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Eve's Personality Makes a Splash!
September 3, 2014 Andy Peart Press Releases
Eve, the intelligent virtual assistant that works for German energy provider Yello Strom and is powered by Artificial Solutions patented natural language interaction technology, is doing her bit for charity this week by taking up the ice bucket challenge (https://www.facebook.com/eve.von.yello.strom) and donating money to the ALS clinic of Charité in Berlin. Whilst finding out if virtual water is as cold and as wet as the real thing, Eve also demonstrates the power of a personality in automated advisors when communicating with customers.
The conversational aspect of a virtual assistant is crucial, how it phrases its responses, engages in small talk and displays a sense of humor all reflects its personality, which in turn echoes an organization's brand. Eve, for example can tell you she was raised in Cologne, likes Italian cuisine and even where she gets her hair cut. She'll give you a flower to make you smile, knock on the window pane if you ignore her for too long and will sometimes flounce off the screen if you tease her.
But she is not just a pretty face. Eve is able to respond to each interaction with meaningful replies, use information already provided by the customer during the conversation to deliver the correct response or ask for more detail if required. She can even access data stored on enterprise systems. Whether it's helping a new customer complete an online form or providing complex troubleshooting advice to an existing one, Eve's personality reinforces a positive brand image that is friendly, efficient and knowledgeable.
Personality is an essential part of natural language conversations; it improves a user's perception of intelligence and their ability to engage with the interface. A number of experiments suggest that humor can have many positive effects in human-machine interaction and Artificial Solutions has found that users rate virtual assistants as more competent when they exhibit a sense of humor.
"As colleagues all over the world are taking up the ice bucket challenge it makes perfect sense that someone in Yello Strom has challenged Eve, after all there is no reason why virtual assistants can't join in the fun and raise awareness and money at the same time," says Andy Peart, CMO of Artificial Solutions. "The question now is will Ikea's Anna take up Eve's challenge?".