Alexa, Order One X-Large Voice Search Strategy.
With a side of fries, please. By Cassey Deveau
Do you remember watching the Jetsons and being insanely jealous of Rosie the Robot Maid — dreaming of the days when you too could have a fashionable, shiny friend to make your life so much easier?
Entering 2019, smart speakers are almost a household staple. As voice search grows beyond smartphone technology, it’s moving from your pocket, into your kitchen, living room, bedroom — even bathroom. And although smart speakers might not have her adorable scalloped collar or quick wit, they might be just a little more helpful around the house.
Ok Google — what is a smart speaker?
In case you’re not familiar, smart speakers are typically single-unit, wireless devices with voice-control and artificial intelligence (AI) built in to give them their conversation skills. So far we’ve seen smart speaker AI from Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Samsung. These come in the form of voice-controlled personal assistants, with the most popular currently being Amazon’s Alexa, followed by Google’s Google Assistant. Apple’s Siri is the voice behind the new kid on the countertop: the HomePod speaker. Microsoft’s Cortana and Samsung’s Bixby are still less well known, but they’re still making their way into the market (Getting lonely there Cortana?).
Although lagging on early adoption, it’s important to also mention some smart speakers that are more popular in Asian markets. The Chinese search giant Baidu created a speaker, that they’ve nicknamed Little Fish, at CES in January 2017. JD.com has also launched LingLong DingDong in China, a home speaker that has a similar feel to the Amazon Echo. In 2017 Alibaba also announced its own smart speaker called Tmall Genie (WARC, 2017).
These assistants are ‘humanizing’ our interactions with technology, while simultaneously making communication more efficient because speaking often feels faster than typing. The key factor in creating a smooth and nearly effortless verbal exchange? Natural Language Processing.
Siri — Who’s using voice search?
A lot more people than you might think. By 2020 50% of all searches will be voice searches, according to comScore. In the demographic context of voice search, it is the age that differentiates usage most. Voice search is most popular with individuals aged 18–34 years. Of this age group, 69% use voice technology on smartphones, 32% smart speakers, and 25% other devices (car, etc).
In addition to age, factors like being a parent can drive the usage of voice search (WARC, 2019). In the same age category of 18–34 years, the use by young parents is 75% for smartphones, smart speakers 41 % and other devices 28% — all higher than their non-parent counterparts (Whiteside, 2019).
While most Alexa users skew under 44, don’t discount the older demographics. The technology has been embraced enthusiastically by baby boomers, a group that’s been tough to reach digitally. According to PWC adoption is also being driven by households with an income of more than $100K.
Alexa — Why do people use them?
We’ve all seen a public outcry for reduced screen time. Whether it’s people taking vacations from social media, limiting device use to certain hours of the day, or simply returning to physical books versus an e-reader, the trend remains the same — people are starting to get sick of screens. It’s unrealistic to think that there will be a time that we don’t need screens anytime soon, if ever, but it can be nice to rest the eyes once in a while, right?
This trend has been a big factor in the quick success of smart speakers, as 43% of owners in the “early mainstream” segment say that they bought them to reduce the time they spent with screens (Whiteside, 2019).
Listening to music is the number-one activity on smart speakers, but news consumption has increased significantly too.
One of the most interesting things about this new form of audio consumption is that actually compliments other media. It’s not necessarily taking away from other forms of audio consumption, people are simply just choosing to listen to even more audio. In relation to radio, this time last year, 4% of National Public Radio’s (NPR) live streaming listening hours came through smart speakers, and now it’s at 19 percent, and the NPR hasn’t seen declines on other platforms (WARC, 2019). So this is, in fact, a whole new audience.
Hey Cortana — Why do I care?
Voice search definitely isn’t going anywhere, it’s on the up-and-up, and seems like it will be for a while. Out of the people who currently own an Amazon Echo or Google Home, 65% can’t imagine to going back to the days before they had a smart speaker, according to GeoMarketing. Smart speaker owners are increasing the number of hardware devices they own, the average jumping from 1.7 devices in 2017 to 2.3 at the close of 2018. We also see that about a third of current owners say they plan to buy another one in the next six months.
