Hard-To-Track News For Business Professionals

Owners Of Alexa Devices Not Using Them For Shopping, Report Shows

According to The Information, only 2 percent of consumers who own an Alexa-enabled device said they have used for shopping. Data from the report showed 90 percent of respondents who said they have used the device for shopping used it only once. People are still using the devices for trivial applications, such as getting weather forecasts and playing music.[Image Credit: © Photo by Piotr Cichosz on Unsplash]

Some Issues Present Themselves Before Marketers Planning To Use Voice Technology In Branding

Brands need to consider several points when developing marketing strategies that use voice technology as a branding tool. First, marketers should choose a voice that “represents” their brand, keeping in mind that tone of voice as the most important feature. Next, marketers should integrate diversity when branding a voice assistant, focusing on the gender of the voice and the data set behind the creation of the assistant. Also, while marketers should work to develop natural-sounding voice assistants, they need to consider whether consumers must be aware that they are talking to a virtual assistant.[Image Credit: © Photo by Piotr Cichosz on Unsplash]

Snapchat Introduces Speech-Recognition Lenses With AR Capabilities

Multimedia messaging app Snapchat launched its speech-recognition lenses. Compared with the company's Lens visual lenses, the augmented reality-enabled lenses offer various applications for social media and business. At present, the company's AR business is already generating revenue, accounting for $281 million in the fourth quarter of 2017.[Image Credit: © Snap Inc.]

Social Media Grabbing Bigger Piece Of Marketing Pie, Survey Reveals

According to Hanapin Marketing, the number of marketers spending over half of their budget on social campaigns increased 200 percent in the past year. Data from the survey showed 88 percent of marketers invest in Facebook, compared with 93 percent in the previous year. Also, Facebook has remained the top choice for advertisers, with 66 percent of respondents picking the social media platform over its rivals.[Image Credit: © Hanapin Marketing LLC]

Marketers Use Add-Ons To Turn Alexa Into Voice-Enabled Branding Tools

Brands are using voice technologies, including Amazon's Alexa voice assistant, as a marketing tool. Alexa lets users add “skills” to Amazon's voice platform in the same way that consumers add apps to their smartphones. City-guide service Time Out has added a skill to Alexa to allow users to find attractions and things to do in cities by asking the voice assistant. Whiskey brand Johnny Walker's Alexa skill offers personalized experience for consumers, teaching them about whiskey and enhancing the brand's connection with them. Detergent brand Tide has developed a skill for Alexa providing consumers with tips on how to remove stains from their laundry.[Image Credit: © Photo by James McDonald on Unsplash]

Most American Adults Lose Brand Loyalty When Buying With Virtual Voice Assistants

In the US, 85 percent of adults who have made an online purchase using a virtual voice assistant say they have purchased, at least once, the top recommendation by the VVA instead of the specific brand they planned to buy. Results of the Digitas online survey covering more than 2,000 American adults showed voice assistants may adversely affect brand loyalty. Some of the study's key results include millennial VVA purchasers are more than twice as likely as their 45-64 years old counterparts in purchasing the first option offered by the VVA. Also, 78 percent of respondents said they would be likely to check other options if they were using a VVA with screens.[Image Credit: © Digitas]

Second-Generation Chatbots Gain Multi-Language Skills And Enhanced Customer-Facing Capabilities

Chatbot technology has arrived and been accepted by companies and customers alike, with 57 percent of marketing firms using chatbots or planning to start doing so by the end of 2017, according to Forrester. Results of one survey revealed 69 percent of customers prefer interacting with chatbots for immediate contact with brands, while another study found out that 40 percent do not care if contact is with a human or chatbot as long as help is received. Today, the second generation of chatbots, powered by artificial intelligence, shared open-source technologies, and advances in natural language processing, are capable of conversing in multiple languages. These innovations, in turn, help huge corporations and small businesses in managing global operations and providing services to international customers.[Image Credit: © Gerd Altmann @ Pixabay.com]

L'Oreal Faces Need To Rethink Marketing Due To Voice Technology

Voice technology is expected to make L'Oreal rethink some aspects of the beauty company's marketing and branding strategies and practices. According to L'Oreal global ecommerce acceleration director Antoine Borde, these issues include many customers' inability to pronounce the name of brands, such as Maybelline. Related to this, marketers at beauty companies may need to stop using fancy names for their brands.[Image Credit: © L'Oréal 2017 Annual Report]

Virtual Assistants Compete With Each Other For Right To Shape Customer Experience

Today's competition among virtual voice assistants represents a “strategic” battle for customer experience expected to determine the course of consumer marketing in the future. As industries move to adopt virtual assistants, brands need to fully understand how accepting assistant technology truly affects consumers in order to implement required improvements that drive customer experience for the long term. Challenges faced by brands include accurate voice recognition and providing consumers full autonomy over their customer experience.[Image Credit: © Andres Urena on Unsplash]

Hype Lags Reality For AI Use In Marketing

Artificial intelligence holds great potential for understanding and attracting consumers yet many marketers are still unable to capitalize on it. Some 85% of executives say AI could give their company a competitive edge yet only 5% of companies have extensively integrated AI into their processes. The gap between the hope and the reality is due the lack of clarity about what AI can do for their business, underlined by the fact that 61% of companies say they do not have an AI strategy in place. Some of the uncertainty surrounding AI can be attributed to AI vendors who, instead of delivering ready-to-action insights, are developing products to solve problems.[Image Credit: © Gerd Altmann @ Pixabay.com]

Voice-Based Commerce Offers Brands New Means Of Differentiating Themselves

To differentiate themselves from competitors in voice-based commerce, consumer packaged goods companies are expected to take a number of steps. These include creating an audio brand consistent with other elements of their branding, such as colors and logo, owning a brand voice that is distinct from Alexa, and creating unique “audio logos”. According to Tribal Worldwide London head of experience design, Sunny Kumar, after finding a voice, brands should know how to use it. Aptos marketing director Dave Bruno said brands should “take voice seriously” and make it as easy as possible to remember how to engage using the platform.[Image Credit: © Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates]

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