Is voice control the real game changer?
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. ~ Albert Einstein
Convenience, simplicity, and ease of use drive consumer behavior. The more seamless you can make your product or service, the more appealing it will be to today’s consumer; and the more value you will deliver to them when they do business with you.
As one who essentially speaks for a living, when you can marry something I want with a way for me to use my voice to get it, I’m all in.
That’s why I am delighted with the Amazon Echo—a black cylinder named Alexa that has been ‘living’ on my kitchen counter for about three months now.
The Echo is part music player, part personal assistant, part encyclopedia, and part shopping assistant. It is controlled with your voice and uses your wifi network to make your life easier.
Here’s why I find the device valuable…
- Who else can actually answer the questions that I am asking myself in my head when I simply speak them aloud?
- Who else cares enough to listen when I announce that I am out of a certain spice, condiment, or sauce and adds it to my shopping list (so I won’t forget it next time I’m in the store)?
- Who else knows my musical tastes well enough to make a quick selection and start playing something I’ll like when I say: “play some music?”
- Who else will look up the weather and tells me the forecast (without reminding me how easily I could do it myself)?
- Who else knows my schedule and can recite it to me instantly after a simple one-sentence query?
- And, perhaps this is the best thing of all, who else actually stops whatever it is they are doing when I simply say “Alexa, stop?”
So why am I sharing all this with you?
It’s not to promote the device (though I do recommend it), but rather to suggest that you start thinking about how your credit union can make life easier for your members—as easy as speak it and it will be done.
Because as your customers gain more and more experience with tools like this that remove friction from their lives, they are going to demand more from every business they patronize.
Are you ready to figure how you’ll do that? Because it’s going to take some real creativity and some new thinking about how you deliver your products and services. And, it’s time to get started because voice control may be the real game changer!
