Dialects Not Robots: Your Questions Answered

Commentators have been predicting for some time, the digital revolution and the increased connectivity of consumers is now changing the way companies do business with both consumers and other businesses alike.

Consequently, companies world over have invested heavily in IT and in the recruitment of digital specialists. This clearly makes sense, and we have seen a proliferation of apps, making every say services such as buying a bus ticket or banking much easier.

The best companies have taken a holistic approach, linking and integrating digital and traditional channels to provide a seamless and customised experience for each customer, at every touchpoint.

Customers in their turn have lapped this up, because it is exactly what they want. But technology alone does not make a great connected experience.

Although it may sound counter-intuitive, what lies at the heart of effectively connected journeys is — humanity. As good as systems like Interactive Voice Response (IVR) are, talking with a real human not only sounds authentic but is truly authentic too.

That’s why here at Onhold Studio, we never use artificial intelligence AI or robots to record our voice work, because the simple truth in the matter is, they sound like robots too, yes Alexa – we’re talking about you!

Fact is, there’s a disconnect between delivering exceptional customer service and automated systems. Not to say that systems like IVR are a godsend for large corporations who don’t have the resource for receptionists to take calls all day. But computer synthesised voices just don’t cut it for us.

So, after a long introduction, here are a few common questions we frequently get asked about our audio productions. Here’s to our very talented voiceover artists, many of whom have studied voice for several years.

Why is there a recording fee?

One of the many frequent questions we get asked here at Onhold Studio is “I thought it was just computer generated?” Now while that may be true of other music on hold providers, Onhold Studio only employs real people to voice our audio productions. That way, we can direct the script so the voiceover is delivering the narration in an appropriate way.

The right tone of voice

Here’s an example, say your company is called Bob’s Bouncy Castles, you’d probably want a fun and energetic message to your customers portraying how fun your product is to your customers. Now, if you owned Frank’s Funeral Parlour, you really wouldn’t want fun and energetic. Slow, clear and sympathetic sounding narration is much more suited to this type of business.

Yes but, no but

One of the main reasons we like the human voice is, let’s be honest, it’s authentic. Think about it, when you call an automated hotline, when a computer-generated voice is played down the phone, you can really notice it. Albeit, artificial intelligence is getting much better, just think of Amazon’s Alexa or Google’s Home they sound quite authentic but they’re still not quite there.

Stop nebbin’ in me diary, buggerlugs

We’ve noticed an increased trend in customers specifying regional accents. This might not be suitable for the most corporate of our clients but if you’re a local business, you should certainly consider a local sounding voice. Using real people obviously makes the whole process much easier, using a person from London to do a Scouse accent is probably going to be a disaster unless they’ve studied the accent for years.