Smart speakers like Amazon Echo and Google Home are tempting many American consumers away from their TV sets, smartphones, and laptops. So what can we do to get our messages in front of them in this new space? Well, it’s as simple as joining the conversation — or inserting yourself in the conversation in a supernatural feeling way.
“The best brand voice experiences for users are those that make a positive impact on daily life: saving time/effort, improving one’s memory, on-demand parenting solutions, enhancing in-the-moment access to information.” (Evans & Hunt, 2018).
Of the people who own a voice-activated speaker, 41% say it feels like talking to a friend or another person, according to Google and the same amount talk to their smart speaker during meal time. Smart Speakers are starting to become part of the family, more privy to our intimate home-life than any form of advertising before them.
A September 2018 WARC study also found that voice-activated smart speakers, a platform less than three years old, significantly lifts unaided brand recall twofold (+96%) compared with TV.
Much like developers began to create apps for iOs and Android, these tech companies are now putting out the call for people and businesses to develop software with a similar aim, only this time, completely audio. Amazon is promoting people to develop what they call ‘Skills’ and Google what they call ‘Actions’ for their AI platforms.
Ok Google — What are skills and actions?
Alexa comes preset with more than a few capabilities: playing music, pulling up the weather or even reading the news. But Alexa Skills are apps that give AI even more abilities, letting her speak to more devices, even websites.
For example, the Alexa Skill for Major League Baseball lets Alexa users stay current with baseball stats. A user can search for someplace to eat through Restaurant Finder, or check the traffic on their usual commute with a local traffic skill. For users, enabling a skill that is not already present on the device is like the equivalent to downloading an app.
Because Amazon opened up the development of Alexa Skills to anyone with their free Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) in 2015, anyone can create an Alexa Skill. Alexa uses Natural Language Programming (NLP), so those looking to build a skill don’t need to worry about complex speech recognition. This might seem a bit overwhelming at first, but the process is made fairly simple, even for unfamiliar users, and there are tons of Youtube tutorials that can walk you through it.
Actions on Google is the developer platform for the Google Assistant. By creating actions, brands are able to bring their services to the Google Assistant on Google Home. Although Alexa is currently sitting at the top of the popularity ladder when it comes to voice-assistants, the Google Assistant offers something unique that should pique the interest of marketers and business owners everywhere.
A key difference is that actions on Google do not have to be enabled by the user before they are functional or discoverable. You can access any action at any time, with no extra steps.
The way that the model for Google Assistant works also creates opportunities for brands and publishers to make their actions and content more discoverable through voice-enabled SEO and deep-linking techniques.
It might seem complicated, and a bit fresh for hesitant organizations to get involved in, but not putting your hat in the game of voice search could be costly in the end. Without an action created, when users ask the Google Assistant about a product or service, the response could be some basic information gathered from the web, even if it’s outdated or not from your ideal source. Even worse it could be information gathered from a competitor’s Action. Getting involved in voice search prevents these missed opportunities.
Bixby — Where’s the $$ bills?
Although the rates for purchases made via voice search are still low right now, they are anticipated to rise exponentially as users become more comfortable with the platforms. Only 22% of U.S. smart speaker owners have purchased something using their devices, according to Edison Research.
There are a few other promising statistics that can hold us over until we see the expected growth. Mobile voice-related searches are three times more likely to be local-based than text-related searches, according to Search Engine Watch.
Of voice-activated speaker owners, 52% said they would like to receive information about deals, sales, and promotions from brands, according to Google, and 39% would like to receive options to find business information.
It’s still a bit early for people to be making large purchase decisions via voice search, as we’re more comfortable with visuals, things they can see and touch. Voice search purchasing is currently used for more simple, repetitive, and low-effort purchase decisions, like:
“Alexa, order me more paper towels.”
