The Impact of Voice Search and Smart Assistants on Buyer Personas

In today’s fast-paced world, technology is constantly evolving, and businesses feel the pressure to keep up. Such one of the innovations that has had a great effect on marketing and sales today is the voice technology.

Voice search and Voice-activated devices are starting creeping into the scene as companies try to hold on to their competitive advantage.

Think about this: While you're focused on your daily operations, your competitors are using voice technology to attract buyers and boost sales. This brings up an important question: How can your business leverage this technology to stay competitive?

As it stands, voice search presents brands with an alternative way of reaching out to consumers in an enchanting, personalized and touch-free approach.

In this blog, we’ll explore how voice technology is shaping the way people shop and its growing presence in the market.

What are Voice Search and Smart Assistants?

Voice search involves using spoken language to ask questions or make requests. It can be used with a smartphone, smart speaker, or car dashboard.

Voice search and smart assistants let users issue commands to the system using their voice for searches. This has impacted daily routines, providing substantial assistance to many.

From a marketer's view, this trend shows a shift in strategies. They must align with changing consumer behaviour and adapt to today's technology.

Growth of Voice Search

Audio technology is growing fast. The rise of smart speakers, powered by voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant, is driving this change. In fact, UpCity reports that 50% of smartphone users use voice search every day. Voice queries are convenient and hands-free, and this trend is likely to speed up.

The growth of voice technology has been an opportunity for brands. It has transformed many brands' online visibility and marketing strategies.

Voice queries do not show traditional SERPs like links, images, or text snippets. They provide short, spoken answers read aloud by the voice assistant. Thus, brands need to optimise their marketing for voice differently.

Popular Smart Assistants

Smart assistants have become a crucial part of many households. They offer various functionalities, including managing daily tasks. Here are the most popular voice and smart assistants:

• Amazon Alexa
• Google Assistant
• Apple Siri
• Microsoft Cortana
• Samsung Bixby

Each smart assistant offers unique features and integrations that suit different user needs and ecosystems.

Alexa and Google Assistant lead in third-party integrations and device compatibility. Users of the Apple ecosystem prefer Siri. Cortana and Bixby have niche uses. Cortana focuses on productivity, while Bixby solely integrates with Samsung devices.

Voice Search and Text Search in E-Commerce

On-page search and voice search overlap. However, voice queries have unique qualities. Developers made them different from text searches on search engines.

Spoken queries are more casual and conversational compared to text searches. In a voice query, you may ask, "What are the best gyms near me?" In a text search, you phrase queries like "gyms near me."

Search engines have improved at picking out more conversational queries to produce relevant results. For example, Google's Hummingbird and BERT updates shifted focus to the searcher intent, finding the purpose behind the queries. They did this instead of just focusing on individual keywords.

How Voice Search is Changing E-Commerce

Voice search has one significant advantage: it delivers exceptional user experiences. Device makers and app developers are excited about the opportunities in e-commerce. They see it as the newest user interface for people on the go.

Voice queries are rapidly shifting e-commerce. They are also used in cars, smart TVs, smart home devices, and in-store kiosks. Voice technology is changing our interaction with the world around us. Hands-free experiences make these interactions faster, more efficient, and more personalised.

The voice prompt has better filters. A search typically takes many swipes to reveal a list of unrelated suggestions, but a voice assistant can navigate it quickly and easily.

How Voice Search is Changing Buyer Persona

With the rise of voice technology, consumer search behaviour has changed. Here’s how voice search is changing buyer persona:

• Long-Tail Keyword Searches

As people use a conversational tone when using voice search, queries usually include long-tail keywords that provide more detail. Therefore, the importance of long-tail keywords in SEO is rising.

• Increased Preference for Mobile and Local Search

Over 58%^[1] of users use voice search to look for businesses in their locality. This means that local SEO is becoming crucial for businesses. Consumers mostly search for businesses and services near them.

People often conduct voice queries on mobile devices. Thus, buyer personas should account for on-the-go users who usually seek immediate, nearby solutions.

