An estimated 53 million Americans own at least one voice-activated smart speaker.

And many millions use their devices to ask "fun" questions, something they do over searching online, playing games or ordering shopping, according to a survey by Adobe published Tuesday.

Playing music is the most popular activity, with 74 percent of people saying they use them for this purpose, followed by checking the weather forecast (66 percent). Fifty-eight percent of people say they use their device for asking those fun questions, the third most popular activity.

Adobe's study surveyed 1,000 people in the U.S. over four days in January. Setting an alarm, checking the news and searching online are all popular too, but shopping for an item is something only 26 percent of people claim to have done via smart speaker. This is down from 30 percent when Adobe last conducted its voice survey in August 2018.

Adobe Analytics Director Colin Morris suggests that brands need to think about the tasks they can help with to get people to use smart speakers more often. "Simplicity is key and starting with a single-function 'hero feature' is the best starting point. This happened successfully on smartphones, with features such as getting a boarding pass," he said in the report, which was emailed to CNBC.

Few people use smart speakers to manage their finances — only 5 percent, compared to 13 percent last August. Not many people use their voice assistants to research hotels or flights (11 percent) and few use them to order takeout (14 percent).