What Brands Need to Know About Digital Virtual Assistants

What Brands Need to Know About Digital Virtual Assistants

A virtual assistant is a software agent that can perform tasks or services for an individual. Sometimes the term ‘’chatbot’’ is used to refer to virtual assistant generally or specifically those accessed by online chat.

Virtual assistants make work via:

Text (online chat), especially in an instant messaging app or other app

Voice, for example, with Amazon Alexa on the Amazon Echo device, or Siri on an iPhone

By taking and/or uploading images, as in the case of Samsung Bixby on the Samsung Galaxy S8


Launch Timeline


Amazon Echo

The Amazon Echo can listen with remarkable precision, picking up your requests from anywhere in the room, even if it is playing loud music at the time, thanks to its noise cancelling technology. It uses dual-band, dual-antena for a faster and more reliable WiFi connection, and responds at conversational speed to most requests. Smart home owners will be pleased to know that a recent feature is the ability to turn off the lights on command. Amazon Echo is that it continues to get smarter. Regular updates are adding to features all the time, and it only needs the cloud side updating, you don’t need to do anything.

How People Use Amazon's Virtual Assistant


Google Home

Google Home enables users to speak voice commands to interact with services through the Home's intelligent personal assistant called Google Assistant. A large number of services, both in-house and third-party, are integrated, allowing users to listen to music, look at videos or photos, or receive news updates entirely by voice. Google Home also has integrated support for home automation features, letting users speak commands to the device to control smart home appliances. Multiple Google Home devices can be placed in different rooms in a home for synchronized playback of music, and an update in April 2017 brought multi-user support, allowing up to six people to engage with the device. The product itself has a cylindrical shape with 4 LEDs on the top for visual representation of its status, and the cover over the base is modular with different color options offered through Google Store intended for the device to blend into the environment. In May 2017, Google announced multiple updates to Google Home's functionality, including free hands-free phone calling in the United States and Canada, proactive updates ahead of scheduled events, visual responses on mobile devices or Chromecast-enabled televisions, Bluethooth music streaming, and the ability to schedule calendar appointments, with upcoming support for reminders.


Amazon Controls 70 Percent of the Voice-Controlled Speaker Market in 2017


Battle of Amazon Echo vs. Google Home


Trends

Virtual assistants use natural language processing (NLP) to match user text or voice input to executable commands. Many continually learn using artificial intelligence techniques including machine learning.

70% have had their assistants for less than a year. 98% believe they’ll still be using them 5+ years from now. 60% use their assistants 4+ times a day, 29% use them 7+ times a day, 33% say their children interact with the assistants, too.

Alexa is the front-runner. 70% own an Echo, Dot or Tap.

Most assistants are placed in the living room, bedroom, or kitchen:

Living room 61%

Bedroom 46%

Kitchen 46%

Assistants are used to stream music, control lighting, set timers, and get the weather. 49% bought them to quickly get news and information. In fact, 46% say they’re more likely to ask their assistant for information over their smartphone.

Voice is the gateway to connected home. 91% aid that their assistant has made them more likely to buy another connected device in the future.


Full Comparison of Assistants


Virtual Assistants in Retail & Apparel

Having evolved since the launch of Siri, voice assistant are growing expectation among millennial and GenX consumers, especially for search. This trendsis expected to grow given the low market maturity and utilization levels. As virtual assistants role increases as a core piece of the IoT, this technology will become a significant piece of the digital transformation ecosystem.


Millennials Are the Most Prolific Digital Assistant Users


How Top Brands Capitalize on Virtual Assistants

Mercedes-Benz is Connecting the Amazon Echo and Google Home to All Its New Cars

Hyundai Collaborates With Google Assistant

Johnie Walker Collaborates With Amazon Alexa to Help Customers

Experts claim that digital experiences will achieve a status-weight comparable to ‘real’ experiences, if not become more sought after. The trend is verified by a high number of frequent users and substantial growth of worldwide user numbers of virtual digital assistants. In mid-2017, the number of frequent users of digital assistants is estimated to be around 1 billion worldwide. In addition, it can be observed that virtual digital assistant technology is no longer restricted to smartphone applications. The market for speech recognition technology is predicted to grow at a CAGR OF 34.9% globally over the period of 2016 to 2024 and thereby surpass a global market size of USD 7.5 billion by 2024.

Sources: Statista, MediaKix, Forbes, TechCrunch, Business Insider.

 

Christine Chavoutier

Responsable marketing produit / Head of product marketing - Assurance - Coach de jeunes talents - Mooc freak

7y

Thanks Vladimer, great article ! I will share it...

To view or add a comment, sign in

More articles by Vladimer Botsvadze

Insights from the community

Others also viewed

Explore topics