• More Conversational Interactions

Voice search offers a personalised experience. Consumers use conversational language with their voice assistants, often treating them like human conversation partners. Businesses must use conversational language in their content to meet consumer needs.

• Multitasking and Efficiency

One of the most important aspects through which the voice searches have impacted the buyers’ persona is through the aspect of multitasking. Smart speakers are used during cooking, cleaning, and even working; therefore saving energies and increasing efficiency.

How to Optimise Your Content for Voice Technology

Now, the work falls on making your content relevant to voice users. Fortunately, you don't need to overhaul your current SEO strategy. You can tweak your strategy to gain traffic from voice queries to do this. Here are some techniques to optimise your content for voice search:

• Target Question and Long-Tail Keywords

Audio queries are specific, longer, and sometimes contain several questions.

Targeting long-tail keywords is one of the best methods to optimise for voice. These include question keywords in your content. You'll get traffic from users who submit longer, more specific queries.

Long-tail keywords, with three or more words, are essential for keyword optimization. They attract more intent-driven traffic because they align closely with what searchers are looking for. Plus, you can make them more specific to your business.

For example, using "coffee shops in the XYZ area" instead of just "coffee shops" helps reduce competition on the search results page.

• Use Conversational Language in Your Content

Your content should then be fairly informal to fit in the band that the users are in. It is less official, it seems more genuine, it seems very natural to engage with, and on the reader’s part, unbelievably easy.

One way to generate conversational content is using first-person referent words, for instance ‘I,’ ‘me,’ ‘you,’ and ‘we’ in the flow of the blogging. There should not be complex words or next industrial terminologies used in the research work.

If you already have a brand voice you’ve been following, stick to it. Keep your content shy of news-like, but still in the same tone that doesn’t feel too relaxed.

• Prioritise Local SEO

Local SEO boosts search visibility for businesses by targeting nearby customers ready to make a purchase.

When someone uses voice search on their smartphone, they’re often on the go, searching for something nearby like a mall or coffee shop.

To make the most of local SEO, the key is maintaining a strong Google Business Profile. This profile shows up in searches like “spas near me” and provides useful details like your location, hours, and contact info, helping potential customers find you easily.

• Optimise for Mobile

27% of users prefer using voice search on their smartphones. Google sees the mobile user experience as the key to a good website and factors it into its rankings.

Use responsive mobile design to rank in both text and voice results. Making your website mobile-friendly also helps you stay competitive.

Wrapping Up

As voice search becomes more popular, businesses need to update their SEO and content strategies to stay competitive. This shift in consumer behavior calls for a more personalized approach to content creation.

At GrowthJockey, we’re leading the way in voice search optimisation. Our team can help you develop a strategy that leverages this technology, ensuring your business stays ahead of the curve. From optimizing content for voice queries to creating cutting-edge voice-activated marketing campaigns, we’ve got the expertise to push your business forward.

Let GrowthJockey be your guide in this voice-powered revolution. Contact us today to learn how we can amplify your brand's voice in this exciting new digital marketing era.

FAQS

1. What demographic characteristics are most common among voice search users?

Younger people love audio technology. This includes millennials, Gen Z, and early adopters of home tech. However, its use is growing across all age groups. Users of audio search tend to be tech-savvy.

2. How do smart assistants influence buyer persona?

It’s much easier to buy when you have smart assistants. They offer quick voice-based query and search solutions regarding products and enable users to read reviews/find ecommerce product recommendations and links to buy the latest products ‘within the app’. As such, the given convenience and efficiency can very much shape the consumer decisions in a big way.

3. What are the future trends in voice search and smart assistants?

Businesses should keep an eye on AI and NLP, as these advancements will continue to enhance voice technology.

As these technologies integrate with more smart devices and platforms, we can expect even more interconnected and personalised user experiences.

Staying aware of these trends helps businesses stay competitive, allowing them to adjust strategies to meet evolving customer expectations.

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