Voice technology has the power to change the customer experience but brands should take care, says Kate Burleigh, country manager for Amazon Alexa.
Start simple when developing skills -- built-in capabilities -- for Amazon’s Alexa and understand what the customer needs, she says.
“Understand your use case, what problem you’re trying to solve for the customer and start learning and designing from what other people have done before,” Burleigh told marketers at the recent Adobe Symposium in Sydney.
In Australia alone, Alexa currently has 20,000 skills available. Burleigh likens skills to apps, noting that not all are great.
Her tip to marketers and brands looking to introduce it: Create anything that is easier to ask than looking it up on a phone.
NOVA Entertainment, traditionally known as a radio broadcaster, has expanded and evolved its current audio offering.
Fayad Tohme, chief digital officer at NOVA Entertainment, told AdNews the increasing use of smart speakers may replace radios but not necessarily radio listening.
“As new types of voice AI emerge, audio consumption patterns are likely to evolve along with them,” Tohme says.
“We are researching how these patterns can impact our current programming and advertising revenue models, and how the new voice AI experience can either threaten or enhance those models.”
Tohme says that use of voice as part of NOVA’s offering will take experimentation and innovation to get it right but he sees it as an opportunity for both marketers and the company’s audience.
“While voice-controlled applications start to spread, particularly in connected cars, we are well-placed to develop added-value advertising propositions for our clients, marking the start of a new voice-activated journey for the medium, allowing listeners in a personalised and frictionless way to engage with our content and marketers to target our audiences with new type of interactive advertisement.”
Voice in the home
Samsung is a relatively latecomer to voice, launching its voice assistant Bixby in 2017 on Samsung Galaxy S8 devices.
The multinational electronics company has since caught up at a rapid pace to its competitors though with the introduction of Bixby into a range of its home products.
“We’re constantly evolving Bixby into a scalable, open AI platform to support all of the Samsung devices in Australians’ lives,” says Mark Hodgson, head of services, IT and mobile at Samsung Electronics Australia.
“Today, Bixby not only includes voice capabilities but combines camera and AI technologies for Bixby Vision and Bixby Home.”
The voice assistant is now accessible through Samsung’s mobile and tablet devices, 2019 QLED TV range and the Family Hub 2.0 fridge. Hodgson says this is just the beginning.
“With the recent launch of 5G networks in the Australian market, we are looking to expand Bixby in to even more products to create a convenient, seamlessly connected experience on all of our devices and appliances,” he explains.
Australian consumers have been adopting voice technology in their homes at an almost faster pace than their US counterparts, according to the Deloitte Media Consumer Survey 2018.
The survey found that since the launch of Google Home in 2017, the first voice-enabled home digital assistant in Australia, around 9% of Australian consumers have a voice assistant in their home compared with 15% in the US.
However, recent research from Accenture warns that Australians are still wary of smart home technology with 70% waiting for others to try it first.
The report Putting the Human First in the Future Home did find that those aged over 65 years – despite companies neglecting them – were more inclined to use smart devices in the home than other age groups.
They see smart devices as making life easier (61%), more fun (53%) and keeping them connected (61%) which presents an avenue of opportunity for brands.
“The future home should be built around people first,” says Jonathan Restarick, communications, media and technology lead at Accenture in Australia and New Zealand.
“There is a significant opportunity to develop strong future offerings that are built to enhance our lifestyles. But success requires brands to think differently about product design, with specific focus on seamlessly supporting the household.”
Voice for good
Moving beyond the home, voice technology is increasingly making a difference for both brands and the lives of consumers.
Independent voice and digital agency VERSA introduced its voice offering in 2017, pioneering voice experience (VX) in Australia.
VERSA founder and CEO Kath Blackham says voice offers the opportunity for brands to change people’s lives for the better.
“We're going to bring voice back in because it's much more accessible. Voice really takes out the friction of what you're doing,” VERSA founder and CEO Kath Blackham says.
The indie agency has been developing VX solutions for brands including Domino’s and NOVA Entertainment.
VERSA managing director Jonny Clow says the opportunities are endless, from entertainment right through to helping the blind or people with Parkinson’s and dementia.
“We've just seen this massive rise of resurgence of audio,” Clow says.
“We're starting to see the real creative opportunities is when voice has been used, what we call voice for good.”
He echoes Burleigh’s comments on making the consumer experience easier and more efficient, just as apps did.
“It's about speed and access because when apps came out, they were basically a shortcut for people going on the internet,” he says.
“This is an even bigger shortcut. We're only scratching the surface.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.