The easy nature of that purchase is why many industry-watchers believe the growing popularity of voice-activated personal assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home, and Apple’s Siri pose a serious threat to brand identity if they aren’t involved (Hulsman & Hulsman, 2018). The smart speakers will, to some degree, recall your past purchases and use your previous behaviours to make a decision on what brand to order. But brands with a good voice strategy can disrupt this repetitive cycle.
For voice search, look at longtail keywords for your paid search spend and focus more on conversational phrases. Brainstorm how your SEO could be enhanced for voice search, including making FAQs within your site reflect a typical voice query.
Although voice search buying is in the early stages of development and adoption it has the potential to change how people orientate, evaluate and decide what and when to purchase. It is key for brands to try and anticipate these changes (Hulsman& Hulsman, 2018).
We are also already starting to see some interest in using voice search to either make, or be a part of making, the purchase decision for more important purchases. According to Adobe Digital Insights 16% of U.S. smart speaker owners said they used it or hotel/flight research.
On top of using voice search to reach this audience with your brand, it also points to a growing use for radio, Spotify, and podcast advertisements. We’ve seen that smart speakers are increasing the number of audio users are consuming, which means that (maybe) radio isn’t dead after all. Cara Meverden, the founder of voice-controlled podcast curation app Scout FM, explained that “people are much less likely to skip ads on Alexa. It’s more inconvenient to tell your Alexa to skip forward 30 seconds than it is to just let the ads play.” (WARC, 2018).
Alright, Alexa — Where do I start?
As outlined by Evans & Hunt (2018), there are five points to keep in mind that will help you get started in voice search today:
- Work around people, not technology. You have to recognize that these devices are an intimate part of people’s lives. Brands have to focus on being authentic and finding ways to actively help people. The strategy won’t work if you just activate the technology and hope for the best.
- Map your search keyword strategy to a voice query strategy. There are great opportunities for SEO optimization even in voice search. Take your keywords and think through the type of questions you want to be the first answer to, think of consumer intent and conversational long tail.
- Verb your brand. Think of what action terms your brand can really own, maybe people even use your brand name as a verb already (Uber for example).
- Audit audio assets. Look through your existing and planned content and try to see what could be easily optimized for audio. Add a section in your content calendar, or another column where you mark these down. Don’t underestimate the audio track of video content.
- Extend owned to audio. Look at your brand’s owned footprint. Is there a tool your audience loves that could be extended into a voice UX environment?
Whether you’re a marketer, a tech lover, or just someone wondering how they can order an XL Pepperoni Pizza with just a few simple words (living the dream really aren’t we?), keep an eye — and an ear — on voice search, because it’s here to stay, and it’s here to play.
Ok Google — Play some cool exit music.
*Smart Speaker Drop*
Cassey is a Content and Paid Social Media Coordinator with VERB Interactive a leader in digital marketing, specializing in solutions for the travel and hospitality industry. Find out more at www.verbinteractive.com.
References:
Hulsman, D., & Hulsman, J. (2018). Alexa, Order Heineken: How voice technology challenges brand and channel management. Retrieved from https://www.warc.com/content/paywall/article/esomar/alexa_order_heineken_how_voice_technology_challenges_brand_and_channel_management/123738
WARC. (2017, July). How to develop a voice strategy for your brand. Retrieved from https://www.warc.com/content/paywall/article/bestprac/how_to_develop_a_voice_strategy_for_your_brand/112032
WARC. (2018, November). ‘Alexa, what are we really using smart speakers for?’ Retrieved from https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/news/alexa_what_are_we_really_using_smart_speakers_for/41322
WARC. (2019, January). Smart speakers hit screen time. Retrieved from https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/news/alexa_what_are_we_really_using_smart_speakers_for/41322
Whiteside, S. (2019, January). How smart speakers are changing consumer behavior. Retrieved from https://www.warc.com/content/article/event-reports/how_smart_speakers_are_changing_consumer_behavior/124760
Evans, V., & Hunt, A. (2018, September). How voice boosts recall for brands. Retrieved from https://www.warc.com/content/article/admap/how_voice_boosts_recall_for_brands/123121
