CallJoy: Why did Google Call it Joy?

[djbaxter]

I'm not normally a conspiracy theorist at all but my first reaction to seeing headlines about Google new CallJoy service has me wondering. Given all her other responsibilities, how is @JoyHawkins going to find time to take all these calls? Is Google creating multiple clones of @JoyHawkins using AI? Or is she really, as some have suspected, a superbeing who never sleeps? And is Google going to be paying her phone bills for all this extra bandwidth? And how many languages is @JoyHawkins going to have to learn to do this? The questions are numerous; the answers not so much.

CallJoy, Google’s virtual phone agent for SMBs, gets an upgrade
by Greg Sterling, Search Engine Land
November 13, 2019

The service is Google's first real foray into SaaS for SMBs.
Six months ago, Google’s Area 120 group launched CallJoy, a “virtual phone agent” for small businesses (SMBs) built on the same technology that’s behind Duplex and the Google Assistant. Now, based on customer feedback, it’s offering an upgraded version with new capabilities and customization options.

New customization options. SMBs can provision the agent to handle certain types of inquiries (e.g., hours, location, service area), determine when the phone is answered and customize its “personality” beyond male or female. The agent will also provide responses to certain specific questions and can route calls it cannot answer to a human being.

The example Google provides in its post is someone calling a restaurant to ask about vegetarian menu options. If the SMB has “trained” the agent to respond to that type of question — by adding keywords and FAQs — it might hypothetically respond, “Yes! Our menu has vegetarian and vegan-friendly choices. Can I text you the link to our online menu?”

Seeking to make SMBs more productive. Google says that CallJoy can also “book appointments, get quotes, make table reservations, and more.” The idea is that business owners can 1) avoid common calls that would distract them and 2) ensure that their customers get answers to their questions.

All calls are recorded and transcribed. SMBs receive daily emails showing call activity but can visit a dashboard anytime if they become more interested in analytics. More sophisticated businesses will start to see these transcripts as a potential source of insight into their customers and their needs.

Read more...

 

[Wirenut]

I wonder how this would work for me.

As a consumer, if you called an electrician/plumber/HVAC company and a robot picked up, would you go along with it or just call the next contractor?

 

[gsterling]

I haven't yet used the system but this is really not very different from enterprise tools that exist today when, say, you call United Airlines and they ask you a couple of questions and provide basic information. For narrow use cases they can work well.

 

[Tim Kahlert]

I was wondering how Google is dealing with local tracking numbers as NAP become less important if phone numbers are not consistent anymore. On the one hand it´s against Google's guidelines and on the other hand they're promoting it. I'm confused.

 

[Wirenut]

I am a beta tester (Google Trusted Tester I think it's called) and got a call today about testing CallJoy. They said that they would extend the free trial period for a few months for me. I told them that I would get back to them.

I'm not sure how CallJoy would work for my company, being a small contracting company. But my main concern that worries me is changing my phone number in GMB. I was also very early using Local Service Ads and there was a period of a few months in which those of us who had LSA had our company completely removed from the 3-pack.

I don't want to lose any ranking/authority/etc. by changing the number in GMB for CallJoy.

 

[BenFisher]

I have not ever witnessed a ranking drop by changing a primary phone number.

 

[Wirenut]

I have not ever witnessed a ranking drop by changing a primary phone number.

Ok, thanks. I guess I was worried about the NAP consistency going to hell with that one change.

 

[Linda Buquet]

I'm not normally a conspiracy theorist at all but my first reaction to seeing headlines about Google new CallJoy service has me wondering. Given all her other responsibilities, how is @JoyHawkins going to find time to take all these calls? Is Google creating multiple clones of @JoyHawkins using AI? Or is she really, as some have suspected, a superbeing who never sleeps? And is Google going to be paying her phone bills for all this extra bandwidth? And how many languages is @JoyHawkins going to have to learn to do this? The questions are numerous; the answers not so much.

Haha, too funny David and so true about Super Woman, Joy!