Hey Google, is voice the future of search? 🗣️
Devices such as Alexa and Google Home are becoming increasingly popular with homeowners.
Imagine you are in your office, working on a project, and fancy something to eat. If you were at home, you could say, "Hey Google, where is the nearest restaurant?" In English, for now.
In a world where technology is constantly evolving, will a day come when a simple device can answer anything we want, anywhere and at any time? 25% of people think so.
Voice really is the new technology trend. For now, though, most users still prefer searching by typing on a computer, followed by those who do so on mobile devices.
So, if most people search by typing, is there room for voice? Yes, definitely.
The history of technology suggests that we are still in an adjustment phase with voice search. Just as users adapted to mobile phones after landlines, text messages after email, and social media as the new word of mouth, this new method may follow the same path.
In fact, according to comScore, 50% of searches will be made by voice by 2020, while Gartner says 30% will be made without even a screen. As voice becomes part of the things we use every day, such as cars, phones and even our homes, this will become the new normal.
Who is using voice search?
Looking at data from CapTech Consulting, most smart speaker users in the United States of America are aged 18 to 36, followed by those aged 37 to 52. Just 15% are 53 or older. The same study says more than 70% of users are married and own their homes, while 58% earn more than $75,000 a year.
The research also suggests that teenagers are more likely than adults to use this type of search, such as Siri, and to do so several times a day.
In 2017, 13% of all US homes had a device such as Google Home or Amazon's Alexa; by 2022, that figure is expected to reach 55%. This shows that the technology is developing further and that more people will use voice controls to carry out everyday tasks, request information or control things at home.
What do people search for?
There are no surprises here: most of these speakers, such as Alexa, are used at home, while others, such as Siri, are used more in the car. Amazon is currently developing a new Alexa-like device for cars. This could help improve safety, as drivers would not need to type messages (they could simply dictate them) or search for GPS directions to a particular place.
In-car searches are obvious: "nearest petrol station" and making calls. At home, people search for recipes, home improvement ideas, weather, news and music.
In 2017, these were the top searches on Alexa:
- Shopping – "Alexa, buy more laundry detergent"
- Playing music – "Alexa, play Green Day"
- Switching on lights – "Alexa, turn on the living room lights"
- Ordering food – "Alexa, order a pizza from Dominos"
- Making calls – "Alexa, call Mum"
Things are changing quickly as voice searches and commands advance. Appliances such as fridges, heaters and even ovens can now connect to smart devices at home and be controlled by our voices.
Who would have thought we would live in a world where we can talk to our cooker, and, better still, it can answer back?
The problems
These products have huge appeal, mainly because they let us get information much faster than by typing.
One study found that whenever we use this technology, we expect the device to understand us as a person would. We expect perfect searches and our questions to be understood first time, without having to rephrase them so a machine can understand expressions, accents or even speech difficulties.
When typing, we can easily spot spelling mistakes, and Google itself suggests better search terms to help us find what we need. Voice search, however, is not yet that advanced: devices may simply tell us they did not understand the question or give a wrong answer.
That is why hashtags such as #alexafail are a constant presence on Twitter.
The most frustrating part is having to wait for the device to finish its task before asking again. This creates a poor user experience and often sends people back to their phone or computer to make the same search.
Only time will tell, but voice recognition is likely to improve significantly, making search results increasingly accurate.
