The tongue can paint what the eyes can’t see…
Chinese Proverb
Alexa, add a pack of Kleenex tissues to my shopping list. So said my 10 year old to the Alexa in the living room.
- According to an OC&C Report Voice shopping or Voice Commerce is expected to grow from $2 billion in 2018 to $40 billion by 2022.
- By 2020 (5 months from now), 50% of all searches will be voice searches.
Traditionally we have imagined digital experiences to be led by a screen. As a matter of fact, screens of all sizes. Since the introduction of voice assistants ( the likes of Alexa & Google Home) and voice search on major search engines, early adopters have jumped on-board the voice wagon and embraced it faithfully.
I particularly like voice because it allows me to be truly hands free and go about doing my work and getting work done, all with a simple instruction.
Alexa, please ask Huggies to sing-a- long and keep my kids entertained while I write this Blog.
Your Friendly Neighborhood CX Strategist
So essentially we all agree that Voice is big and will get bigger, but the primary question is what does this mean for an experience designer.
A couple of years ago, the digital industry and marketing gurus introduced the term “Mobile First”. Experts had recognized the growth of mobile device adoption by consumers and the need for designing an experience for mobile. Today, 53% of traffic to online stores is through a mobile device, unfortunately this translates to just 32% revenue (I shall explain the reasons in another blog post). Mobile First is now considered BAU, and you would be considered stupid if you asked “Will this need to be responsive?” in any meeting.
Going back to voice, I foresee a similar upcoming trend to make all digital experiences voice compatible and gradually be Voice-First or Voice by default.
Voice is also a great business case if your brand wants to deliver an inclusive and accessible experience.
So, how do you go about integrating Voice into your digital CX?
Simply put, the formula is as follows:
Your Content & Data + AI powered Search + Speech to Text + Text to Speech Technology + Analytics + Common Sense = Memorable & Share worthy Voice CX