Voice search getting louder
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The document explores the rapid growth of voice search technology since Siri's introduction in 2011, emphasizing its integration across various devices and consumer demand for personalized, efficient interactions. The voice search market is projected to expand significantly, with potential monetization strategies including targeted advertising and retail opportunities, alongside challenges such as maintaining user trust and optimizing service for voice commands. Key players in this evolving landscape include Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, all competing to harness the potential of voice-activated devices.
Voice search getting louder
- 1. 1www.clicksco.com VOICE SEARCH: GETTING LOUDER!The explosion of voice search is the latest chapter in human-computer interaction that began with Apple’s introduction of Siri on the iPhone back in 2011 but has been built upon with voice-activated devices such as the Amazon Echo. Time-strapped, always-on and increasingly digital savvy consumers demand faster, more convenient and more personalised experiences. Voice interfaces offer these - we can speak faster than typing, we get instant responses that are more personalised thanks to the data explosion of recent years, and we can integrate voice almost anywhere – phone, car, watch, home devices & more.
- 2. www.clicksco.com2 LastyearGoogleannouncedthat 20%ofallsearchesonAndroid devicesarevoicesearches, andsimilarly25%ofqueriesonBingare voicebutwillbe50%by2020.Furthermore; Gartnerpredictthatby2018,30%ofour interactionswithtechnologywillbethrough conversations asvoiceadoptiongrows. TheusualsuspectsincludingApple, Google,Microsoftaswellassectorspecific playerssuchasSoundHoundareallvying forasliceoftheVoicemarket,whichislikely toexplodeinthenextfewyearswithad modelslikelytofollowgrowingadoption. Keychallengeswillincludeoptimizing forvoicesearchaswellasexploiting theadpossibilitiesbeyondsearch– thereforedatawillcontinuetobeakey requirementassuchapersonalchannel (one-to-one)willrequireindividualized& contextualizedengagement. When Apple introduced Siri in 2011 they kick started a revolution in voice recognition, just as they kick started the revolution in mobile technology when they launched the iPhone in 2007. Since then Apple (iOS) and Google (Android) have come to dominate much of the mobile ecosystem; but Voice has opened up new entrants such as Amazon to drive new & exciting possibilities. In 2015 the world went from 0 to 10% of global search queries being voice driven – equivalent of 50 billion. L 390m DigitalAssistants-AlwaysatYourService Estimatednumberofusersofvirtualdigitalassistantsworldwide 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 504m 710m 1,016m 1,376m 1,642m 1,831m Will it rain on Sunday? According to market research firm Tractica, the use of virtual digital assistants (VDAs) is going to increase sharply over the next few years – potentially to 1.8 billion by 2021. However; this won’t be constrained to smartphones. According to VoiceLabs there will be over 30m voice- first devices in the US by the end of 2017 though this doesn’t include the other contexts voice is integrated too such as Smartphones, smart watches, cars and smart home devices. WWW. Executive Summary
- 3. 3www.clicksco.com Advertising WAdvertising will be tricky – a balancing act between maintaining trust, utility & relevance without coming across as intrusive or disruptive. All whilst competition is high as advertisers are competing for 1 impression, which will make ads more expensive too. In terms of Ad models there’s likely to be a lot of testing but they could include Sponsored Search Ads (e.g. a user asking for local restaurants may get a response for an advertiser offering 10% discount), Intermittent Ads (e.g. 5-10 second ads played when the user is near), Sponsored Content (e.g. ad supported music listening), or even utility-linked ads (e.g. gift suggestions when Birthday is coming up). Retail Amazon’s prominent position in this market will make retail an obvious monetization model for brands that pursue voice. Beyond the obvious capability to promote products that can then be bought via voice there’s potential for customer service to be delivered through the channel too. Own-brand apps & “skills” Alexa has over 10,000 skills now (their version of branded apps) and Google will likely follow suit. Monetizing these apps will be a challenge and will likely follow the aforementioned models; the challenge will be attracting engagement to these and delivering relevant content.to make this fun, informative and motivational. It’s going to be several years before Voice Search becomes mainstream but its existence on Smartphones will drive it on, driving other voice-device integration and adoption, further opening up marketing opportunities. As those marketing opportunities open up, the need for collecting & utiliz- ing quality customer data will become evermore present not only for per- sonalization of engagements but also to optimize brands’ online presence in the forms of apps (or “skills”) so brands can be heard. Following consumer adoption across the various different devices will drive the need for monetization with 3 primary areas to be aware of – all of which will require some serious data:
