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James Ashe, Managing Partner
Can Voice Technology Create a Better Brand Experience?
A recent report has highlighted that voice technology could have the ability to drive a greater emotional connection with brands – how can companies use that to their advantage?
According to the study by Neuro Insight, emotional activity was twice as high when consumers spoke a brand question as opposed to typing it out. Not only that, but voice technology is becoming more and more popular – 37% of smartphone owners already use some kind of voice technology at least once a month, citing convenience as a major motivating factor.
Is there a way that brands can use this to their advantage? By making a few simple improvements, you can create a better experience for all your users and increase that emotional activity across the board – not just with those who use voice technology.
Optimise your site for speech
The way we speak is often very different to the way we type. We’re more likely to use long-tail keywords rather than the clipped, short keywords we often type. Although there currently isn’t much data available regarding how many people find your site by searching with voice, it will become increasingly important to cater for voice technology users. A good review of your keywords throughout the site will help you identify areas where you can improve for both voice and text searches.
Ensure your directory listings are unified
With so many different makes of smartphone that your users could be searching with, it’s important to make sure your directory listings are spot on across the board. Google relies on its own database of businesses, whereas Windows phones will pull from Bing, and Apple typically uses Yelp to inform its local listings. Therefore, making sure your directory listings are unified will not only help your search listings generally, but will also make sure that all of your users get the information they need.
Make sure your experience is actually worth using voice technology for
Before you implement a feature on your website or app that allows people to use voice technology, check whether it’s necessary or if it will actually improve the user experience. When smartphone apps first became commonplace, brands rushed to create their own app at great cost, despite most of them being ineffectual copies of their website. Voice technology, despite its surge in popularity, is still new – there’s no point in implementing it if it won’t help anyone or will cost you unnecessarily.
Don’t let digital get you down – check out our other blogs for some great advice:
- Craving mobile success? Time to banish the pop-ups
- Make your marketing smarter to beat the ad-blockers
- Supercharging your SEO potential with HTTPS
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