Voice Assistants in Digital Marketing
How marketers use voice assistants potentials?
Following trends in digital marketing, I noticed there is one name that often comes out. Voice assistants are not a new thing, but it’s connection to the context of business and selling is something that is yet to develop.
Voice assistants made the first breakthrough in awareness and popularity in 2011 when company Apple launched its iPhone 4s. In the launching conference, Apple announced a new capability. Every iPhone user for that point on will have a voice assistant on their phone. They even gave it a name. Siri was the name that was chosen as it represents a human form, something that users can relate and start relating to it as a friend and not just another software feature like a calculator app. Since iPhone 4s sales numbers reached more than 60 million devices, voice assistants became everyday life.
But Apple wasn’t the only one, soon after, the major competitor Samsung also launched their flagship device Galaxy S3 with a voice assistant named S Voice which sales are also measured in tens of millions (70 million to be exact). In the meantime, Google has also taken things in its hands and introduced its assistant and virtually every mobile phone powered by the latest version of the Android operating system had it. To make sure the story doesn’t just rely on mobile devices, companies like Amazon and Microsoft have launched their own assistants.
Microsoft’s Cortana is available in the Microsoft Edge web browser, though not used by most of the market, but only 5.5%. Nevertheless, Cortana certainly represents a significant project that can be implemented for business purposes to help clients. I see the purpose of Cortana for business purposes with the integration of HoloLens, where workers working on machines, for example, can search the Internet for solutions to problems, while using their hands to work instead of using a mobile device.
Amazon has introduced its smart speaker, the Echo, which has integrated its own voice assistant, Alexa. Alexa’s primary function is the area of entertainment, that is, for users to voice-control their music devices without the need for additional interaction and getting up from a recliner. Over time, Alexa has grown into something more.
Today, Alexa can make online purchases using voice guidance. This functionality is certainly one that online marketers need to focus on and make the most of their ads and product descriptions to maximize voice guidance sales success. Alexa can also interact with other smart devices in the home, such as changing the color of the lighting and switching on and off the dishwasher as needed.
Some of the more interesting uses of Alexa are Quiz that can be run by Alexa, and for the youngest audience, Alexa can tell goodnight stories. Apple and Google have also joined the smart speaker market.
Apple has soon after launched its HomePod smart speaker. The communicated advantage of the HomePod is, above all, the sound quality it offers over its competitors, thereby targeting users who are primarily looking for a speaker that meets their needs. The Apple HomePod can stream radio as well as broadcast events such as sports and podcasts. The product itself is designed to represent in addition to its functionality a kind of home decoration. The reason I included it in the list was the integration of Siri’s assistant from the beginning of the story. Siri is thus connected to a mobile device for Apple users and can perform functions through the device itself, such as calling contacts, where users can then use the HomePod as a speakerphone and microphone to communicate.
Google has done even more in the digital marketing field by introducing the Google Home Smart Speaker and has introduced a special product sales platform called Google Shopping Actions in addition to the speaker. Through it, businesses can more easily tailor their ads to voice assistants.
In order to avoid talking too much about the products themselves, I would like to focus on the benefits of Voice Assistants in the digital marketing world themselves.
In 2018, statistics say that only 1 in 5 users in the United States has actively used some type of voice assistant. As early as 2021, a total of 1.6 billion people are projected to be using voice assistants.
The use of content marketing has reached a new level through Alexa. For example, Purina has created an app through which it can directly communicate with dog owners and offer advice on how to care for their pets’ health, while also building trust in the brand.
The great advantage of voice assistants when communicating with their target audience is the ability to personalize advertisements. Message personalization is also one of the new moments in digital marketing, enabling us to reach out to every consumer directly instead of communicating generalized messages to all segments.
With personalized ads, we are opening the door to more successful up-sell and cross-sell actions as the platform will know what products the customers have purchased previously and what their next wish might be. This makes it easier to connect with companies using CRM systems that track their users’ purchasing habits and their pre-purchase and post-purchase activities.
I think the time for mass use of voice assistants for the purpose of buying products is about to come, as it is an easier way to order products using voice than researching webshops from your personal computer. I also predict the application for business purposes as the Cortana in the example, combining the use of HoloLens.
