Voice technology is changing the way we live our lives. So, what does that mean for the way we do marketing? To give us some insights, today we’re joined by Kath Blackham, the founder of VERSA, Australia’s first specialist voice technology agency.
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Here are some key take-outs:
- Voice recognition allows consumers to speak to technology, like Google Home or Amazon Alexa, to do things like ask questions, buy products, perform tasks and generally make their lives easier
- Amazon Alexa has recently arrived in Australia. 2.7 million homes in the UK already have either Alexa or Google Home and it’s predicted 55 per cent of US households will own one of these devices by 2020
- Consumers are using voice recognition for entertainment, too, including gaming
- Voice is the “gateway” drug to the “smart home”. Consumers can walk in the front door and ask Alexa to dim the lights, put on some music, and turn the dishwasher on, for example
- Voice technology isn’t perfect but it’s very close. It understands accents about 96 per cent of the time
- Voice recognition technology is proving particularly popular with older people, who find it helpful to do simple things around the home without having to be dextrous or press fiddly buttons that are hard to see
- Voice recognition technology will force marketers to focus on usability for their consumers in a way they haven’t had to before
- For brands, it’s time to get yourself educated on voice recognition technology.
On My Desk
- Sarah recommended this article by Michele Linn of Mantis Research, “How to Get Survey Respondents in 2018: 10 Tested Ideas for Marketers”
- Kath recommended Moshi Twilight Sleep Stories
- And Nic recommended Oscar Trimboli’s book, Deep Listening.
Links you might need
- You can find Kath Blackham here and VERSA Agency here
- Here’s an article on the future of voice recognition technology
- And here’s another on how it’s changing consumer behaviour.
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