How Satisfactory is it to Communicate Customer Knowledge with the Aid of Multimodal Interaction Metaphors?

The purpose of this paper was to examine the implications of employing multimodal interaction metaphors in Electronic Customer Knowledge Management Systems (E-CKMS). There are several challenges to E-CKMS, such as trust and knowledge retention, structured transfer of knowledge and information overload. As empirical investigations that examine the impact of multimodal interaction on customer satisfaction are generally lacking, this paper describes an experimental study conducted to evaluate this role and measure user satisfaction. This evaluation was carried out empirically by implementing an E-CKMS experimental platform with two interfaces (text with graphics and avatar-enhanced). Two independent groups of users (n=20 for each group) evaluated the two interface conditions in terms of five user satisfaction factors. Results suggested that user satisfaction was significantly improved by incorporating audio-visual metaphors. Key-Words: Customer, Knowledge, Interactive, Satisfaction, Earcons, Auditory icons, Facial Expressions, Speech