Use your Voice to get Personal

#FOMLA 2017

The use of voice-activated digital assistants for searches, communications, and commerce has grown and is expected to reach 4 billion users by 2021. This new technology imposes profound changes on the way brands are able to relate to their consumers.

On Monday, October 30, during a session at Festival of Media Latam 2017 in Miami, iProspect’s Global CMO, Misty Locke, alongside Alejandro Betancourt Buzás, Associate Brand Director, P&G, shed light on the next revolution in the relationship between brands and consumers. The use of digital assistants (i.e. Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, and Cortana) to activate voice search commands is already changing shopping behavior and delivering a true personalized service.

The exponential growth of digital assistants occurs in a time of great demand for customization (70% of consumers expect a personalized approach), increased ad blocking (more than 30% per year), and an excess of digital content, exemplified by the average number of 33 apps on a smartphone, yet users spending 80% of the time on only three.

At iProspect, we firmly believe the use of digital assistants offer the relief consumers are seeking by providing one central, cross-device entry point to their digital lives. From quick answers, appointment reminders, and booking a hotel room, to buying groceries, getting traffic updates or ordering a car service, digital assistants make it easy to accomplish a variety of tasks seamlessly without switching between apps or devices.

Digital Assistants, powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, are seeing massive adoption in developed markets, mostly because of the wide penetration of smartphones, with many of them already coming with pre-installed digital assistants (iPhones with Siri and Android with Google Assistant.) This is especially true for Latin America, a region that has more than 70% smartphone penetration and one of the fastest adoption curves for mobile devices. According to a Forrester survey, the use of voice search and digital assistants is increasing across all demographic ranges, including those over 50 years of age. It is estimated that within 2 years 50% of all search will be through voice, and 30% of web browsing will be screenless.

As consumers choose voice interaction more often, this will lead to a simpler and more assertive user interface. Over the past decade, brands have become obsessed with creating compelling advertising content and websites. Desktop and mobile screens will continue to be important points of interaction, but brands need to start thinking about both screenless advertising and screenless user experiences where the only interaction is the voice of the digital assistant. And the key for success is to focus on the machine learning capability of the digital assistant, not on the device per se, whether it is Echo, Dot, Google Home, etc.

In this new world, four factors will be key. The first is relevance. Digital assistants allow brands to make one-to-one connections, delivering only what is relevant for that consumer in the exact moment. The second is localization: voice searches on mobile devices tend to have three times’ more local responses. This is because digital assistants are designed to solve problems, and in most scenarios, the easiest solution is the one closest to the consumer. The third factor is the assistants’ ability to understand context, not just key words. Understanding the context is essential for establishing a de facto conversation where users want the assistants to be faster and even to anticipate their desires.

Finally, the fourth key factor is how purchasing processes are simplified so that a voice interaction leads to purchase. Some brands have been doing this successfully, especially in daily goods purchases. Why add an item to the shopping list when we can buy it right away with a simple sentence?

Many marketers missed the rise of mobile as a channel when it revolutionized the advertising industry a decade ago. Today’s best marketers are already optimizing and building voice strategies in preparation for the new screenless revolution. It is becoming quite clear that those marketers who are not implementing these changes now may find themselves lost and without a voice in this new advertising landscape.