Voice-Activated Advertising: Reaching Consumers in New Ways

Explain Voice-Activated Advertising.

Traditional advertisements are considered disruptions. Advertising that is activated by voice is like an invitation. For digital voice channels, such as smart speakers, mobile streaming, and in-car infotainment systems, interactive voice campaigns are a sort of audio brand interaction that can be used. These advertisements address the audience directly and encourage them to answer with a word after hearing them. Voice advertisements present the consumer with an offer, which may include coupons, exclusive material, or helpful information, and give them the option to accept or decline the offer.
The fact that these advertisements inquire as to whether or not the audience is interested in hearing more makes them less intrusive than the typical banner advertisement. They are also more efficient than others. It is common for digital advertisements to have a click-through rate that ranges between one and three percent on average. When it comes to interactive audio advertisements, the comparable indicator, known as the say-through rate, can range anywhere from 7–10% or even more. The voice marketing agency is considered to be one of the most successful in the industry to provide reports that its campaigns have achieved an average engagement rate of 12%, with some advertisements reaching nearly 20%.
It is possible that this is the reason why brands have flocked to interactive speech advertising, with estimations forecasting that the market value of voice advertising in the United States would reach approximately $20 billion. Continue reading to find out how voice-activated advertising is responsible for the creation of new engagement opportunities, as well as how your business can participate in these opportunities.

Vocal-Activated Ads: A Startling Background

The origins of interactive voice marketing may be traced back to when people were conducting surveys using touch-tone phones. With an interactive voice response (IVR) system, a push-button “conversation” may not appear to be a voice-first interaction; nonetheless, it does provide some of the DNA that speech advertisements continue to carry to this day. It encourages the listener to take part in the conversation and stimulates them to engage in a conversation. These days, audio advertisements are even more interactive than they were in the past, as they react specifically to the decisions made by the user. In 2013, JetBlue launched a voice-activated mobile campaign, which is considered to be the beginning of the modern interactive voice campaign. It offered customers to participate in a straightforward video game that was voice-activated. Toys R Us introduced its very own mobile speech advertisement later that year. The advertisement directed consumers to holiday products based on their voiced responses to a series of questions. For the next few years, the development of speech advertising went place primarily behind the scenes. However, the streaming service Pandora began developing voice-activated advertisements that did not require the user to use their hands. These advertisements were for large brands such as Unilever, Wendy’s, and Doritos. How do these advertisements sound to you? Just a few instances are provided below:

• Hellmann’s Mayonnaise poses the question, “Do you want a tip that will transform your sandwich with grilled cheese from “cheesy to yes-pleasey?” to its audience. If people respond affirmatively, the recipe will be provided via the advertisement.
• DiGiorno’s tells a “pizza joke,” using an affirmative response for both the setup and the punchline.
• An ad for the Xfinity Voice Remote begins playing after a user selects “I want to learn more about a new voice-activated device” from Comcast Xfinity.

When people chose not to connect with these second-generation speech commercials, the engagement level typically dropped. Voice ad companies nowadays are working on scripts that, regardless of the listener’s initial reaction, will continue to follow helpful progressions.
A “no” can finish with a suggestion to look into the brand later—and begin a personalized discussion that picks up with the next audio ad—while a “yes” takes you along the desired conversational path. Over 5% of listeners who declined a first discussion ended up accepting an offer from a second ad for one of their campaigns. To start with, “no thanks” is not too bad.

Interactive Voice Ads: Where Things Are Headed 

The future of speech advertising is being driven by trends such as hyperpersonalization and increased interactivity. Streaming music services such as Pandora and Spotify have been the primary targets of interactive voice campaigns thus far. Smart speakers and smart TVs are also getting them, and that trend will only grow.

In August of 2020, the streaming service Peacock, which is owned and operated by NBC Universal, began displaying voice-activated advertisements. Although NBC refers to these advertisements as command commercials, they are the same thing as voice-activated advertisements or, increasingly, just voice marketing. Similar actions are likely to be taken by other video streaming firms and potentially by smart TV suppliers themselves.
Voice-activated advertising, on the other hand, will transition from business to customer (B2C) reach to B2B (business-to-business) marketing in the forthcoming years. Due to the fact that an increasing number of websites are becoming voice-enabled, business-to-business marketers will require methods to convert their on-page advertisements and calls to action into an audio version. If you listen to a blog that is hosted on a company’s website, a voice-activated advertisement can be placed at the end of the blog to substitute a high-value hyperlink or contact form.

Creating a Dynamic Voice Experience for Your Brand: How to Do It

The key to significant brand engagement is a direct and engaging connection, which is exactly what voice-activated advertising gives. This is true regardless of whether your audience is comprised of consumers or corporations.
Are you contemplating the creation of a voice marketing or something comparable of your own? An excellent team, the appropriate strategy, and cutting-edge voice message technology are the three things you should begin with. We have developed a free checklist that provides an outline of everything you require in order to participate in the Internet of Voice with your very own interactive brand experience experience. Get familiar with:

• The staff members and business partners that you require for your voice team 
• An efficient development plan can be achieved through the eight steps 
• Obtaining all of the necessary technology to put your concept into production

Voice-activated advertising power

Brands can benefit from voice-activated ads.

According to NPR and Edison Research, 53% of smart speaker owners who have heard an ad would respond to further advertising. Nearly half of smart speaker users who saw advertising said a smart speaker would make them more likely to consider the brand than otherwise. If customers are more likely to respond well to voice-activated commercials, brands can increase engagement and ROI. Voice-enabled adverts improve user experience along with it. Users talk to voice message assistants and smart speakers, thus speech-activated ads fit easily. Companies can interact with listeners by providing a vocal response with further information.
While cooking or exercising, consumers can interact with ads hands-free. This implies adverts are provided without disrupting users’ daily activities. Based on user preferences and behavior, voice-enabled adverts are more tailored. For instance, Pandora. In 2019, the music streaming service included speech-activated adverts to its voice control features after testing. Only those who already hear advertising will be offered voice-activated ones, which need a “yes” to hear more content. This can boost conversion rates and advertiser ROI by reaching customers. Voice message advertising are also ad-block-resistant. Digital audio has not yet integrated ad-blocking. Only targeting graphic display ads, audio-based campaigns can immediately tackle this developing problem.
Voice-activated ads can target and advertise to users without ad blockers or user experience disruption.

Summary

Voice-activated commercials, like other interactive audio ads, provide a new and interesting way for users to engage with brands. Despite the fact that it remains a niche marketing format (from the advertiser’s and the consumer’s perspectives), it does provide a novel alternative for marketers seeking to differentiate themselves and reach segments in an unusual manner. Given the rapid advancements in technology and the increasing prevalence of AI in advertising, voice message-enabled marketing has the potential to become the “new normal” for audio ads in the future.