“Siri, what does the weather look like this weekend?”
“OK Google, what does DSL stand for?”
“Cortana, what are the odds of the Lions making it to the Super Bowl?”
“Jarvis, where is my suit?”
No matter the device or question you ask it, voice search has become an incredible asset to everyday life.
We decided to conduct a short, informal survey about voice search with the goal of gaining insight on how people actually feel about it. Of the whopping 55 respondents, only one does not search on a smartphone or tablet devices at all. Here are the results from those who do!
The “other” slice, at 24%, represents all search categories where no two were the same. Asking for directions is the big winner. This makes sense, given that 59% of people admit the activity they are most often doing when voice searching is driving. Nothing strange there, considering the handsfree laws that are enforced for drivers.
Another insight we wanted to glean was how people felt about voice search.
There wasn’t a huge margin between people’s feelings towards the amount of time voice search saves them. Where it gets even more interesting, is that of those respondents who continue to use voice search, a large margin of them feel that their voice searches yield less accurate results in regards to what they are trying to find, than traditional typed searches.
Interestingly enough, our survey revealed that 22% of respondents didn’t feel that voice search has a legitimate future, rather it would eventually become irrelevant and go the way of the floppy disc.
How do we use this information? Optimizing your website for relevant keywords that are easier for Siri to parse, or OK Google to pick apart is a good start, in case customers are using voice search to find your business. If your target market is in an area with a regional diction or accent, make sure it won’t interfere with the chosen keywords.
While still trudging up the adoption curve, voice search has a promising future as companies like Google invest more and more into the technology. There is no doubt that we will see more improvements in the years to come.