- 4. www.clicksco.com4 WHATIS VOICESEARCH? The proliferation of smart devices & wearables paired with innovation in AI & machine learning has changed digital habits. Since 2011 we’ve been able to speak to Siri or Google Now for basic tasks and queries; but as these – and Amazon Alexa – develop Voice Search is going to enable much more in multiple contexts. WhatDoYouUseVoiceCommandsFor? W ““Voice search is a speech recognition technology that allows users to search by saying terms aloud rather than typ- ing them into a search field.” – Anonymous hether we’re walking somewhere, driving, at home or at work; using our voice frees up other senses whilst making us more efficient. Voice is likely to be the next frontier in human-computer interaction, complementing today’s touch & display paradigm, and potentially replacing it as the primary interface. Why Voice? Utility is the key driver for voice commands lead by making calls but with online search (i.e. search ads), map navigation (i.e. local search), reminders (i.e. gift suggestions) all in the top uses there’s some clear marketing opportunities. As accuracy improves, optimizing for voice will become essential but will also come with its own challenges such as acknowledging cultural differences and linguistic nuances, as well as finding “natural ways” in which users can interact with the product. In order to identify natural ways to fit in marketers will have to identify why users are using voice on different devices. The dominant use cases on Echo & Home currently involve listening to music or audio content, followed by smart-home device control. Changes will likely be consumer-led and there’s clearly a desire for more answers to queries instead of an array of possibilities i.e. 60% of US consumers surveyed by Stone Temple Consulting want answers to direct questions without having to visit a website or app. With speed, convenience and ability to personalize responses (based on past engagement) voice could fit perfectly for consumers’ demand for answers. m akingacall onlinesearch text m apnavigation 0%0% 20%20% 60%60% 80%80% 40%40% 100%100% Stone Temple Consulting; 2017 rem inder/m akinganote playingm usic socialm ediaposting
- 5. 5www.clicksco.com Voice-first Devices Voice-first devices include the likes of Amazon’s Echo & Dot and Google Home; whilst the likes of Apple, Microsoft and Samsung are all predicted to launch such devices in 2017. By the end of this year VoiceLabs estimates that there’ll be over 30 million such devices in the US alone. Smartphones Smartphones have been central to the rise in voice-activated activity and their own voice platforms will be key enablers for voice search as phone manufacturers develop or adopt voice propositions. The mass adoption of voice on smartphones will rely on other apps leveraging the tech including chatbots in messaging apps, brands own bots on their apps, and “skills” on Alexa. Smart Home Devices Smart home device sales will grow to more than 1.4 billion units by 2021, up from 224 million in 2016, driven particularly by sales of security devices, such as cameras, door locks, and sensors, and by utilities devices, such as connected light bulbs and smart thermostats. Ovum predicts that each smart home household will use on average 8.7 devices, bringing the total smart home active installed base to 4 billion devices. Vehicles “Driving” is where consumers use voice commands on their smartphone most whilst connected cars are becoming a key development in voice e.g. Microsoft launched a cloud platform for connected cars in early 2017; Google launched Android Auto; and connected car platform CloudCar raised $15m from Jaguar LandRover in early 2017 too. In Q1’16 it was reported that connected cars accounted for a third of all new cellular devices in the US whilst Gartner estimate that there’ll be 250 million connected cars by 2020 and 25 billion connected devices overall, up from 4.9 billion in 2015. WWW. Smartwatches & Wearables In 2015 approx. 80m smartwatches & wearables were shipped globally, but by 2021 this will rise to nearly 200m dominated largely by smartwatches. Given that health related applications and fitness- related wearables are popular voice could play a key role here, aided by the small nature (or lack) of a screen. For instance; last year Pebble announced the addition of Alexa to its smart watch.
