Without a doubt, 2018 has been the year of voice. Adoption is rising, millions of devices are being shipped and for the first time ever, brands have a voice. But navigating this all-new space can be quite the task.
The Voice Squad at Resolution Digital have broken Voice down into three distinct areas that brands can focus on to win in the voice revolution:
We’ll be discussing these three areas in detail over the few weeks in our Voice blog series, each containing a market background, considerations for brands.
Voice for Search
Google has told us 20% of all search through the Google mobile app are Voice searches. ComScore says this will grow to 50% by 2020, driven largely by the adoption of Amazon Alexa and Google Home smart speaker devices.
While Google answers some common questions itself (like weather, directions and sports scores), it relies on voice-friendly content from a website that ranks on the first page of Google to populate Featured Snippets. This content on Google is where the brands have an opportunity to produce content that will be referenced by Google Assistant (or Bing, which powers search on Alexa!).
To win at Voice for Search, brands need to:
- Create a voice-centric content strategy and conversationalise web content
- Develop voice-friendly content fragments for Featured Snippets
- Implement structured data on applicable pages, particularly for Product, Contact, Location and FAQ content
Voice for Engagement
Google and Amazon are embroiled in an arms race to get Google Home and Alexa products into every internet-enabled household.
While Amazon is the leading the smart speakers market in the US, due to its wide reach and penetration into households with its subscription-based delivery service, Amazon Prime, Google has hit back with its flagship Google Home speakers taking a large chunk of market share year-over-year. The Google Assistant also has a distinct advantage being accessible to iPhone and Android users, making Google Assistant Actions an ideal starting point for brands eager to enter the quickly crowding space.
To win at Voice for Engagement, brands need to develop a strategy before diving in and building their Voice app. Consider the following :
- Write a mission and vision statement for their Action/Skill/Chatbot/Voice App
- Plan first, build second
- Get the right people together to build, test, deploy and iterate
- Establish and advocate voice as a new medium
- Most importantly, take a walk in your customer’s shoes
Voice for Lifestyle
The third frontier, Voice for Lifestyle, revolves around Connected Devices emerging from the Internet of Things (IoT) space that will augment consumers’ lifestyles, becoming as much a part of our lives as smartphones. Connected Devices are projected to grow to 30.7 billion by 2020 and more than double to over 75 billion by 2025.
This space is forthcoming and in any industry that has vast potential for adoption with few players, first mover advantages exist. Consider how your brand could capitalise in the Voice for Lifestyle era and start taking steps towards this!
To win at Voice for Lifestyle, brands need to:
- Consider forthcoming Connected Devices that will become central in their customers’ lives
- Establish how their brand can add value and the benefits/drawbacks of communicating with the customer through the selected Connected Device
- Develop partnerships with manufacturers for early integration, securing first mover advantage
- Gain top share of digital shelf, test and iterate to defend that position, or develop a strategy to disrupt those who have gained first mover advantage.
Has this POV got you thinking about your Voice Strategy?
Contact Resolution Digital to hear about how we can assist you on your Voice enablement journey and stay tuned for the next part of our Voice series!
Coming Soon: Part 1: Voice for Search
