• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, September 25, 2018

Within two years, 57% of consumers expect to reach their favorite brands via a voice assistant, and 54% expect their digital assistant will make purchase recommendations, according to a white paper released by iProspect and Bing.

The white paper, Differentiating Your Brand with EQ, published by iProspect and Bing, analyzes how brands can differentiate themselves in the era of the "emotional quotient," (EQ) also known as emotional intelligence.

It highlights what consumers look for when it comes to digital assistants, what they expect to experience several years from now, and how brands should approach this shift.

Bing Ads surveyed more than 2,000 people across the U.S., the UK, India, and Australia to determine what their expectations for digital assistants are two years and five years from now.  The survey was conducted specifically for the white paper. Based on this survey and additional insights from Bing data and iProspect clients, the duo determined that the biggest opportunity gap for brands was not building digital assistants/bots/conversational interfaces, but rather determining how to leverage them.  

Within five years, 72% of consumers expect to make purchases with their favorite brands via a voice assistant. Some 72% also expect brands to have a complete technological solution in place that will allow them to automatically pull in personal and billing information during the purchase process.

Taco Bell, Domino’s Pizza, North Face, 1-800 Flowers, Progressive Insurance and H&M have already launched various forms of chatbots, according to the report.

In related findings in the white paper, the Bing Ads Intelligent Agents research study found Helpful at 60%, Smart at 57%, Friendly at 44%, Logical at 39%, and Approachable at 35% were the top five personality and character traits of their favorite digital assistant.

When engaging with a digital assistant, 68% of survey participants said they feel Satisfied. About 65% said they feel Happy; 62%, Curious; 57%, Grateful; and 49%, surprised.

So the focus should be on making each consumer the center of the universe by building interactions through EQ. It’s about understanding the context behind the words. Human conversation requires context, but this remains one of the most difficult concepts to teach a machine. Connections between the consumer and brand are built on emotional reactions.

Marketers should think of their brand as human. It sees, talks, feels, thinks. It welcomes customers, makes them feel special and a part of something, and the underlying personality should align across every consumer touchpoint, according to the report.