How Voice Coupons Will Change The eCommerce Market
Voice-activated assistants have been integrated into our smartphones for years. However, voice recognition technology and the use of voice search didn’t really explode until the past few years. This is due to the fact that the technology had to catch up to be a viable consumer option. Now that it has, there has been an influx of voice-activated assistants. And they have shifted and normalized the use of voice within our daily lives. Beyond our smartphones and custom mobile app development, more and more individuals are relying on voice technology. This helps to simplify and automate daily tasks. And it is this shift that has been making ripples through our economy. One such example is the recent pairing of Target and Google. They launched a voice-activated coupon campaign back in March of 2018. In this article, we will take a look at this pairing, what its implications are, and how the eCommerce market can leverage this new frontier.
What Was The Google and Target Campaign All About?
The campaign was designed to create awareness around consumer’s ability to complete purchases hands-free through the use of Google Assistant. For individuals who activated the coupon using their voice or typed the keyword (Spring into Target) via text into their Google Assistant app, received fifteen dollars off of their next Target order. The only stipulation to the voice-activated coupon was that the fifteen dollars went towards a Target order purchased through Google’s online shopping service, Google Express. The original campaign was supposed to run through April 21st, 2018 but it was cut short for an unknown reason. According to a Target Spokesperson, they cu short all the promotions as they met their goals prematurely. To some, the pairing between Target and Google may seem random or out of the blue, but in reality, the campaign was to showcase that two of the biggest brands in commerce are setting up to make waves against some of the other large brands in the market space (Amazon, anyone?).
Insights or Implications of the Campaign
For consumers, this partnership between Target and Google is not the first instance of monetized voice search, however, for the most part, it does remain an uncharted territory within the eCommerce sphere. According to Duane Forrester, VP at Yext, the campaign serves as a good learning experience. This experience will be applied to the next instance that we see voice-activated coupon campaigns. When we take a look at the insight gained from the success of this campaign, we see the following implications: Campaigns and partnerships like the pairing between Google and Target show us that there is intense interest in voice-activated search, queries, and functionality. These types of campaigns will boost sales and ramp up loyalty to specific brands and tech giants. There is growing evidence that people want to their Google Assistant. And they may actually want to complete more complicated tasks with nothing more than a voice-activated keyword phrase. For example, like talking with doctors, checking bank balances, and making online purchases. Consumers may actually welcome ad-based voice-activated queries if they provide a convenient way to tap into products that they want. It is important to note that most people can opt-in or out of voice deals. This will help them not to feel like the ads are being pushed on them. This fosters a positive sense around the brand and the use of the voice-activated assistant. There was also reportedly some confusion between the word “in to” and “into” with individuals needing to manually edit the voice entry to “into”.
How Can eCommerce Leverage Voice Coupons?
Every single marketplace that currently runs on, deals in, or is impacted by eCommerce business will be able to use voice coupons and voice-activated assistants. Nowadays more than forty percent of the consumer base using voice on a daily basis. And at least one in nine are going to use smart speakers to make a purchase or shop online. This means that a percentage of those consumers will opt-in to voice-activated coupons. And they are more likely to make purchases on their preferred marketplace. Those running small-to-medium sized enterprises are going to be able to expand their marketplace presence to larger audiences. Finally, the entire eCommerce industry will leverage the shift towards transactions that do not require a user-interface to complete. The benefit? Consumers are quickly able to make a purchase, browse brands, and get answers for queries. And consumers do so without clicking through an interface of some sort. One potential drawback is that sellers, regardless of what marketplace they are using, could dictate or create transaction fees that you may or may not be aware of. Plus, with voice-activated coupons that stem from a partnership or sponsorship could be commission based without the consumer even knowing.
How Pentoz can help You?
As more consumers jump onto the voice-activated assistant bandwagon, the progression to product and retailer coupons will be naturally expected. Although the large tech giants have already jumped in, there is still plenty of room for those who want to be an innovator in the market. The time to get in is now while the technology is still young and growing. Here at Pentoz, we have more than two years of experiencing in developing Amazon Alexa Skill Apps development and Google Home Actions. Read the full article
