BBVA: Banking voice assistant
The Future of voice assistance in the Mexican banking market
Financial Services
BBVA: Voice Assistant
The Opportunity
The use of voice assistants has become increasingly popular since it allows users to quickly search the internet or control and app in a hands-free way with the use of a simple voice command. Most of these interactions occur through Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, or Google Assistant, native to the Android operating system.
With increased acceptance, the use of voice assistants had been gaining traction at a global level and companies were increasingly creating applications for them.
The Challenge
BBVA is known within the Mexican market for being a pioneer in digital innovation by staying on top of global technologies and trends.
Prior to Amazon Alexa’s Launch in Mexico and considering the global success of smart speakers at a global level, BBVA wanted to explore the possibility and acceptance of banking over voice for its users to make an internal decision on the types of interactions to be developed.
On top of this, BBVA was looking for guidance on learning guidelines that would help them design the most natural voice interaction for its users.
The Solution
/ UX Research
Through a deeper understanding of different types of users, we were able to determine different banking actions that they were willing to carry out in different contexts. We also were able to conclude the types of information users expected to receive as well as the way they would like to ask the assistant.
The Approach
/ Empathizing with users
Through in-depth interviews with different profiles such as users and experts, based on their level of comfort with technology, we were able to understand the different situations in which they currently interact with voice assistants and the types of requests that they make.
/ Mapping out the optimal experience
We also sought a better understanding of their perception of how secure they felt with an assistant handling their information as well as the outputs they would rather receive as a notification instead of voice.
/ Transferring knowledge and co-creation
Based on our previous knowledge working with voice assistants and chatbots, we carried out a workshop with the BBVA team where we taught them how to design for voice with a heavy emphasis on Alexa Skills. We also co-designed functionalities that responded to the needs with the highest demand through different Voice User Interface (VUI) tools.
Impact
Having a better understanding of market needs as well as the knowledge to design for voice, BBVA launched its Alexa skills in late 2018 and its mobile app voice assistant, Blue, in early 2019.