- 6. www.clicksco.com6 Amazon Amazon launched its intelligent voice assistant Alexa in late 2014 followed by the launch of the Echo speaker. Since then Alexa has been integrated into a range of product including home gadgets, fridges, and – soon – cars and smartphones. There are a reported 8.2 million US shoppers that own an Echo - up 173% over the last 12 months having sold 3.1 million devices in Q4’16 alone. Amazon gives Alexa Voice Services away for free, meaning a developer can integrate Alexa into any device with a speaker and microphone. One of the core elements of Alexa is that its open to 3rd party developers to develop program “skills” – the equivalent to apps – of which there are now over 10,000 such skills, up from 1,000 in June last year. Some of these “skills” include the likes of Skyscanner & Kayak (for flight and hotel search), HealthTap (for medical advice), Uber (for ordering a cab), etc. Google In mid-2016 Google launched Home – an Echo competitor - to compete with the swathe of virtual assistants. Home also houses the Google Assistant – a new virtual assistant similar to Google Now where users can ask questions via voice or text, which will also be built into Google’s chat bot app Allo. These all reflect Google’s aim of transpiring their search options across devices and interfaces. Google, for example, can draw from the copious amounts of data it has collected about you to make its device useful immediately. As soon as a new user powers it up, the Google Assistant can suggest calendar reminders or read new Gmail messages.Whilst Google don’t have “skills” as Alexa does, the acquisition of conversational bot developer API.AI in September 2016 would suggest it was looking to launch new products or even enable brands to develop their own Home-based bots. Google also have over 50 retailers as part of their Google Express program that enables Google Home users to order from such retailers via voice commands. Google’s Sundar Pichai openly admitted its very early days in the battle vs Echo but Google plans to invest heavily in the area adding to their strength in natural language processing coupled with products such as Home and Assistant. Several companies are jockeying for a position in the voice activated era – operating systems & devices. For instance; Google introduced Home in November 2016, Microsoft is rumored to be building a HomeHub feature for its Windows 10 updates and already has Cortana, and Apple has Siri. However, Amazon was quickest off the mark having launched the Echo speaker in 2014. Key Players & Devices “The Alexa-enabled Echo is a true unicorn, one of those rare products that arrives every few years and fundamentally changes the way we live.” – Jessi Hempel, Backchannel.com
- 7. 7www.clicksco.com Others to Watch • AI voice specialists SoundHound raised $75m in January 2017 as it continues to grow its array of voice tools - voice powered assistant Hound & voice integration platform Houndify. • Microsoft have outlined plans to put an array of chatbots, intelligent agents and digital assistants at the centre of its future technology including voice assistant Cortana. • There’s also likely to be a range of startups targeting the trend e.g. DIY voice assistant developer Voysis that raised $8m in February 2017 to push its voice assistant tech that can be integrated into any app of website.
- 8. www.clicksco.com8 MONETIZATION Advertising As voice proliferates to the various devices & consumers adopt it, the ability to monetize that engagement will become a key focus; particularly for ad-supported versions of Echo or Home with models including; - “Sponsored” for general queries so when a user asks a generic query it uses keywords to offer a sponsored result e.g. “what restaurants are nearby?” may respond with “Why not try restaurant X and save 10%”. - “Sponsored” for competitor queries so when a user asks to purchase a product it may offer a competitor’s brand as an alternative e.g. “order me some coca cola” may respond with “why not try Pepsi and save 10%”. - “Intermittent” ads so the voice device can serve up 5-10 second ads at specific time/times of the day advertising based on a user’s data. This could include “Deals of the day” (Amazon) or “you purchased X, why not try Y” or “people that purchased X also purchased Y”. - “Sponsored content” to enable freemium models whether that’s on services such as Amazon Prime Music or Audible; or to enable free versions of Skills on Amazon (& equivalent on Google Home). - “Calendar-linked ads” or “Utility-linked ads” whereby users have their device linked up to calendar to enable gift suggestions for an upcoming birthday, or other data-linked instance such as “insurance renewal offers”. - “Local Advertising”. Voice search is becoming a fundamental aspect of local search, with local searches themselves often high on intent it makes this a key model. The key challenge here will be the lack of a screen and the ability to display a map. The main challenges with advertising in the voice age emanate from the potential elimination of the screen. For