The field of digital marketing is constantly evolving, which means emerging technologies have the ability to have a powerful impact on the industry. Voice technology seems poised to become the next great disruptor, but there’s still a lot of speculation around how it will actually affect the various digital marketing platforms and to what extent.

Even so, voice technology is an opportunity to go above and beyond for your consumers and deliver a first-class experience every time someone interacts with your brand.

Recently, Campaign Monitor investigated the potential impact it can and will have on businesses, and more specifically, on digital marketing. In a survey of more than 400 people on the ways they use voice technology, 78% of respondents said that they expect to use voice technology more in the future.

The Adoption of Voice Technology

A majority of households have a smart speaker and most consumers are at least familiar with the concept, using it to make daily tasks easier. For instance, 44.8% of respondents said they would prefer their device to have more direct knowledge instead of suggesting web searches to make communication more efficient.

Similarly, nearly 45% said they’d like their device to have an improved understanding of speech patterns. Another 35% said they’d like their device to have stronger AI optimisation to anticipate speech preferences and the businesses they prefer.

With these findings in mind, B2B companies should continue to track how consumers use voice technology, taking into consideration demographics such as age, location, and other user preferences, to see how it could potentially impact their future marketing strategies.

Should Marketers Leverage Voice Technology?

While some individuals are using voice technology regularly, it’s not quite time for marketers to make it a key part of their strategy. In its current form, voice technology still has many limitations, including the ability to provide the level of personalisation consumers are used to.

Similar to other forms of emerging technologies, voice technology will continue to evolve over time. Meaning companies should continue to track how consumers use voice technology taking into consideration demographics such as age, location and other user preferences, to see how it could potentially impact their future marketing strategies.

Utilising Audio Branding

The root of any strategy is knowing your demographic. Before marketers decide to build their strategies around an emerging technology they must identify their target demographic and leverage data to better understand their habits and decide if this new technology is worth the investment.

For example, our survey found that nearly 22% of voice technology users are between the ages of 25 and 35, while only 13% are 55-64 years old. That means if you are marketing to an older demographic you won’t want to waste money on optimising marketing efforts to be compatible with voice-enabled devices.

With that, there are two trends we’ve seen that will help marketers get the most out of voice technology today: audio cues and utilising technology-enabled devices for offers and promotions.

Audio cues: Similarly to a visual brand logo, you should consider creating audio cues that are exclusive to your brand. That way, whenever your audience hears your tones, they immediately recognise you and your company’s aesthetic.

Utilising technology-enabled devices for offers and promotions: To increase meaningful connections with consumers, create promotions and discounts that have to be activated through voice tech-enabled devices.

While currently, voice-driven personalisation doesn’t have the highest commercial value for digital marketing, that doesn’t mean voice technology should be ignored altogether. These two trends will help marketers to begin implementing voice technology, while also creating a personal connection with their consumers.

Looking Ahead at Voice and AI-driven Personalisation in Martech

Personalisation will continue to be the holy grail for marketers, as campaign results measurably improve through the understanding of what customers care about and engage with. While voice-driven personalisation has some maturing to do before becoming a feasible option in digital marketing, AI-driven personalisation will continue to be integral to digital marketing campaigns for the foreseeable future.