How Text-to-Speech (TTS) is Revolutionizing Contact Centers and Customer Experience

Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology is a game-changer for modern contact centers, providing automated, AI-powered solutions that improve customer experience (CX), boost operational efficiency, and reduce costs.

Studies show that implementing TTS can reduce staffing costs by up to 30% while maintaining 24/7 customer service capabilities across multiple languages.

In this guide, we’ll explore how TTS transforms contact center operations, scales customer service, and supports multilingual interactions.

What is Text-to-Speech (TTS) and How It Works in Contact Centers

In simple terms, Text-to-Speech (TTS) is technology that turns written text into spoken word. But in contact centers, it does way more than that.

TTS is an AI technology that automates voice interactions between two parties. It increases conversation accessibility by reading out messages to a caller. In essence, it is a smart software that uses AI and algorithms to translate written prompts into spoken words. The best part? It does not require a live agent, and can integrate with third-party systems, which means that multiple softwares can communicate with each other.

Often, text to speech systems do not work alone. The strongest bond occurs between TTS and IVR (Interactive Voice Response) technology. This powerful integration creates a system that automates communication between callers and customer service. With IVR's ability to prompt users for input (such as selecting options or providing information), TTS can deliver customized responses based on real-time customer inputs. This creates a more natural and conversational interaction.

Example: The TTS-empowered IVR system can greet customers by name, provide specific account details, or give personalized offers based on their previous interactions.        

A study published in Pattern Analysis and Applications highlighted that automating interactions in contact centers—especially through technologies like TTS—can result in cost savings as high as $1.3 trillion globally across 265 billion customer service calls.

How Text-to-Speech (TTS) Improves Automation and Customer Interaction in Contact Centers

By automating routine customer service tasks, TTS technology allows contact centers to handle more queries without increasing staffing. This leads to a 15-20% increase in productivity as agents can focus on more complex and emotionally challenging customer interactions.

Studies show that TTS systems can cut down on average wait times by up to 30%, which directly contributes to a better customer experience and reduces frustration levels.

Automation brings benefits in nearly every aspect of the call center business. Apart from being a powerful solution to increasing staffing needs, it also reduces expenses significantly. A report from Alvaria indicates that TTS integration can reduce staffing costs by 30% by allowing fewer agents to handle more complex queries while routine tasks are managed by the AI-driven system.

Top Benefits of Text-to-Speech (TTS) Technology for Contact Centers

• Personalization: TTS offers tailored responses that provide a human touch to automated interactions, improving customer satisfaction.
• Multilingual Support: TTS can adapt to multiple languages, expanding your customer service reach across international markets.
• Scalability: With TTS, contact centers can handle increased call volumes during peak times, without overwhelming live agents.

Personalization in Customer Experience

Text-to-speech systems are capable of adapting to any language, meaning customer service can reach a much wider audience. They can create highly personalized experiences and understand caller's needs much faster than live agents.

Studies find that by combining TTS with NLP and sentiment analysis can create personalization abilities that can actually improve customer satisfaction. Sentiment analysis enables TTS to respond with empathy, adjusting its tone based on the customer’s emotional state, creating a more human-like interaction. Here's how:

1. Sentiment Analysis for Emotional Connection: One of the most powerful features of advanced TTS systems is their ability to integrate sentiment analysis, which can detect the emotional tone of the customer’s speech or text input. Based on this emotional understanding, TTS systems can infuse the tone, speed and responses that best mirror the sentiment of the customer. This makes the experience more humane which in turn is necessary when it comes to addressing issues like customer complains or even trouble shooting..
2. Tailored Responses Based on Data: TTS systems can draw on customer data to provide responses based on personal preferences and requirements. It will go through their past interactions, models of purchasing as well the call history of the consumer to develop responses along those lines making it more personal for them.
3. Real-Time Adaptability: Human agents on the other hand, will take significant time in processing emotions or handling delicate issues; however, TTS systems with sentiment analysis can quickly switch responses in real-time. This helps to keep the conversation flowing and reduces the rate of escalation or customer dissatisfaction.

