TECHNOLOGY
Google Glass prototype (the tech giant revived the project in 2017 after putting it on ice for two years), these have neither a camera nor a visual interface. Everything is done through vocal commands. They don’t look particularly futuristic, which arguably reduces the “I look silly” effect, while all the tech is packed into what seems at fi rst glance to be a regular pair of spectacles. Although Echo Frames are still being tested, there’s evidence to suggest that they will sit comfortably in the future of search. The wider market for voice search, meanwhile, is bigger than you might think. Research by Wunderman Thompson Commerce shows that 28 per cent of British consumers are already using voice assistants. There are 13 million active monthly users of voice search in the UK and 99 per cent of new smartphone handsets come with the technology already installed. As more and more consumers embrace this method, businesses have a new opportunity to attract the attention of this growing segment.
“When it comes to e-commerce, voice is going to become an integral part of the ‘user journey’, mainly because it will provide speed and convenience to a user’s shopping experience,” says Wunderman’s head of innovation, Naji El-Arifi . The opportunity is twofold: voice search not only provides a new way for fi rms to be discovered on the web but it also (at least for now) creates an open goal for inventive marketing campaigns. Adam Greenwood, CEO of digital agency Greenwood Campbell, explains: “Because the way we use voice is still being defi ned, there is lots of potential for brands to be truly innovative with their solutions.” He cites a 2018 YouTube advert for Burger King: a video in which an actor claims that he doesn’t have time to explain “all the fresh ingredients in the Whopper”. Instead, he says: “OK, Google. What is the Whopper burger?” This will trigger any nearby Google Assistant to read out the Whopper’s Wikipedia entry. The campaign was controversial, not least because it caused tension between the fast-food giant and the tech giant it was apparently “hacking”. But it was a marketing masterstroke,
achieving more than nine billion page impressions and trending-topic status on all the big social networks.
AN EXPANDING ECOSYSTEM
Alexa is only fi ve years old, but this corner of Amazon’s empire already employs more than 10,000 people on its own. Alongside Echo Frames and its Echo Show “smart screen” (for which a new live-streaming service called Food Network Kitchen enables users to interact with cookery teachers in real time), Amazon is also trialling smart jewellery and earbuds. All these innovations are creating potential for new voice applications. The wider voice search ecosystem is also developing apace. Geraint John, founder of Move Digital and host of The Voice for Voice podcast, explains that there are hundreds of thousands of developers dedicated to creating voice software. He notes that many of them are working on “skills” – the voice equivalent of apps, usually associated with Alexa – which package information neatly for voice platforms to quote.
The sector is growing at lightning speed, reports John, who says: “Even if you’re a voice naysayer, don’t be surprised if you’re using it to search for everything in 12 months’ time. Voice is important because, once the software reaches its full potential, the ease of use it promises means that most people will be using it daily. Businesses especially need to ensure that they’re ready for this.”
The development represents both a carrot and a stick to companies. The carrot is a chance to steal a march on big brands, many of which are experimenting with voice applications but haven’t yet fi nalised a strategy. The stick? Voice poses a threat to traditional text-only SEO methods that could undermine your current digital marketing efforts.
Voice search changes things in two main ways. First, the words that people use in text searches differ from those they speak. Most people can say words faster than they type and there’s less effort involved, so voice searches tend to be longer and more conversational than text ones. For instance, “best restaurant Manchester” becomes “give me the names of some fi ve-star restaurants in Manchester”.
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