News: Acquia Labs Expands Development of Conversational Interfaces

Sydney June 5, 2018 -- Digital experience company Acquia today announced it is rolling out voice-enabled search technologies to government agencies and global brands through development work within Acquia Labs. Focused on improving the accessibility of Georgia.gov, the state agency was the first to roll out voice search capabilities from Acquia Labs last year. Initial usability metrics were strong, as 79 percent of searches were completed successfully in the first eight months. Vehicle registration, driver’s licences, and state sales tax were among the most popular voice search topics. Acquia Labs has continued developing these capabilities, recently helping a global pet nutrition brand also launch voice search on its digital properties.

Voice search is increasingly becoming a paramount concern for marketing teams that are conscious about reducing friction for their customers. As early as May 2016, Google reported that a fifth of searches on mobile are now conducted by voice. Voice searches are valuable for speed, hands-free convenience, and providing a new level of accessibility in cases where typing long or difficult-to-spell phrases would be challenging.

“New channels, technology trends, and devices provide organisations the opportunity to reimagine their customer experience. Developing cross-channel experiences that bypass the browser is increasingly an imperative for global brands,” said Dries Buytaert, Acquia co-founder and CTO. “Our in-house R&D team helps organisations accelerate their innovation and extend experiences to conversational interfaces, digital signage, augmented and virtual reality, and more.”

Acquia Labs serves as an R&D lab looking to redefine user experiences and use cases for the web, far beyond the browser. Acquia Labs is composed of a tight-knit team of innovators focused on solving the Internet’s biggest and most exciting user engagement challenges for Acquia customers. To see a video of Georgia.gov’s Alexa skill in action, or to learn more about working with Acquia Labs, visit https://www.acquia.com/resources/acquia-labs.