Case study: Embodied virtual agents: An analysis on reasons for failure
(2012) Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services : forging the link between research and practice — Vol. 19, n° 6, p. 605-612 (2012)
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- Abstract
- Despite very optimistic academic and professional literatures, embodied virtual agents (EVA) on commercial websites do not seem to keep all their promises. An update in December 2009 of a benchmark led by OrangeLab in 2007 on embodied agents displayed on French websites reveals that more than 60% of them have actually disappeared. This case study deals with understanding the disappearance of embodied virtual agents thanks to a literature review, a benchmark of 80 agents on French commercial websites and an analysis of experts' in-depth-interviews. This work identifies a series of common errors in the agents design - namely, appearance inadequacy and lack of intelligence and autonomy - that creates a gap between consumers' expectations and agents' performance explaining agents' lack of success. As a conclusion, this case study gives practitioners actionable advices to design future agents by highlighting the characteristics of the ideal virtual sales agent (VSA)
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Citations
Ben Mimoun, M. S., Poncin, I., & Garnier, M. (2012). Case study: Embodied virtual agents: An analysis on reasons for failure. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services : forging the link between research and practice, 19(6), 605-612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2012.07.006 (Original work published 2012)