Will Smart Speakers Spark Voice Tech Adoption?

To kick off our series this week on voice tech, today’s chart looks at the growth potential of smart home speakers, and how this might impact voice search on mobile between ages.

In their short existence, we’ve seen price-points for smart speakers drop considerably due to strong competition in the market, especially in the run up to holiday sales which boosted consumer adoption and helped to spread awareness.

It’s now 49% who say that they currently have smart speakers at home or are planning to buy one in the next six months, a figure which has grown slightly in the last quarter alone.

Younger age groups post the strongest results for usage and purchase intent, but from a growth perspective, adoption is climbing among all age groups with the exception of 16-24s. These youngest users tend to gravitate towards portability in their device preferences, instead of the more household-based devices.

Mobile voice search, on the other hand, has experienced growth among every age group since the last quarter. Growth in both voice tech solutions, however, will be dependant on each one convincing consumers of their merits, and therefore demonstrating to them how voice tech can fit in their their lives on any device.

Key here will be both convincing them of the practicality of certain voice functions, while also introducing new and more convenient ways of navigating their everyday lives. Striking a balance between practicality, convenience and novelty has been an important aspect spurring on adoption of other examples of recent technology, most notably wearable devices. Thanks to the increasing number of third-party skills and commands being introduced across every sector from automotive to insurance, there’s now a growing number of real examples where voice tech can add value to a consumer’s life.

We will explore more  use cases of voice tech in tomorrow’s chart.