Improving Multilingual Support with Text-to-Speech

Businesses with global markets from all over the world depend on TTS systems to ensure effective and timely communication across many languages. For a more practical outlook, here are some insights on how using TTS technology can benefit multilingual support.

Language Adaptation at Speed

TTS systems can adapt written text into spoken word in multiple languages on the fly, enabling you to deliver customer support across countries with myriad linguistic needs. 

A business located in Europe, for instance, can provide their service in English but use TTS to automatically change languages from English to Spanish, French and German so the same level of service is preserved for every customer.

For instance, a customer that calls in to a service helpline in Italy may have a TTS system talking to him or her in Italian and switch to French when another customer from France calls in.

Regional Dialects and Accents

Contemporary TTS systems are not confined to straightforward language forms but can also comprehensively understand regional dialects, or accents, to facilitate conversational speech. This feature is particularly well-suited to use cases for businesses who are expanding into areas where mutations or derivatives of a given language are spoken.

For example, an NLP system might adapt its French accent to be understood or liked by users from Canada (Québecois French) instead of Parisian French creating a more localised experience.

Eliminate the Multilingual Agents

Historically, business had to hire multilingual agents if they wanted to handle calls in different languages (expensive and inefficient). However, TTS systems take the pain out of this by enabling a universal AI solution to serve any number of targeted language requirements at once. A detail not only that abating price but it always mentions 24x7 support for all the languages.

For instance, the customers might be from more than 10 countries in case of a global e-commerce platform. Instead of hiring agents who speak every language, the company uses a TTS to provide customer service in their native language.

Translation Accuracy and Consistency

TTS systems use AI algorithms and machine learning to translate in terms of both languages which ensures more consistent and accurate translations but when human agents try to read it, they might go wrong at practice. 

Consistency is key for the standardization of service delivery to ensure customer satisfaction in every market.

Use Case: A customer calls a bank to find out their current balance. Even if read by TTS, the balance and associated information will be in the language of the customer choosing which eliminates any potential for misunderstanding.

Increasing Contact Center Productivity with AI-Powered TTS

Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology has a profound impact on boosting the productivity of contact centers. Here’s how:

1. Fast Processing of Common Queries: Millions and millions of times every day, organizations are asked simple questions such as what is my account balance; where is my order; or how do I troubleshoot this problem? These AI-enabled virtual agent solutions enable human agents to focus on issues that are multi-faceted, personalized and emotionally charged. This allows contact centers to address more incoming calls while reducing the need to add staff.
2. Seasonal Surge Scaling: Contact centers gain high call volumes during peak seasons such as holidays or for product launches. TTS systems save costs by automatically taking thousands of concurrent calls in these call centers which would have otherwise meant addition to the labor / training pool.
3. 24/7 Customer Support: TTS enables the contact centers to serve round-the-clock, provides detailed report for each call telephony and allow users to handle international calls. Besides handling off-hour inquiries, it allow companies to outscream customer frustration stemming from long wait times or a requirement to call back during business hours.
4. Better Call Handling Time — respond to the basic questions in an automated manner and quickly which means increased average call handling time (AHT). With TTS dealing with much simpler customer interactions, agents have more time to spend on the trickier issues. In turn this decreases the amount of time a customer has to wait in the queue and improves overall agent productivity.
5. Enhanced First Call Resolution (FCR): These TTS systems helps in advancing FCR by providing prompt and accurate answers at the very first call, thereby eliminating the callbacks. This results in greater efficiency given that less calls have to be transferred or returned.

Employee Satisfaction and Burnout Prevention

A survey highlighted that nearly 75% of contact center agents face burnout due to high workloads. By automating 60-70% of routine queries, TTS technology helps reduce stress on agents, improving their overall job satisfaction.        

TTS systems also ease the workload on agents to help alleviate the pressure in high-volume call periods. It can automate most of the repetitive work, in the process removing agents from low value jobs and freeing up their times for more engaging and high-value assignments.

Studies show that companies that implement TTS technology see a 15% reduction in agent turnover as a result of improved job satisfaction and less manual work.

Ready to implement TTS in your contact center? Explore Voiso’s AI-powered speech analytics solutions to streamline customer interactions.