Top Three Brands with Alexa Skills - Voice Marketing
Which companies have the best Alexa skills? Which brands are succeeding with voice marketing?
It’s the ones who understand that voice is all about enhancing or improving the customer experience. Keep it simple. Make things easy on people. That’s the “killer” app.
Your customers want convenience. The best voice apps offer it. It’s that simple. The Starbucks Reorder skill and Domino’s Pizza Alexa skill accomplish this.
By 2021, the number of US voice assistant users will reach 122.7 million, representing 42.2% of US internet users and 36.6% of the US population (eMarketer). Digital voice assistants in use will triple to 8 billion by 2023 (Juniper Research).
Amazon Alexa has maintained market share for smart speakers so let’s look at which brands are succeeding on Alexa and why. Note, these brands also have Google Actions but we’ll just examine their Alexa skills here.
Here are three slam dunk examples of major brands using Alexa to drive sales and/or add value through voice-first content marketing.
Which brands have the best Alexa skills?
Starbucks Reorder Alexa skill: you can:
– Reorder your Usual from one of the last 10 stores you’ve ordered from
– Check your primary Starbucks Card balance
– Switch between your last 5 previous ordersWhy we like it: This lets customers easily order hands-free. It’s convenient to do while you’re busily getting ready to head out the door. This makes Starbucks even more ubiquitous and reliable, two of their brand success hallmarks (consistency of experience, much like McDonald’s provides so well).
Domino’s Alexa skill: With the Domino’s skill, you can build a new order from scratch, place your Easy Order or your most recent order. You can ask Alexa for your order’s status with Domino’s Tracker®. Available only for orders placed in the U.S.
Why we like it: Thanks to the AnyWare suite of technology, customers can place their favorite order via text, tweet, TV, smartwatch and more. Domino’s Alexa skill is just another channel making it more convenient for people to buy pizza. It demonstrates a commitment to ease of use. This will drive sales because like Starbucks does too, this removes friction and makes Domino’s ubiquitous.
TED Talks Alexa skill: Explore TED's vast library of inspiring talks and ideas worth spreading by world-renowned speakers and thought leaders from around the globe. You can play the latest TED talk, play random TED talks, or search for talks by topic or by speaker name. You can also play talks that are funny, inspiring, persuasive, courageous, or jaw-dropping. New TED talks are available every weekday and are always free to the world.
Why we like it: This is the best example of content marketing unrelated to voice shopping or commerce. Content marketing works when it adds value and is published consistently. This checks those boxes. Read more on TED’s blog: “Alexa, open TED Talks”.
Starbucks Reorder
Reorder your usual coffee, check your Starbucks Card balance, and switch between your last five previous orders.
TED Talks
With their Alexa Skill, nonprofit organization TED allows you to play the latest TED talk, play random TED talks, or search for talks by topic or speaker name.
Domino’s
With the Domino’s Skill for Amazon Alexa you can build a new order, reorder your most recent order, place your Easy Order, or track an order using Domino’s Tracker®.
Takeaway:
Voice offers your brand an opportunity to be of service. Help before you sell.
And look, don't be intimidated by voice! You don't have to reinvent the wheel. Look how simple the Starbucks, Domino’s, and TED Talks skills are. They just voice-enabled the most common customer activities. Reduce friction, increase sales. Convenience for the win. It’s what Amazon sells, after all.
Domino’s AnyWare is the strongest example of the real driving principle behind all of this: it’s not about the specific channel (be it voice, SMS, or social media); it’s about being widely and easily available where your customers are. Voice just happens to be the fastest growing consumer technology, and an obvious and growing use case for voice commerce (AKA v-commerce), expected to be over an $80 billion market by 2023 (via Juniper Research).
What you can do:
Identify the top three or five things that your customers want or need. That could be simply re-ordering or asking an FAQ or checking their account balance. Then voicify it. We can help.
Your Brand and Voice Marketing in 2021
If you need help creating a custom voice experience, whether that's an Alexa skill or a Google Action, or adding voice or chat to your mobile app, reach out to us. Get ideas here: check out our case studies from clients we’ve helped.
Learn more:
Binge our 3-minute daily briefing podcast about voice marketing with Emily Binder:
Or hear Emily’s briefing on Alexa News (new episodes every weekday). How to listen:
Enable Voice Marketing with Emily Binder - Alexa Flash Briefing here
Then say, “Alexa, news.”
Sonic Logo: Marriott Bonvoy is Missing One Thing
Marriott International's new Bonvoy loyalty program is well-researched and globally applicable. About the name: Karin Timpone and team chose "Bonvoy" because it works in many languages, such as Chinese. This is key for a global brand. That covers the linguistic / text part. But what about the entire sensory brand?
Visual branding for Marriott Bonvoy. What about the audio logo? Marriott Bonvoy combines Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and SPG, February 2019.
Voice Shopping - Market Size
The voice shopping industry is on track to reach $40 billion by 2022. Companies must invest not just in how their brands look and read, but how they sound. Brands need a distinct, recognizable identity on screenless interfaces (voice assistants, smart speakers, etc.)
Ecommerce of all kinds including booking travel will happen through voice more and more, until it is primarily done through voice.
Mastercard for the win:
Recently, Mastercard released its new sonic logo, a beautiful six note sound that has variations for different countries around the world (hear Mumbai version or Cape Town below).
The sonic brand is the sound equivalent of the iconic red and yellow circles. Hear more. It will play every time someone pays with MasterCard. This will diminish the standard two-year learning curve for audio branding.
Can you guess what is missing from Marriott’s otherwise great campaign?
I don’t hear an audio mark. The background music is well done and you could say this is part of sonic branding, which is more overarching than an audio logo. (I would liken sonic branding to marketing as a whole, and an audio logo to advertising.)
Marriott in Warsaw, Poland. Photo credit: Michal Mrozek
Marriott needs a singular audio logo in order to set themselves up for marketing through voice. Reservations will increasingly be booked through voice. In-room voice will present even more opportunities to play a short song, a set of notes that capture the essence of Bonvoy.
Example - future use case: With my voice, I use my Google Assistant to book a reservation through Bonvoy. I should hear an audio logo when the reservation is successfully made. I should hear that same bit of music when I arrive in my room and turn on the TV or pick up the phone to call the concierge. It should play when I open the Bonvoy app too.
Post script from Emily:
As a travel credit card point hacker, I was disappointed to see that SPG and Marriott Club access went away when my Marriott Gold status became Bonvoy Gold Elite. Club access is one of the most beloved perks of this status granted by cards like the American Express Platinum (watch my video about AmEx Platinum authorized user benefits).
Customers in the point hacking world of TPG and friends aren’t happy. Much like Delta Sky Clubs, which are not directly profitable to maintain, the benefit of customer loyalty and delight for the premium experience is worth it in the long run. People love the Sky Club and people loved Club access at the Sheraton etc. I’d be 100% happy with Bonvoy if this Club perk transferred over to the new program without having to upgrade my tier.
Comments about AmEx Platinum Authorized User Benefits, one of which used to be SPG Gold Status with Club access. Watch the video here.