The Top 20 Brand Innovators in Voice for 2019
Today, Voicebot launched a list to recognize the top brand innovators in voice today. A growing number of companies have recognized that voice is a powerful tool for interacting and engaging with their audience thanks to the rapid adoption of voice-first devices like smart speakers over the past few years. However, readers frequently ask how they can use voice to engage with their target audience and what are others doing to achieve this? Our Top 20 Brand Innovators in Voice is designed to inspire those who are looking to start or improve a voice program of their own by providing specific use cases across ten different consumer-facing industries.
VIEW THE LISTA Few Key Themes Emerge
A range of criteria determined which brands would make the list. We took into consideration whether their overall voice strategy was innovative, valuable, and well executed. Once we had curated our list, a few key themes emerged.
Voice adoption is not industry-specific – Our lists spans ten industries. Some, such as Financial Services and Entertainment and Games, are ahead of the crowd in voice adoption.
Innovators are working in-house – Our research shows that more than half of the innovators on the list are developing their voice strategy and voice apps in-house. It’s not universal however, as industries like Consumer Product Goods and Food and Beverages currently rely on agencies and independent voice developers to launch their voice apps.
Playing the field – Many of our innovators use multiple consumer voice assistants to maximize their presence in front of consumers. Sephora is one of the exceptions, partnering exclusively with Google Assistant to launch its Sephora Skincare Advisor on Google Home and with Google’s Nest Hub to give users access to its library of video makeup tutorials.
Voice commerce is top of mind – Although all of our finalists provide a valuable voice-first experience beyond voice commerce, many coupled an engagement activity with a call-to-action that will drive frictionless ordering. For instance, Sony Pictures Television offers a free version of its voice-activated app, Jeopardy! While taking advantage of Alexa’s In-Skill Purchasing feature enabling players to upgrade the experience for $1.99 a month.
Investment in custom voice assistants – The most advanced brands are building their own custom voice assistants to provide a concierge experience within their digital channels while also engaging with the popular assistants to ensure they have maximum reach among consumers. This is especially true in the Financial Service industry, with Bank of America’s Erica and Capital One’s Eno voice assistants.
VIEW THE LISTThe Top 20 Brand Innovators in Voice for 2019
These Top 20 Brand Innovators in Voice 2019 are using voice in an innovative manner, executing their vision and engaging the end-user. Voice is a relatively new technology, especially when it comes to being utilized as part of a brand’s overall marketing strategy. We are highlighting 20 brands inspiring and motivating other companies to do the same. A fixed number of honorees ensures plenty of disagreement and arguments can be made for or against the brands that didn’t make our list. What do you think? Let us know on Twitter @voicebotai. All comments will be taken into account when considering future lists. In the meantime, enjoy discovering how these brands are taking voice strategy to the next level.
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