The Voice Consumer Index 2021

James Poulter, a leading thought leader and keynote speaker on the future of work, voice technology, and conversational artificial intelligence, and the team at Vixen Labs are proud to announce the launch of their Voice Consumer Index 2021.

The Voice Consumer Index 2021

This is the most comprehensive study of US, UK, and German voice users to date across smart speakers, mobile, and the web and dives deep into behaviours and attitudes. 

The Voice Consumer Index (VCI) reveals attitudes towards voice assistants in 2021, and how seven different sectors – from retail to healthcare – can leverage the technology’s marketing potential. The research shows that the majority of people now use voice assistant technology, with a third using it every day. The VCI clearly shows voice activity aligning with the marketing funnel, with consumers moving from awareness (80% search for products) to purchase and retention (41% of users have made a purchase using voice technology). Privacy is the biggest concern, with four in 10 consumers who don’t use voice assistance yet, stating it as the main reason they don’t use it.

Vixen Labs released the Voice Consumer Index 2021 in collaboration with the Linux Foundation’s Open Voice Network to explore changes in consumer attitudes and behaviours – and to reveal the marketing potential of voice assistant technology across industries.

Audiences across the UK, US, and Germany were asked what their top priority voice-assisted tasks are when thinking about different industries. For example, in Banking and Finance, an average of 32% across the total 6000 people surveyed vote “check my bank balance” as their top priority. Results often show small differences in behaviour between the three countries: 21% of US consumers say “pay a bill” is their top Banking and Finance voice-assisted task compared to 15% in the UK, and 17% in Germany. This likelihood switches in other areas: German voice assistant users are more open to using voice to find a doctor or specialist than those from the US or UK. Considering Retail, package location tracking and checking shipping status are identified as priorities alongside product research.

Other key findings from the report include:

• Most voice users operate the technology in multiple locations, on their phone both in and out of the home (90% of Apple users, and 75% of Android users), on smart speakers (66% use Amazon Echo), in the car, and on the web
• Over two thirds (68%) of users are interested in how the technology will develop in the future 
• Privacy is the biggest concern for the public, with 4 in 10 consumers who don’t use voice assistance stating it as the main reason they have not adopted use      
• Users need more support from brands and creators, with the majority (76% in the UK) relying on trial and error to find the experiences they want   
• Eighty percent of those that use voice to research a new product or service online would visit the product or brand website, indicating that brands need to consider how a consumer is going to find them through voice and then connect via the web
• Aside from controlling music (73% of users) and checking the weather (80% of users), voice assistance is used mostly to ask questions via a search engine (over 90% of users have searched using voice), highlighting how voice assistants are a new platform for search, SEO, and SEM
• Brands need to optimize their products, locations, and content for consumers to find them via voice: 80% of users search via voice for product and service information, and 70% search for local business information
• Despite ongoing travel restrictions, consumers are eager to use voice search to make reservations, check hotel reviews, and research destinations (the top-priority voice-assisted task in the Travel industry is ‘searching for the best price on travel or hotel’, selected by a fifth)

To register and download the white paper please list the website – https://vixenlabs.co/vci-2021 

About James Poulter 

James Poulter is the former Head of Lego Group’s Emerging Platform team and a leading thought leader and keynote speaker on the future of work, voice technology, conversational artificial intelligence, and social media. 

James is the founder of Voice2, the UK’s leading Voice and Conversational Ai Community and in December 2018 launched Vixen Labs – which is a company that specialises in Voice User Experience (VUX) which includes design and strategy – helping companies to embody their brand and give their customers greater experiences.

Speaking Topics include –

• Ambient Technology
• 2025 – Autonomous Connected & Enabled
• The Ethics & Morality of Digital Technology –
• Play + Work = Innovation Culture

New Presentation –

CTL – ALT- DEL – The Digital Revolution has already changed the way we work and communicate with our clients, but the future of the workplace has faced further challenges with the impact of COVID-19. In this presentation, James Poulter looks at how you can continue to build a culture of innovation and what will need to change for companies to evolve to the new ways of working. Using some real-life examples from his time at Lego, Edelman, and Ogilvy, James looks at what new controls (CTL) will need to be in place to allow a return to work. What will need to be altered (ALT) to allow your team to innovate, work together and still maybe work from home with a new work/life balance – and what will need to deleted (DEL) from previous ways of working. There is no choice now to innovate – innovation is essential to survive.