Last week my smart friend Michelle Excell from The Antipodean (and my cofounder at quartet.agency) asked me for some stats about voice.
Michelle is not the only one who’s asked. So let’s all share. Here are the top stats about the power and rapid growth of voice technology, voice search, and #voicefirst marketing.
Smart speakers are the fastest growing consumer technology of all time, reaching 50% of U.S. population in under five years.
Smart speakers are the fastest growing consumer technology since the smartphone (above - this is the popular chart from The Alexa Conference - see my top takeaways here).
In 2018, voice purchases increased 3x on Alexa compared to the 2017 holiday season.
Typing is very slow compared to what our brains can process through speaking and listening.
The average person speaks 110-130 WPM (words per minute).
However, we have the mental capacity to understand someone speaking at 400 words per minute (if that were possible).
We only type 38-40 WPM. Think about the implications for voice search:
Voice searches will account for 30-50% of all searches by 2020. (Gartner predicts 30%, Comscore predicts 50%).
Two stats from my most recent podcast focusing on Alexa in-skill purchasing (ISP) and high conversion rates inside skills for purchases with voice:
Early results show that voice skills have higher conversion rates for purchasing than any standard website or mobile experience. E.g.: Two skills with very high conversion rates for upsell to premium version (34-50%): Big Sky (weather) and Escape the Airplane (game). -voicebot.ai, 1/24/2019
Voice in the car - huge opportunity: twice as many U.S. adults have used voice in the car compared to smart speakers and monthly active users are 60% higher.
75% of smart speaker users interact with their speaker daily.
Ownership rates for smart speakers are nearly equivalent among people 25, 35, 45, or 55 years old. -Edison Research, The Smart Audio Report - 7/18/2018
Amazon Echo First Generation. Photo by Loewe Technologies on Unsplash.
voicebot.ai - the most comprehensive and updated voice stats and news
The Smart Audio Report from Edison Research and NPR, Spring 2018. (Sample: based upon a national online survey of 909 Americans ages 18+ who indicated that they owned at least one smart speaker)
This Week in Voice Podcast - Bradley Metrock’s show, part of the VoiceFirst.FM podcast network. Bradley and a rotating panel of voice technology experts discuss weekly news relating to voice technology. Get it on iTunes.
Daily news: I talk about voice marketing on The Daily Beetle Moment (daily under three minutes on Alexa Flash Briefing and Google Home)
I have guests on my weekly podcast about marketing, usually focusing on voice: Beetle Moment Marketing Podcast (on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify)
