Voice search, once limited to just a few top-notch devices, has slowly but surely become an integral part of today’s mediums of communication. It’s obvious that voice search has taken the digital marketing environment by storm. With the likes of Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Google Now, voice search technology is revolutionizing how consumers seek products and services from businesses.
Through smartphones and voice-enabled speakers, voice assistants have become part of our daily lives. We have everything from smart lights, voice-activated homes, smart washing machines and smart fridges we can talk to. You can talk to Google in your car or simply ask Siri to start a conference call while you’re in the office.
These recent developments in digital marketing hold a significant importance for app developers. The ever-increasing trend of voice-based services means that app developers have to continue incorporating voice search capability into their apps.
Voice search technology will also have a great impact on the mobile app marketing strategies and their respective success rates. Here are some of the impacts of voice technology in app development.
Optimizing for Voice Search
As it involves the use of a more natural and conversational language, voice search is inherently different from traditional search patterns. Therefore, app developers will have to optimize content that matches user queries to deliver value. Contrarily, using short-tail keywords will experience poor organic search performance.
App marketers will have to shift their focus to customer-first marketing. That means building a keyword strategy that depicts how people interact with each other in normal day to day conversations. Search queries will no longer be in the form of questions. Only then will they be able to boost user engagement, drive higher traffic and build customer loyalty.
Focus on Location-Based Services
Search is becoming more personal with mobile search and voice often providing answers based on one’s location. People want to find a business that is near them to fulfill a specific need, hence the rise of location-based technology.
Similarly, the rise of this technology in homes, cars and offices, presents businesses, through their apps, with an opportunity to be wherever the customer is looking. In order to capture the local search users and traffic, app developers have to localize their voice search services.
Search Engine Optimization
We are in the technological age where users want faster and efficient results. This is one of the major tenets for the growing popularity of voice search. This technology provides instant results, which means app developers must work on better SEO strategies to rank high on search engine result pages, otherwise, the app would have no impact.
In keeping up with the developments in technology, it’s crucial for app developers to continue to invest in research and development of better ways to integrate voice commands into their apps.
App Development Support
As more developers and industries integrate voice search into their apps, the platform for development and improvement of this technology is growing.
Tech giants and app research companies have been creating numerous assistant software, various APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and support systems for app developers to easily integrate voice commands into their apps.
This changes the way users interact with devices and provides them with a better user experience.
Personalization
In addition to expecting brands to be useful and accessible, customers increasingly desire a more personalized experience. Brands have the duty to stand out and make their users feel special.
This trickles down to creating more personal and convenient shopping experiences, including voice. App developers are using machine learning and artificial intelligence marketing (AIM) to collect and analyze consumer data to create detailed customer profiles.
With customer profiles in hand, brands can then execute their personalization strategy through automation by creating individual experiences through voice. This puts the user of the app at the center and focuses on their wants and needs.
The Future of App Development
Advancements in voice technology and it’s continued integration is driving app development into a new era. Most, if not all searches and requests are micro-conversations that present an opportunity for app developers to integrate voice technology into their apps.
Even simple things such as booking a doctor’s appointment, dinner date or finding the nearest grocery store can be integrated into voice search. We do not know what the future of voice technology holds, but it will surely continue to have an increasing impact on app development.
Guest post courtesy of Rilind Elezaj, the communication manager at Day Translations