Discovered Book
Preface Chapter Sources

According to Google, Apple, and Amazon there are billions of digital voice assistants in use today. Because Google owns the Android platform, they have the largest market advantage with digital voice assistants on over 2 Billions Android devices. Google estimates, as of January 2019, there are over 1 Billion active Google voice assistants. Apple is second with 500 Million active. Microsoft estimates 400 million, and Amazon offers Alexa on over 100 Million devices.

New York Times Best-selling Publisher Score Publishing states they will lose $17 Million in the first few months of 2019 due to poor visibility on voice search. Of the 5 platforms, Google Assistant, Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, Samsung Bixby, and Microsoft Cortana, only Google provided the correct voice response over 72% of the time. The other 4 platforms delivered dismal performance on voice search when looking for the book title or author by name. Which still supports my prediction that Google will own the voice search and discoverability market.

When asked about brands on voice, Wiki wins on all platforms for the answer. In Voicebot.ai’s Voice Assistant SEO Report for Brands, the results of an extensive study show that branded and category queries often result in an error or no response on Alexa, Apple, and Samsung. Google is leading the way with the correct information on voice searches.Voicebot.ai, Voice Assistant SEO Report For Brands

When asked about brands on voice, brands are the last to answer branded questions. Third parties are trusted more for the answer. In many cases, when there is a voice answer, it is often provided by a third party, not by the brand. Since each voice assistant platform has its own process to find answers, the voice search engines often don't turn to brand pages for the answer. 5 of the 5 voice platforms are relying heavily on Wikipedia as a source of voice answers.

Voicebot.ai, Voice Assistant SEO Report For Brands

When asked "Where to Purchase a brand or product?"  on voice. Answers were shocking! When shoppers ask voice where to purchase, the results may surprise you. On all 5 voice platforms, the brand is used less than 10% of the time. On Google, the Local Knowledge Graph (Google My Business, Google Shopping connected to geo and inventory) is leading the pack. 80%-100% of the time on Alexa, Samsung, and Apple results in no response or an error.

Voicebot.ai, Voice Assistant SEO Report For Brands

40% of consumer brands sell direct to customers. According to the Grocery Manufacturers Association with PWC, at least 40% of consumer brands sell direct to customers in some manner. Many brands are trying to figure out how to grow this business as rapidly as possible. There is immense value in having a direct to consumer channel that you can create and own the shopper conversation.

PwC Global Insights, It’s time for a consumer-centred metric: introducing ‘Return on Experience’ Report

Almost 1/3 consumers buy weekly or more frequently. Shopping across multi-digital channels is becoming the norm for consumers. This behavior pattern continues to climb as people begin to place more trust in voice, the chances to provide less friction on the buying journey, with a completely hands free buying experience, provides another channel to serve your consumers.

PwC Global Insights, It’s time for a consumer-centred metric: introducing ‘Return on Experience’ Report

Nike's shift to focus on Direct-to-consumer channel. Nike has been very clear that they intend to grow their direct-to-consumer business and that has been the focus. Nike announced they want to grow their channel by 250% to a $16 billion market in the next five years. In 2016, nearly a quarter of Nike’s total sales were generated through such channels.

Phalguni Soni, "Prospects Look Upbeat for Nike's Direct-to-Consumer Channel Stores," Market Realist

Amazon is testing ads to voice skills in product searches and Google is testing ads on Google assistant results. Amazon is beginning to test the waters with mobile ads too, potentially posing a huge threat to Google and Facebook. Amazon has emerged as a fast-growing challenger in the digital advertising market since it captures 50 percent of all online sales in the US. Amazon’s digital advertising market share will grow to 8.8 percent this year from 6.8 percent in 2018, according to EMarketer Inc. Market-leader Google could see its share slip to 37.2 percent from 38.2 percent.

Spencer Soper, Amazon to Launch Mobile Ads, in a Threat to Google and Facebook, Bloomberg