The future is here. New tech will perpetually be infiltrating our lives. And as marketers, we know that the best way to dominate our competition is to stay two steps ahead. Which means it’s time to start thinking about voice search — and more importantly, voice search optimization (more on that later). Here’s the data we marketers need to be paying attention to.
According to new research from Adobe Analytics, it is estimated that almost half of all consumers in the United States will own a smart speaker — like Google Home or Amazon Echo — by the end of the year.
Adobe’s study found that as of August 2018, 32% of consumers now own a smart speaker, up from 28% in January. That’s a 14% increase in just a matter of months – and those months didn’t include the busy holiday sales season, where 79% of smart speaker sales occur. They are predicting that after the 2018 holidays, nearly half (48%) of U.S. consumers will own a smart speaker.
So how exactly are people using their smart speakers? Based of a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, the most common voice activities today are asking for music (70%) and the weather forecast (64%). Other popular activities include things like asking fun questions (53%), online search (47%), checking the news (46%), making a call (36%), basic research or confirming information (35%), asking directions (34%).
When it comes to making purchases, Adobe explains that people aren’t buying directly through voice search but they are using them in the research phases on the buying process. That is, nearly half of consumers (47%) reported using their device for product research or search, 43% used them for creating shopping lists, and 32% for price comparison.
No doubt, it’s time for marketers to start thinking about how smart speakers and voice search can serve as a discovery tool for their products. Keep in mind that when someone asks Google or Siri a question, they are using more conversational words than if they were typing the search on a keyboard. Adapting your website language along with prioritizing mobile will help you get a head start.
Consider hiring a team of specialized marketers to help you implement a voice search strategy.