instance; in local ads it means no way of displaying a map and the dilemma of how to make money off the map if you can’t see. Even as Big Data and predictive analytics make serving optimized search results for each user easier & better the problem then is the issue of result(s) to serve i.e. the paid option may not be the best. As such; the development of such an ad ecosystem in voice will largely depend on consumers’ tolerances to voice advertising i.e. whether its intrusive/distracting or helpful. If tolerance is low, then this may lead to the rise of ad-free subscription models. Other challenges may include: - Lack of inventory where brands will be competing for one ad per impression i.e. on a screen there’s multiple ad spaces, but to make voice efficient users will require the best answer, not a list of maybes. This will make voice ads expensive with more bids; whilst there’ll be increased pressure to serve the right ad, at the right time, to the right person. - Lack of trust/erosion of trust links to the lack of inventory in that If Alexa/Home only provides one answer (and its an Ad) will we trust that they’ve provided us “the best” answer for us? The lack of a choice of results is challenging; even if a search provider provided one Ad to every 3 organic results, it’s no longer easy to ignore those paid results with voice search, nor would you know which was paid. Though it would also mean listening to multiple results. - Optimizing for Voice will be a key challenge for brands as they move beyond text & keywords when optimizing for their online presence. This will place increased pressure on data & analytics to ensure brands have the required data to serve content (& ads) that resonate; as well as coordinating this with other key marketing channels. - App & “Skills” building & discovery falls into optimizing for voice but is very specific areas in that it poses the questions of which platforms to build for, what functionality to offer, and then how to get them discovered and used. Data will again be key here but so will the value proposition in offering something different or better than competitors’. - Thousands of worldwide languages and dialects as well as different accents and pronunciations will make it difficult to expand propositions quickly and easily around the world. In January 2017 Amazon announced it was launching a paid search product – a potential way in to eventually monetize voice search on Alexa. If successful for Amazon, paid search could serve to guide strategy for other voice search companies. Figuring out how to effectively monetize voice search will be at the forefront of Google’s future strategy given its high reliance on Search Ad revenue; though its strength in data depth gives it a strong foundation. However, the voice search market is a completely foreign one, which will require a new way of thinking about how ads can be filtered into the environment without causing disruption to the UX.
- 9. 9www.clicksco.com Retail Retail & ecommerce also has a huge part to play. As these assistants move away from just performing simple automated tasks and answeringsimplequeries,2017couldseevoice assistant technology evolve into a virtual customer service function. The convergence of chatbots and virtual voice assistants has the potential to completely change the retail experience whereby users could discover, buy and seek advice on certain product via voice-activated devices. Key functions & advantages in voice activated retail include: - The ability to use our voice to order products from clothes, to computer games to food is likely to become a key function for voice devices. Potentially it could lead to faster search, without the need to type, leading to a better customer experience. - Voice commerce also negates manual entry allowing a consumer to place an order by just stating what they want. something that could be utilized in contexts such as in the car (e.g. groceries) to then pick up - Customer service searches are easier if the site can support questions and answers using voice, as if a human is talking with another human. This can help retailers save a shopper’s time in answering her queries. For example, Ask.com’s iOS and Android apps allow users to use their voice to ask and answer questions as well as comment on answers. - Voice-based product reviews. roduct reviews. A few weeks after a customer has received an item, the retailer should send a message that requests a product review using voice. This could result in more detailed reviews, to help shoppers make decisions. - Retailers’ “skills” or apps could also integrate with users’ calendars to offer gift recommendations for upcoming birthdays and anniversaries; whilst the existence of such brands’ own apps opens up another engagement channel. Travel ecommerce in particular could have a key part to play in voice-activated commerce for flight & hotel search and booking e.g. voice-activated flight search where the cities and dates of the trip can be entered using voice and the matching flights are read back to enable booking.
