2 min readVoice search is already changing the way we find the answers we’re looking for in our everyday lives. According to Digiday, an estimated 600 million people currently use voice-activated assistants, and new uses for voice technology continue to emerge.
There are numerous reasons why this trend isn’t going away, but the simplest might be that discovery begins with research, and the fastest way to search is to ask.
Natural language processing (NLP) is allowing voice technology to grow and evolve, increasing its demand in parallel with the ease that users can speak naturally to get a desired response. And with AI-driven smartphones, chatbots, and virtual assistants ready to answer questions on demand, the days of using a keyboard are numbered.
But while voice search may be “par for the course” for most users, there are many other applications for voice technology across a variety of verticals. Healthcare professionals can quickly log patient data using voice commands, retailers can interact with customers digitally as they do in-store through voice-commanded chatbots, financial institutions can allow users to pay bills securely using only the sound of their voice. And the possibilities are only increasing as the technology gets more intelligent.
Take conversational commerce. Conversational commerce can be applied to any business transaction, as it streamlines the payment process. It represents a removal of the user experience partition that divides finding and purchasing, combining both actions into a single voice-driven session.
Search optimization experts are already projecting a “voice search revolution” in the next few years.
What can be done to effectively respond to the growing demand for voice technology?
To learn more about how voice search and conversational commerce fit within the context of relevant user experience, read “The Future of Intelligent Personalization,” the latest whitepaper from SoftServe.