Voice Assistants: example of testing and development of an app for L'Oréal

Our study of French people's experience with voice assistants has allowed us to pinpoint an increasing but still early stage of use. L'Oréal decided to approach the subject head on by developing an app with the Vokode agency for female influencers: Glow up. Below are the lessons learned from this experience.

Glow up introduction video

Working with the agency and users to better understand the uses of the system

While the use is less developed in France than on the other side of the Atlantic, its progress makes it necessary to better understand users, potential obstacles and friction points.
In this project, L'Oréal's objective was to learn through the design and testing of a first app by iterating as much as possible during development. The challenge being to identify the means to re-invent brand user experiences during the discovery and interaction with the brand's products.
This experience conducted with L'Oréal Paris was therefore to enable us to: 

• Skill development of teams concerning methodology as well as technical and creative choices. 
• Test two use cases: first, the recommendation of a product through voice and, second, the tutorial with a blend of voice and visuals.

Check out the video of the conference at the bottom of the article for a summary of the issues and context of the L'Oréal team. 

Testing for voice experience development

Experiences usually undertaken by L'Oréal are in the visual field, so the voice assistants is quite new. This makes it even more important to test in real conditions in order to adapt the suggested course. 
Consequently, L'Oréal wanted to test the Glow up experience in real conditions with influencers. So, tests and interviews with 7 women influencers were carried out with the following objectives:  
1. Validate the experience and course of the Glow up app. 
2. Adapt the features around the experience: app introduction, visual supports. 
3. Identify the next milestones for the Glow up app and the opportunities for L'Oréal Paris' regular customers. 

Glow up test and interview with a female influencer

Making a pragmatic investment in voice development

According to Lauren Sarda Dutilh of L'Oréal, it is now important to invest pragmatically in voice development for the following reasons:  

• The device that will allow to globalize and develop an economy based on use, such as the iPhone for smartphones, does not yet exist. 
• The first use is research, and it is consequently important to invest in voice research as a priority.
• Choose appropriate market drivers (English or Chinese speaking) and partners to develop and test the project. 

Start small, think big

To sum up, it's important to have an ambitious long-term vision for the brand in order to anticipate new uses and to be pre-emptive. Many steps have to be taken to achieve this goal, and the best advice is to start with pragmatic projects adapted to the current market. 

→ Replay the video conference with L'Oréal and Vokode

→ Replay the slides of the L'Oréal testimony

Some useful Links

Our study on the use of voice assistants by French speakers available here

More about setting up focus groups animated by Ferpection on our website

Video of the challenges of voice by Vokode, the agency that developed the Glow Up app