Voice is a new way to reach website visitors
In recent years, the consumption of audiobooks and recorded talk shows, podcasts, has risen dramatically. However, as consumers of various content to listen to, we noticed that we also miss the listening feature in other contexts, such as when browsing websites. Could online content be listened to effortlessly without complicated applications or hard-to-listen audio? This idea gave birth to Voice Intuitive Oy.
The visible role of sound in Finland
The role of sound has grown both in Finland and abroad with the development of technology. On phones, we use voice control when searching for information or writing a message, smart speakers can answer our questions in seconds, and even home electronics work "on command". Alongside the radio, audiobooks, for example, have also made their way into the world. Finnish The Finnish Book Publishers' Association has increased by a whopping 79.7% from 2018 to 2019. Helsingin Sanomatat says that audiobook sales have increased by 125% between 2019 and 2020. Voice is here to stay.
Voice technology represents an innovative perspective that aims to respond to today's changed consumption trend. Listening to website texts enables a more diverse consumption of content while making the website more accessible to different target groups. When the starting point of design is ease of use and a successful customer experience, it is possible to offer added value to the user and stand out from the crowd as a customer-oriented actor.
Towards a better customer experience through accessibility
Adding a voice feature to a website brings many benefits. The content listening feature creates instantly accessible content. Many special groups, such as the visually impaired, people with attention deficit and dyslexia, or the elderly, can enjoy the content in an accessible format. Converting text into voice also promotes the ability of people who learn differently to absorb content.
The coronavirus crisis has accelerated the development of online services and also brought new user groups to the sphere of digital voice services. Practically everyone benefits from the voice feature, as it is possible to listen to online content while doing other chores. For example, current news can be listened to at the wheel of a car or at the gym, if not while doing household chores. Adding a voice service to the website also improves the customer experience, and customers stay longer with audio content. The role of accessibility and sound is increasingly taken into account in online services.
Sound for websites – how does it work in practice?
Voice Intuitive Oy's goal is to create an easy-to-use voice service that is effortless for all user groups. The service installed on the website enables listening to all the text on the website. The button is also automatically duplicated for new online content. The installation of the service is also smooth.
Additional features are also available for the Voice Intuitive™ voice service, such as a listening speed controller and text tracking. The color of the button can be chosen according to your own brand colors. The ability to follow the flow of the text and the listening speed control are useful not only for various special groups, such as the elderly and language groups, but also for students and consumers who are used to audiobooks, who can follow the text while listening, if they wish. Text tracking has been found to be linked to remembering the content read.
The voice service currently supports 45 different languages, and the voice is constantly evolving. In addition to Finnish, the language options include Swedish, English, Russian and Arabic. Naturally, we also offer technical support to our customers.
