Chat bots: Voice-Activated Vs Text-Activated

Chatbots have become a part of our daily lives and the usage has been increasing rapidly in business applications as a part of digital transformation. They have taken over our market by a great extent and have been influential for business and brands. These AI bots are now integrated with businesses for extremely good results. Basically, the chatbots are of two types based on the conversational style; text and voice. These chatbots have their pros and cons.

What are text-activated and voice-activated chatbots?

A text-based chatbot interacts and communicates with a person via text or messages. The conversation can include videos, images, UI elements etc.

These AI chatbots are effective and efficient for custom business applications. The text-based chatbots help accustomed business applications in providing an instant, personalized experience to customers. They can also gather feedback and keep the customers engaged.

A voice chatbot can interact and communicate with its audience via voice. These AI bots are capable of accepting commands in an oral or written form and can reply through a voice message. These bots can be categorized into two types; one which responds via text and voice and voice-only bots. The popular examples of voice-enabled chatbots are the smart assistants like Amazon Echo and Google Home.

These chatbots can be easily integrated with social media, messaging apps, SMS, emails and other platforms for smooth communication with your business.

Voice chatbot is an innovation that has predominantly taken over the text chatbot in wide sectors like travel, insurance, and education.

The differences

The most notable difference between a text-based chatbot and a voice-based chatbot is the way they interact with a user. A text chatbot exists on various kinds of messaging platforms and allows users to interact via text or button press.

Meanwhile, a voice chatbot uses pre-recorded and text to speech responses to interact with the users. Smart assistants like Siri, Cortana and Alexa demonstrate the capabilities of the voice bot.

Sentences in voice bots can be longer as listening is easier and faster than reading. The choice of words determines the verbal tone of the chatbot and can be added by modulation.

One of the biggest differences between these chatbots is accessibility which it offers. A text-based bot can attract users as chatting is quiet easy on their phone. Meanwhile, interacting with a voice bot requires a smart speaker device. Voice-activated chatbots are ideal when a situation demands you to go hands-free, which may include walking, going through a recipe while cooking, etc.

Factors affecting the choice of the bot

Selecting the interface depends heavily on the purpose and context of the usage for the custom business application. These bots allow users to accomplish tasks and get information.

Voice chatbots are a great choice if the purpose is linear. Text-based chatbots are ideal for custom business applications when the user can take various potential paths. Chat is a better option than listening to something if there are various choices and menus to explore. Since quick replies are available on the screen, the available options are not required to be remembered.

Voice can convey more information in a shorter attention span of the user, which means that text can take a longer time in conveying information than through voice. Voice-based bots can help you use longer sentences through verbal communication without losing the user’s attention.

Text-based bots are ideal when you have device-based enquiries, limited resources, an amazing screen presence or if your business is small. A voice chatbot is apt for multi-tasking users and has no budget constraints.

Conclusion

Though these AI chatbots are suited for different purposes, they are very instrumental in the growth of a business. YA software development company should be able to know when to use which particular bot. Want to know more about chatbots? Say Hi for a free consultation. As a leading custom software development company, we can help you implement custom chatbots in your business.