Voice bots on the frontline: Voice-based interfaces enhance flow-like consumer experiences & boost service outcomes

Naim Zierau (), Christian Hildebrand (), Anouk Bergner (), Francesc Busquet (), Anuschka Schmitt () and Jan Marco Leimeister ()
Additional contact information
Naim Zierau: University of St.Gallen
Christian Hildebrand: University of St.Gallen
Anouk Bergner: University of St.Gallen
Francesc Busquet: University of St.Gallen
Anuschka Schmitt: University of St.Gallen
Jan Marco Leimeister: University of St.Gallen

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2023, vol. 51, issue 4, No 6, 823-842

Abstract: Abstract Voice-based interfaces provide new opportunities for firms to interact with consumers along the customer journey. The current work demonstrates across four studies that voice-based (as opposed to text-based) interfaces promote more flow-like user experiences, resulting in more positively-valenced service experiences, and ultimately more favorable behavioral firm outcomes (i.e., contract renewal, conversion rates, and consumer sentiment). Moreover, we also provide evidence for two important boundary conditions that reduce such flow-like user experiences in voice-based interfaces (i.e., semantic disfluency and the amount of conversational turns). The findings of this research highlight how fundamental theories of human communication can be harnessed to create more experiential service experiences with positive downstream consequences for consumers and firms. These findings have important practical implications for firms that aim at leveraging the potential of voice-based interfaces to improve consumers’ service experiences and the theory-driven “conversational design” of voice-based interfaces.

Keywords: Voice-based interface; Speech interaction; Natural language processing; Artificial intelligence; Media richness; Flow; Service research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11747-022-00868-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:51:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s11747-022-00868-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... gement/journal/11747

DOI: 10.1007/s11747-022-00868-5

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science is currently edited by John Hulland, Anne Hoekman and Mark Houston

More articles in Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().