How Voice Technology will grow Post-Pandemic?

With lockdown in place and people stuck at home, many of us are resorting to technology as an escape. Netflix and other digital streaming platforms are seeing a surge.

Netflix reports that its 117.58 million subscribers watch 140 million hours of content on average per day.

Along with digital streaming, the use of voice technology and video chat has gone up too. In the time of social distancing, voice and video have helped people to connect to each other on a regular basis.

How does Voice Technology Work?

Voice technology or speech recognition software is operated by Artificial Intelligence that breaks down the audio of a speech recording into individual sounds and analyzes it using algorithms to find the most probable word that fits in that language. The technology is used to transfer speech into text, speech synthesis, or to relay command.

This eliminates the need for users to perform more traditional control tasks, such as pressing buttons. Voice technology has been adopted in different commercial fields to cater to customers. Today, it is mostly used in smartphones and A.I. based devices such as Alexa.

Voice technology is the three-way interaction of IoT (devices), AI (services), and UX (interactions). The voice search result is a hands-free and frictionless way to use technology.

The AI (Artificial Intelligence) designed to cater voice searches also analyze query type and other factors to help provide a user with the relevant solution. The AI algorithm keeps updating itself to provide better results the next time a user does the voice search.

The release of Siri in 2011, a virtual assistant part of Apple Inc.'s operating software in all devices, brought a revolution to voice search. People started searching for the closest diner, Playoff’s time, and important events through voice.

Alexa

Alexa or Amazon Alexa is a virtual assistant A.I. technology developed by Amazon. It is an interactive device designed to take speech commands or requests and perform automated tasks such as playing music, providing news, and controlling other smart devices.

It is Amazon's cloud-based voice service platform that powers an entire smart device ecosystem. With its constantly-improving artificial intelligence capabilities, Alexa can respond to simple queries and perform complex routines to provide information, entertainment, and general assistance to its users.

In January 2019, Amazon's devices team announced that it had sold over 100 million Alexa-enabled devices worldwide.

How Voice Technology will grow Post-Pandemic?

Voice technology has seen drastic improvements. It has been widely adopted by different sets of consumer products. Customers do not need to use their keyboards or mouse to make purchase decisions; they can simply generate a voice command. The A.I. driven software takes in the voice request and relays necessary decisions.

Since COVID-19 hit the globe, people have resorted to using voice technology to carry out important tasks such as playing movies, recommending movies, shopping in Amazon for the home-delivery, and other forms of entertainment.

Since the promising rise of voice technology, industries have started developing or investing in voice technology. According to a recent survey by Adobe Analytics of 401 businesses, 91% claim to have already made investments in the voice. In 2019, 22% of businesses had their own voice applications while 44% planned to launch their voice apps within the same year.

Eighty-eight percent of businesses are planning to expand their reach and develop voice-enabled applications for different platforms.

According to the same survey, 29% of businesses currently allow customers to place their orders through voice commands; 31% of brands offer order renewals; 34% let customers receive product or service-related information; 28% allow customers to review their reward status (if any); 32% let them search their requirements through voice commands, and 45% offer conversational services for customers to track their orders.

Voice search is the game-changer. If retailers can get the voice technology right, it could have a significant impact on business. Sixty-six percent of businesses say that they saw an upward tick in their conversion rates and revenue. Here are a few tips to help brands leverage the potential of conversational commerce.

Importance of Voice Search Optimization

Over 90% of online searches take place through mobile devices. The voice search has increased by 10 folds in the last 3 years.

Website owners must understand the urge to create content that caters to voice searches. Voice search optimization is the key to advancing future technology.

Interesting Voice Search Facts

• The chances of getting clicks in the organic search results are up to 35%, however, in voice search, the chance narrows down to the first 3 results.
• VoiceLabs reported that there were a total of 33 million voice-first devices in circulation.
• Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that one-fifth of the queries on Google are voice searches.
• 50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020, according to ComScore.
• About 30% of all searches will be done without a screen by 2020, according to Gartner.
• In 2017, 13% of all households in the United States owned a smart speaker. That number is predicted to rise to 55% by 2022. There will be an estimated 21.4 million smart speakers in the US by 2020, according to Activate.
• The voice recognition market will be worth a $601 million industry by 2019, according to Technavio.
• Almost 16% of Americans own a voice-activated smart speaker.
• As of January 2018, there were an estimated one billion voice searches per month.

This is how you can optimize your website content for voice search.

a. Natural language

The search has evolved into more of a natural process. More people use “Why, where, when, who, and how” to search. Voice Search syntax is used to answering the long query and is more relevant in showing good results when the search phrase exceeds 2-3 words. Example: “Where can I find the nearest Pizza House in New York.”

b. Practical over Technical

Backlinko’s study of 10,000 Google Home results noted that the average content in a voice search result was written at a level that even a 9th grader could understand.

Developers should focus on creating easy-to-read content that equally caters to voice searches.

c. SEO

The focus of SEO shouldn't only be about getting higher ranks in Search Engines but catering to the consumer. Today, most consumers search through voice; hence SEO has delved into optimizing a website to cater to voice searches.

d. Local Searches

97% of consumers use the internet when researching local services. Creating local content helps to get prominence in voice searches such as "Where is the nearest theater?" "How is the weather in Bronx, NY?"

e. Structured Data

Voice search results hinge heavily on elements like featured snippets and business listings to deliver quick results to customers. Adding structured markup on your website helps to offer relevant results to your users.

Searchable Design LLC is your reliable technology partner. We are a premier web development and digital marketing agency in Des Moines. We are always willing to offer our expertise and world-class service in growing your businesses’ digital reach.