Voice Search Technology Creates A New Paradigm For Marketers

Voice search is likely to grow by leap and bounds, with technological advancements leading to better adoption and fueling the growth cycle, according to Lindsay Boyajian, a guest contributor at Loup Ventures.

Voice recognition technology in its current form is very much flawed and often falls short in delivering on the user's intent, Boyajian said.

Thriving Despite Weakness

Notwithstanding the weaknesses of the technology, Boyajian said voice search promises be the user input of tomorrow. Signaling its importance, major tech companies such as Apple Inc. AAPL, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, Microsoft Corporation MSFT and Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG have invested in voice search.

Apple's voice search platform is Siri, Amazon's is Alexa, Google's is Google Assistant and Microsoft's is Cortana.

Underlining voice search's penetration, Google reported that about 20 percent of queries on its mobile app and Android devices are voice searches. Artificial intelligence and machine learning have led to rapid improvements in voice search, Boyajian said.

"It improves with every user interaction, becoming more apt at understanding user intent," the Loup Ventures writer said. "The work that is going into voice recognition technology today will power the next evolution in computing — augmented reality."

Voice Search to Evolve With AR

The principal user input for augmented reality, which overlays digital assets on the real-world environment, is gesture and voice, Boyajian said. With gesture control resulting in user discomfort and fatigue, Boyajian said many experts agree that voice will be the primary input for smart devices going forward.

The importance of voice search will improve as the augmented reality space matures, the writer said, and the tech company with the most advanced voice recognition technology will have an advantage in augmented reality computing.

A New Paradigm In Marketing

Brands that optimize for voice search early on will lead in organic and search marketing when the technology becomes ubiquitous, Boyajian said.

Differentiating traditional search patterns and voice search behavior, Boyajian said voice searches are structured as natural conversational language.

Boyajian is of the view that content which delivers value and matches the intent of the user will lead to improved organic search performance, as opposed to content optimized only for keywords.

Marketers have a task at hand: developing a deeper understanding of their customers to deliver the content that provides relevant and timely value. Boyajian terms this approach to marketing as "customer-first," as relevant and contextual content drives traffic, fosters customer engagement and builds loyalty.

"The rise of voice search and its link to the future of augmented reality only makes adopting a customer-first marketing strategy even more advantageous for brands and marketers," she said.

Related Links:

The Biggest Players In Augmented Reality

For Microsoft, The VR Game Is Still Afoot

Image: Karlis Dambrans, Flickr