- 10. www.clicksco.com10 Alexa already has an open market for developing “skills” whereby users can engage with a specific brand. Similar to apps then there would be a need to build such functionality then market it to get users to use it. In February 2017 Amazon launched an online hub to help brands create skills by linking them to expert agencies or to access the Alexa Skills Kit & other development frameworks to do it themselves. This could represent an opportunity for marketers, whereby using still existing screens or ads on the Echo to try skills incentivizing such use for the first time. Google and others will be keen to implement a similar “voice app marketplace”. TheCustomerConnectteamarespendingthefirstpartof2015buildingouttheinfrastructure that will allow our Vision to be realised; that of creating personalised advertising to an individual, based upon their customer profile, interests and buying triggers. To be able to execute this vision we’ve built the foundations of a ‘trading platform’ which can generate ads; create targeting rules; monitor performance and create bidding rules. This platform will then deliver an automated customer acquisition channel. A OWNBRAND VOICE APPS/SKILLS
- 11. 11www.clicksco.com Driven by the “Age of Artificial Intelligence” marketers are facing changing digital habits: Google searches are no longer the front door of the internet and websites are no longer the centerpiece of a digital strategy but often just part of it now. Voice is coming. How big it becomes will be largely consumer-driven but ignoring voice as “tech for the future” could see brands being left behind. At the very least, marketers need to begin optimizing for organic voice search as organic listings won’t go away, but they could become harder to earn if ad models develop. There’s already 10,000+ skills on Alexa, so there’s clearly some brands that are testing the potential of a voice proposition; for instance, Skyscanner, Kayak & Uber are some of the major brands with “skills”. Marketers should also be exploring AI-powered chatbots & virtual assistants across text and voice as these will be key tools for consumer engagement from ads to customer service. As a result there are opportunities & challenges for everyone: from stealing a march on competitors that fail to adapt to this new era, to establishing utility for voice activated engagement with customers/targets and having the data to be able to do so effectively. One of the key elements to prove Voice’s worth – specifically in ads & direct customer engagement - will be personalization; providing the right answer at the right time (whether that’s instantly or contextually right) to the right customer. As always that means data will still be the fuel driving AI’s explosion. Companies such as Amazon may struggle to serve targeted ads without additional 3rd party data given that there data is focused largely on purchases versus Google’s data that covers a variety of areas. Conclusions
- 12. www.clicksco.com12 Expert Viewpoints Pete Danks Chief Marketing Office; Clicksco Voice search is surely just the tip of the iceberg of a world where large screens, or indeed any screens, become less and less important. As a consumer, the internet of things, smart devices and voice control are very exciting. As a martech practitioner, it’s both a huge challenge and huge opportunity. Clicksco welcomes that kind of challenge with open arms! David Gerrard Head of SEO; Visualsoft For organic marketers, there’s a few important considerations when it comes to ensuring your site is ready for voice search. The majority of queries will be conducted via mobile so it’s crucial to reiterate the benefits of having a lightning fast mobile-friendly site that offers a good user experience. Content format and interpretation is also key, so ensuring the data on your site is contextualised with structured mark-up should be a primary focus. With keyword strategy, Google is likely to do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to natural language processing but there should still be a shift towards an understanding of how people structure their queries when spoken aloud. We should look to employ a more question-led approach, delivering easily digestible answers and informing content with a thorough understanding of how people refine their subsequent searches. Keeping an eye on emerging search volume trends, especially within your own Search Console data, is a good way to stay one step ahead in this respect. Finally, local search is likely to be one of the biggest areas of impact for voice search. Any business with a regional focus should ensure their local profiles are optimised and other relevant signals, such as reviews, citations and on-site relevance, are strong. References http://www.lsainsider.com/lsa16-impact-of-virtual-assistants-a-i-on-search/archives#sthash.af0Wuod1.eXU3l1ib. dpbs https://www.iprospect.com/en/us/our-blog/google-home-accelerating-voice-search-growth/ https://www.searchenginejournal.com/bing-says-25-searches-voice-searches/163287/ https://www.gartner.com/doc/3021226/market-trends-voice-ui-consumer https://www.stonetemple.com/mobile-voice-usage-trends/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/20/more-cars-than-phones-were-connected-to-cell-service-in-q1/ http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2970017 https://www.internetretailer.com/2017/01/23/amazons-us-echo-sales-top-8-million http://marketingland.com/voice-assistants-204313