Since the Amazon Echo and Alexa officially launched in 2015, there have been a number of ambitious predictions about the future of voice technology. However, according to Nestlé’s global head of search, some estimates may be taking it too far.
Speaking at Dmexco 2018, Adam Skalak said: “I think there are some crazy predictions about the use of voice. One that’s quoted a lot is that 50% of all searches by 2020 will be voice searches.”
In Skalak’s opinion, there’s no way that will happen.
Nestlé isn’t the first to suggest that voice may be a little over-hyped – a report earlier this year revealed that a mere 2% of people who own Amazon Alexa devices have used them to make a voice purchase in 2018, according to Amazon’s own data.
However, Skalak did add that the future of voice search may significantly vary market by market.
“In China, from the insights we get from the local team, the behaviours are completely different. I believe that in China they could perhaps get to 50% – maybe not in 2020, but within a few years. But in Europe and the English speaking world, it will take significantly longer,” he said.
There are also a number of oft-overlooked barriers to using voice search whilst in some environments: for example, at work.
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“At home, you are more likely to use a voice enabled device, but at work there’s no chance. In an open plan office, I’m not going to be using an Alexa. I might use Siri to set a reminder, but everything else in the office is still going to be keyboard.”
Meanwhile, from an advertiser’s perspective, Skalak said there’s no real incentive for brands to begin actively pursuing a voice search advertising strategy yet, as the necessary level of data isn’t available.
“For us, as an FMCG business, having a very good understanding of consumer behaviour is critical,” he said.
“But voice is difficult because there’s such a lack of data – the major players have not really made much of the data available. We heavily rely on insights from third party companies and, in my opinion, that slows down the adoption [of the technology] and makes it more difficult to establish a meaningful strategy.
“Pretty much every brand these days will have a solid keyword strategy, but people search in a different way using their voice. So you cannot just use the same search strategy. It’s really important to get the customer insights and understand how people are using those devices, their wants and needs, and then build the strategy around that.”
