- HoneyHat

1. Voice Search Popularity in the United States

Voice search is becoming more popular in the United States. According to UpCity, 2022, half of Americans use voice search features at least once per week.

Nearly three-quarters of all voice search users (72%) have used the features for at least five years. As many as 16% of voice search users say that they have been using it for over a decade.

We’ll see in the next voice search statistics that smartphones and smart speakers are the most used devices for voice search. However, other gadgets like watches, wearables and TVs are slowly offering voice search capabilities. It may only be a matterof time before they become as popular, if not more.

2. Voice Search is more popular than typing

The days of simply typing a query into a search engine are almost gone. Approximately seven out of ten consumers (71 percent) prefer to use voice searches to conduct a query over the traditional method of typing (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2018).

Although voice search has more advanced capabilities, such as the ability to make online purchases and control other smart home devices, it is still used for its most common purposes. Voice searches are great for basic information requests and queries. Users love to use it to check the weather, play music and set reminders.

Voice search is growing in popularity due to its potential and many benefits. Voice search has been particularly useful for visually impaired people and those with disabilities. It allows them to bypass text-based functions, which can be frustrating.

3. Smart Speakers Ownership in the USA

More than one third (35%) of US consumers owned smart speakers as of 2022 (Statista, 2002). This was a 2 percentage point increase in annual usage and an 11 percentage point increase over 2020. It is a sign of how popular these devices are.

Recent data shows that the US smart speaker market is dominated by tech giants Apple, Google, and Amazon. Amazon is a clear leader in smart speaker sales with 94.2 million units.

Compare that to Amazon’s 46.7 million US smart speakers, where only half of them are Google. However, statistics show that smart speakers by Google have been growing in popularity over the past few years. From 2019 to 2021, their sales increased by a staggering 234 percent. We can expect to see the gap between Amazon.com and Google shrink in the near future.

Third place: Apple’s smart speakers are owned in America by 10.8 Million consumers

4. Smart Speakers in the US

Smart speaker ownership is increasing, as is voice search usage via smart speakers. 52 percent of smart speaker owners use their devices every day (NPR 2018, 2018). More than a third use it for voice searches.

If you are an ecommerce seller of tech gadgets and the growing popularity of smart speakers, it is worth focusing your marketing efforts on November. It’s proving to be a popular time to buy smart speakers. Eight percent of Americans bought smart speakers during this period of 2018.

Depending on the market you are targeting, you might choose to prioritize one brand over the other. As an example, Amazon holds 70% of the smart speaker market in the US. This is far more than its main competitors, Google Home and Apple’s HomePod.

5. Shopping with Smart Speakers

With growing ecommerce growth more people are turning to smart speakers to shop online.

According to eMarketer 2020, 33.2 million Americans are expected to shop with voice search on their smart speakers by 2022. This would be a 3.5% increase over 2021’s 32.1million and 14.1% of total digital shoppers in the US.

It’s crucial to understand what consumers are buying through voice if you want to target them with smart speakers.

Voice purchases are the most popular for beauty and health products. Analysts estimate that 8.9 million products related to health and beauty were purchased via smart speakers between August 2019 and August 2021. The electronics category saw 8.8million purchases.

Smart speakers have proven particularly popular for household supplies. This period saw the purchase of 8.5 million household items using voice.

6. Role of voice search in buyers’ purchase journey

It’s becoming more common for people to shop using voice search. This makes it important to know where their dependency on voice search is greatest.

Voice assistants are used more frequently by online shoppers in pre-checkout than when they are checking out. This is especially true for product research and adding items to shopping lists. Voice assistants are used by more than half of US online shoppers to research products and nearly a third to add items to shopping lists (Narvar 2018).

It doesn’t end there. Voice assistants are still a prominent feature of the post-checkout stage. 30 percent of online shoppers use it to track packages, 20 percent leave reviews or ratings, 17 percent use voice search to repurchase products, and 20% use it to leave feedback.

You might want to optimize your website for voice search, considering the above-mentioned voice searches statistics on shopping.

7. Voice ads are more engaging

Ads are part of voice search, just like other media. One in four consumers have seen an advertisement on a smart speaker.

Voice ads on smart speakers are different from traditional forms of advertising like print, TV and online. This is because consumers are more open to voice ads.

According to the latest voice search statistics, 38 percent of people who have heard voice advertisements on smart speakers consider them less intrusive (Adobe 2019, 2019). They are also more engaging for 39 percent.

Experts believe voice ads are able to connect with people on a deeper level, emotionally and personally.

Voice ads are more appealing to consumers than text ads. They also make it easier for them to respond to the voice ads. Nearly 40% of those who heard voice ads purchased the product being advertised.

8. Voice Search Statistics on Mobile Devices

More than 25% (27%) of the world’s online population uses voice search on their mobile devices. GlobalWebIndex, 2018, Voice search is especially popular among those aged 16 to 34, where two-thirds (33%) of voice search users are from this age group.

Ecommerce businesses that target both males and females may not require different strategies. Mobile voice search usage is almost equal between men and women.

Mobile voice search is very popular in Asia, especially when it comes to markets. This is particularly true in India, China, and Indonesia where 38%, 36%, and 34% respectively use voice-assisted search features on their mobile devices. Just 25% of US internet users use voice search on their mobile devices, compared to the 25 percent who do.

9. Voice Search Engagement

72 per cent US consumers use voice search to find information through digital assistants like Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant (Microsoft 2018, 2018).

Google Assistant and Apple Siri are the most used digital assistants. 36 percent of US consumers have reported using them for voice search. Then comes Amazon’s Alexa at 4% and Microsoft’s Cortana at 19%.

Smartphones are the most popular device for voice-assisted searches. Over 90% of consumers have reported using their smartphones for voice search, compared with less than half who used their smart speakers or just four percent who used in-car voice assistants.

10. Uses of voice

The voice search statistics above show that the technology is gaining popularity and can revolutionize people’s daily lives.

What are people using voice technology to do?

A recent survey on voice search revealed that the most popular task given by voice assistants to users is checking the weather. Around one-sixth (17%) of those surveyed did so (UpCity 2022). The 16 percent who use voice search are able to find nearby restaurants and shops is next.

One in four people use voice assistants for hands-free driving searches, while 13 percent use them to search facts and definitions. Voice search is also used to find online products and services – something ecommerce businesses need to be aware of.

Conclusion

Now you have ten valuable voice search statistics you can start to use to boost your ecommerce business.

These voice search stats can be used to optimize your ecommerce site or boost your sales and marketing strategy for your tech ecommerce shop.

Summary: Voice Search Statistics

Here is a summary of Voice Search Statistics 2023:

50 percent of Americans use voice search features every day.
71% of consumers prefer to use voice search instead of typing.
More than a third of US consumers own a smart speaker by 2022.
More smart speaker owners than half use their devices every day.
In 2022, 33.2 million Americans will shop with a smart speaker.
51 per cent of online shoppers in the US use voice-assistants to help with product research.
More consumers believe voice ads are more engaging and less intrusive than ads on TV, in print, online and social media.
Over one quarter of the world’s online population uses voice search on their mobile devices.
72 per cent of US consumers use voice search via digital assistants to find information.
Checking the weather is 17 percent of all consumers’ top activities using voice assistants.

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Author: Ying Lin

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