Adding Voice to the Omnichannel and How that Affects Brand Trust

Consumers can use alternative methods to interact with or access a brand through their mobile devices. They can type a response using a touchscreen keyboard (touch interaction) or use voice response while holding a mobile device (combined voice and touch interaction). In this study, we look at the impact of these different types of interaction on personal engagement and the effect on brand trust as relevant concerns to managers in the digital, mediated context. Using a framework based on sensory marketing and Dual Coding Theory, we conducted 2 one-way between-subjects experiments with a two-level interface interaction considering a hedonic product (Experiment 1) and utilitarian product (Experiment 2). Findings confirm a three-way interaction such that the impact of privacy concern on the relationship between personal engagement and trust depends on the nature of the platform interaction; touch vs. combined touch and voice. We also find that adding voice to the platform interface has the counterintuitive effect of reducing engagement with that platform. All in all, our results provide novel insights into the role of touch and voice in the online context when it comes to consumers’ decision-making.