Voice Assistants and the Future of Marketing
How can Voice Assistants affect marketing strategies?
More and more people are starting to use voice assistants. Businesses and corporations might need to adapt their marketing strategies in order to appeal to most people.
By: Michael Grecco
Most people know someone who owns a voice assistant such as the famous Amazon Alexa or Apple’s Siri, or might even be themselves. What attracts people into buying these voice assistants is how incredibly easy they are to use, and at great convenience for many. Alexa or Siri provide consumers with another option regarding finding an answer to a question or asking for directions, rather than simply typing it into a search engine (https://www.datadab.com/blog/voice-assistants/).
During 2020, 128 million people, or 38.5% of the US population, used a voice assistant at least monthly on any device, according to eMarketer. (https://www.emarketer.com/content/voice-assistant-and-smart-speaker-users-2020#page-report) 128 million is a big number. If companies are not adapting to marketing strategies provided by voice assistants, they are surely missing out. Voice assistants often fly under the radar when it comes to product marketing, and research shows that most people use these devices to buy items and place orders, and will continue to do so in the upcoming years.
This chart from eMarketer shows and predicts the usage of voice assistants amongst the U.S. population:
Whether you’re using your Voice Assistant while you’re driving or while you’re cooking at home, companies and marketers can analyze the information you’re requesting with the Voice Assistant and market to you directly and in a creative and special way. This is a crucial part in a marketing strategy because the consumer is looking for fast and reliable information coming back to them when they use their Voice Assistant. For example, if someone is driving and asks for directions or asks, “bars downtown”, why would the Voice Assistant provide information regarding “how to bake a cake”? Another feature of some Voice Assistants is the ability to turn on and turn off lights in the house, control the volume of TVs and music, and even lock doors. (https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2018/03/01/voice-assistants)
The statistics below, provided by GeekFlare (https://geekflare.com/voice-tech-influencing-digital-marketing/), show that 24% of the population actually prefer to use some type of voice assistant while online. A decent percentage of companies have already begun to incorporate voice assistants into their marketing strategies as well. If more online shoppers and internet users are relying on voice assistants, the percentage of companies who begin to invest in voice marketing is going to increase.
24% of internet users prefer using a personal assistant than visiting a website to interact with a company. [Capgemini]
In 2017, 3.1% of marketers integrated voice search into their content marketing strategy. [BrightEdge]
43% of companies have already invested in technology to enable voice marketing. [Digiday]
Voice Assistants have the power to tell who is asking a question or telling a command. It can recognize if the voice is a child’s or an adult’s, and that difference also has a difference in the marketing strategy. The overall quality of the Voice Assistant and its differentiating perks can factor into which Voice Assistant a consumer purchases. How well can it detect their voice? Does it provide relevant information in a timely manner? Just how much can the Voice Assistant do? These basic consumer questions should be kept in mind when marketers begin to adjust their strategies when including Voice Assistants. (https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2018/03/01/voice-assistants)