Voice image meets communication style: How audio-visual congruence shapes satisfaction with voice assistants

As intelligent voice assistants (IVAs) become pervasive in consumer interactions, companies are strategically leveraging optimized auditory and visual cues to enhance user experience. While prior studies have focused predominantly on single-modality cues, little is known about how the congruence between multimodal cues shapes consumer experience or the mechanisms underlying this effect. Grounded in cue consistency theory and mind perception theory, this study examines the interaction effects between two core sensory cues of IVAs—voice visual image (a visual cue) and communication style (an auditory cue)—and their impact on consumer satisfaction. Across five experiments with 1432 participants, we demonstrate a significant interaction between voice visual image and communication style. When the voice visual image is non-anthropomorphic, a task-oriented communication style heightens perceived agency, leading to greater satisfaction. Conversely, when the voice visual image is anthropomorphic, a social-oriented communication style amplifies perceived experience, thereby boosting satisfaction. Moreover, self-construal is shown to moderate the effect of IVAs’ audio-visual cues on satisfaction. These findings advance theoretical insights into multisensory cue integration in intelligent service environments and offer actionable strategies for designing more effective IVAs.