely to facilitate than to interfere with the flow.
Still, any amusement at the humor or appreciation for the emotional sensitivity could turn to cynicism when the consumer realizes mid-transaction that the voice assistant is only simulating a personality. Avoid the risks of this by having the voice assistant clearly announce at the start that it’s not a real person.
Surprise, either in the tone of voice or in the nature of the voice assistant’s personality, is likely to disrupt the consumer’s flow state. When the consumer expects the voice assistant to move the transaction in a certain way, but the voice moves it in a conflicting direction, the consumer feels a loss of control. Being in control of self-service technologies is important to the consumer, so the surprise causes irritation and alienation.
Most humor depends on surprise. That’s fine as long as the joke is incidental to the flow of the transaction. The emotional sensitivity of a voice assistant’s reply could surprise the consumer, but that surprise is more likely to facilitate than to interfere with the flow.
Still, any amusement at the humor or appreciation for the emotional sensitivity could turn to cynicism when the consumer realizes mid-transaction that the voice assistant is only simulating a personality. Avoid the risks of this by having the voice assistant clearly announce at the start that it’s not a real person.
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