Creating ‘The Voice’

Creating ‘The Voice’ Samrat Baul Sr. Manager Application Design & Speech Analytics Voxify August 8, 2011

The Discussion • Motivation • Persona and Voice Actor - a game-changer in IVR Applications • The art and science of persona development • Where do we go wrong? • How do we objectively compare voice actors? • How to evaluate multiple participant response groups? • How you can use the model? • An example

The Art & Science • Linguistic Attributes • Persona Characteristics • Choosing The Voice Actor

Where do we go wrong? • Where we don’t create a process • Don’t forget the Company’s Customer Service mission statement • Identify the largest demographic group of that application • ‘Start with attributes not actors • Avoid asking subjective questions • Recruit stakeholders

The Discussion • Motivation • Persona and Voice Actor - a game-changer in IVR Applications • The art and science of persona development • Where do we go wrong? • How do we objectively arrive at a decision? • How to evaluate multiple participant response groups? • How you can use the model? • An example

How do we objectively arrive at a decision? • Using a process The Voice of the IVR

How do we objectively arrive at a decision? (cont.) Step 1: Defining Persona • 3 Types of Attribute): • Brand Attributes • Voice Quality • Personality • Select 5-7 Attributes based on these • These define the persona • Used as criteria for evaluating each voice actor • Examples

How do we objectively arrive at a decision? (cont.) Step 2: Identify Linguistic Attributes • Collaborate to define language style, including • Degree of Formality • Verbosity • Choice of words & phrases – contractions, jargon • Create recording script for evaluating prospective voice actors • Discuss and approve scripts as baseline for future app prompts

How do we objectively arrive at a decision? (cont.) Step 3: Identifying Actors • Recruit 4-6 (typically) voice actors • They should embody the attributes identified in Step 1 • Versatile enough to accommodate variations • In sync with the choice of linguistic attributes

How do we objectively arrive at a decision? (cont.) Step 4: Coaching voice actors and recording of the script • Record with each voice actor in the same manner • Emphasis on bringing out the identified attributes

How do we objectively arrive at a decision? (cont.) Step 5: The Survey • Provide a web-based survey to quantifiably evaluate each voice actor based on: • voice quality • persona, and • brand attributes • Provide with guidelines to define the set of stakeholders who should be involved as participants in the evaluation survey • Participants will • place a single call • listen to different voice actors, and • score each voice actor according to the pre-defined attributes

How do we objectively arrive at a decision? (cont.) Step 6: Selecting The Voice Actor • Provide a report of all survey responses • Survey responses will empower the client to make an informed decision • Sample Analysis

The Discussion • Motivation • Persona and Voice Actor - a game-changer in IVR Applications • The art and science of persona development • Where do we go wrong? • How do we objectively arrive at a decision? • How to evaluate multiple participant response groups? • How you can use the model? • An example

How to evaluate multiple participant response groups? • One of the most precarious steps • Assign weights to each group based on importance to decision-making • Marketing • Call Center Managers • Executives • Customer Service Representatives • Callers • Outsiders

How you can use the model • Make this a process milestone when engaging • Get into this process early • It takes time • It’s complicated • Number of parties • Traditional subjective approach • Opinion • Can make a drastic impact on success or failure of the deployment • Don’t miss steps

Thanks! Samrat Baul Sr. Manager, Application Design & Speech Analytics sbaul@voxify.com

Creating ‘The Voice’