RALEIGH – Have you ever asked Alexa what the weather was going to be like so you could plan what you wear to work? Have you asked Siri to find you the closest Chinese restaurant? If so, you have entered what Amazon calls the “voice first world.”

Voice is in; touch is out. The ways in which we communicate are being disrupted like, well, since we moved from typewriters and phone calls to computers and email.

Yes, voice search and what’s being called conversational AI (or artificial intelligence) as demonstrated by Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana and others are changing how customers interact with brands ad people. And the topic was a big draw at last week’s Internet Summit as marketers begin to use these tools to connect with their customers.

“We believe voice represents the next major disruption in computing,” Amazon’s Chief Evangelist for Amazon and Echo smart devices, Dave Isbitski, says. “It is the ability to just talk. You don’t have to figure out any interface.”

For Christi Olson, head of evangelism for search at Microsoft, voice search as we know it today is just the beginning.

“Voice search isn’t the next big disruptor,” she said. “Conversational AI is. Conversational AI is more than voice and search skills.

What is conversational AI? She describes it as technology that can “hear, speak, see, understand and engage with humans.”

“The age of touch as the primary user interface between consumers and devices is being disrupted. We are entering the age of conversational interfaces that are powered by voice.”

This disruption is taking place at a rapid rate, too, as more and more consumers embrace these smart devices and other Internet of Things-linked gadgets from refrigerators and door locks enable us to control everything at home from “turn on the lights” to “what’s coming up on TV?”

Voice links entertainment more devices

According to research firm Parks Associations, smart speakers with voice assistants are set to reach 47 percent of US households that have high-speed Internet by 2022. That’s just four years away.

And 55 percent of families with broadband say voice control is “appealing,” thus “driving adoption and usage of voice control devices and apps.” In fact as we head into the 2018 holiday season, 43 percent of households with broadband say voice control is an “important feature” when these families decide what smart TV or streaming media player device to buy.

Craig Leslie, Senior Research Analyst, Parks Associates, points out: “Voice is becoming a common feature in connected entertainment devices. Best Buy is planning multiple new Insignia Fire TV Editions with a voice remote, and Roku is integrating Google Assistant voice commands in its streaming boxes, sticks, and Roku TVs. Even set-top box makers are ramping up their voice control offerings in response to pay-TV provider demand.”

Voice search also is opening more opportunities for shopping.

At the Internet Summit, Amazon’s Isbitski says voice search is opening up opportunities for retailers to talk to customers who, in the past, have not used traditional, online search methods.

“This is different than mobile and social,” says Isbitski. “It’s inclusive. It opens up generations who have not been able to integrate with technology the way we have.”

Thanks to voice search, knowing how to interface with technology is no long a barrier for many people, he adds.

“What does it mean when we can talk and listen well before we read and write. What does it mean when I have never used a computer in my life?”

With voice search and AI, says Isbitski, “there is no age gap.”

How People Use Voice Search and AI

People use voice search for three primary things, said Amazon’s Isbitiski: Doing, searching and telling.

According to Olson, searches include:

Finding quick facts

Asking for directions

Searching for a product or service

Finding a bus line

Researching products

Making a shopping list

What words and phrases do voice searchers use? The list is long but includes:

Can I

Can you

Look Up

Alexa

What

What is

When

Where

Which

Who

Who has

Who sells

Today, digital assistants on smartphones are the primary way users are accessing voice search.

“Fifty-nine percent of consumers have used a digital assistant,” said Olson. “Smartphones are driving this usage.”

Voice Search, AI and the Future of Marketing

Olson says marketers have time to create an AI strategy because the use of voice search and AI has not yet reached market saturation, but first they must understand how it works.

When a consumer asks a digital assistant a question, the answer is generated much as it is when someone conducts a search online. The answer is pulled from search engines such as Google and Microsoft’s Bing.

The challenge for marketers, said Olson, is creating a marketing plan that targets multiple device types and focuses on customer intent.

As a brand, marketers can influence Cortana and Siri by ensuring their content is search engine optimized.

“SEO isn’t dead because search engines still have to go somewhere to get information,” said Olson. “Marketers still have to optimize their content. Transactional queries provide the opportunity for voice skills and chatbots to assist the assistants.”

Another opportunity also exists for marketers. By developing what are called skills for Amazon’s Alexa, brands can communicate directly with consumers. Skills are like apps and can be accessed via Alexa.

Popular skills customers can access include informational, such as Major League Baseball and major news outlets, or games including Jeopardy and Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Today, Alexa customers can access more than 50,000 skills.

Your team doesn’t know the first thing about building a skill? No worries. Amazon has created the Alexa Skills Kit to guide companies through the creation of a skill for their brand.

For Amazon, it’s all about the customer journey.

“You can take your customers on a journey,” said Isbitski. “You can create your own stories.”