AI Voices for Call Centers: Augment Your Conversations with Voice Synthesis

Respeecher
4 min readNov 10, 2022

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While chatbots surged in popularity for companies looking to cut down on the costs and liabilities associated with customer service inquiries, customers still preferred to reach customer representatives by phone. Real voices create a sense of trust between a brand and its customers.

Streamlining the customer support pipeline means lowering waiting times and correctly directing every call. Before AI and voice synthesis, call centers utilized static messages that guided their customers to a designated specialist that could address their issues. The only problem was that customers had to navigate the many sections of an automated pipeline before they got to a real human.

However, sounding human is much more helpful than a standard robotic voice that has been known to make dissatisfied customers hot under the collar when attempting to get a real response. In today’s read, let’s find out how AI voices for call centers can change customer support and boost loyalty.

Voice synthesis or robotic voices?

Traditional customer support includes emails, phone calls, and text messages. But this market has been disrupted by the adoption of voice-based assistants, social media, and messengers. This has spurred a paradigm shift in customer behavior and the need for omnichannel customer support regardless of device.

According to recent research by Accenture, customers still prefer live interactions when seeking support for any urgent or complex issue. To be precise, 58% of customers go for phone support. All things considered, voice channels are still one of the most effective means to communicate with clients and solve their problems because one can ask more questions and explain their situation more clearly.

And while call centers need humans to handle every issue, each agent can only handle a limited number of queries. Scaling up to meet the demands means hiring more people, which is neither easy nor cheap, especially in the middle of a global talent shortage. According to Korn Ferry, more than 85 million jobs could go unfilled due to a lack of skilled professionals.

With AI voices for call centers, businesses can introduce next-gen customer support, ensure a better customer experience, and build long-term relationships. Where conversational AI bots don’t sound like real humans, voice synthesis software allows for fully mimicking an individual’s voice. Regardless of the platform, the voice of your customer support could remain the same.

In addition to meeting customer expectations and shifting customer behaviors, there are other factors that drive businesses to utilize voice cloning solutions, including:

  • Saved time
  • Improved real-time accessibility
  • Increased efficiency
  • Reduced customer acquisition costs
  • Effective handling of customer queries
  • Reduced customer complaints

Do you remember the 2018 movie Sorry to Bother You, where a Black man changes his black voice to a white one to boost sales at his call center job? Yep, AI voices can combat bias, accent translation, and streamline communication.

Thanks to voice synthesis, call center operators can sound like locals. By sounding like the people they’re serving over the phone, customers get the help they expect.

Accents are a real and constant hurdle for millions of operators, especially in India and the Philippines. With speech-to-speech voice synthesis, the same person is able to sound completely different in a way that is barely possible to distinguish from the accents of people living in Brooklyn or speaking posh English.

Voice synthesis for call centers with Respeecher

Respeecher is an AI-powered algorithm for voice cloning. It allows for mimicking and conveying all the nuances of a particular voice, including tone, accent, and emotions. Respeecher has multiple applications, from film dubbing to empowering people with voice problems. Voice synthesis can be divided into:

  • Text-to-speech voice synthesis (TTS)
  • Speech-to-speech voice synthesis (STS)

A TTS voice synthesis algorithm mimics human speech based on the text. In most cases, TTS is used to create voice robots. This approach saves time and reduces costs by automatically generating voice recordings (no re-recording necessary) every time a script is changed.

TTS can read every piece of text that resembles a real human speaking. However, users will still be able to distinguish that it’s a robot speaking.

STS voice synthesis allows for modifying a voice and overlaying it with another voice that you can pick up from our voice marketplace. You can also upload your own recording. STS allows for synthesizing iconic voices of the past and even removing or adding accents.

With Respeecher, you can power up your call center with human-like voices and sprinkle new content like accents for a seamless experience. Add, remove, or replace any speech or accent.

Today, AI voices can match a wide range of emotions, speaking styles, and non-speech vocalizations. To experience how Respeecher conveys different emotions and speech styles, check this video.

Not sure if Respeecher can satisfy your needs? Test it yourself for three days before signing up. Reach out to discuss the details. We look forward to hearing from you.

This article was initially published on the Respeecher blog.

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Respeecher

Respeecher is your reliable AI voice partner that delivers ethical & authentic voices across creative, education, healthcare, tech & cybersecurity industries