Study: 57% of consumers would use voice for cheaper goods, not big ticket items

Brief:

More than half (57%) of consumers said they would use voice technology to pay for low-priced goods and services, per a study that global payments provider Paysafe shared with Mobile Marketer. The firm's research found that 11% of people have used voice to confirm their identity when purchasing items online.
Fifty-three percent said voice tech is quicker and more convenient than traditional payment methods. About two-thirds said a greater choice of verification methods, such as voice and fingerprint, make them feel more secure about online payments. Majority of consumers (81%) said they feel most comfortable if a password is included in the process.
In the study, just 18% of consumers said they would pay for a vacation or book flights via voice. More than a third (37%) said they trust that their financial information is secure when using voice tech, while nearly half (45%) said they don't want companies having access to their personal biometric details. Paysafe worked with agency Loudhouse to survey more than 6,000 people in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany, Austria and Bulgaria.

Insight:

The global consumer survey suggests that acceptance of voice-activated systems is growing with the popularity of digital assistants and smart speakers like Amazon Echo and Google Home. That means brands and marketers must have a strategy to develop voice-powered apps that give users a greater range of services to remain competitive in the increasingly saturated space. Crucially, Paysafe found that most people prefer to use voice platforms for "low-value" purchases, such as for digital products like streaming subscriptions or on-demand videos, indicating where marketers should put their focus.

Almost half (45%) of those surveyed said they would register for a subscription, such as Netflix, via voice tech, while 47% said they would make a payment for an entertainment service such as a movie. Those findings confirm the results of other studies around consumers' shifting behavior with emerging voice platforms.

While voice commerce is forecast to grow to over $80 billion a year by 2023, it mostly will consist of money transfers and digital media like on-demand movies, music and TV shows — not physical goods, Juniper Research said. Only about one out of five consumers have shopped using a voice assistant, per a study by digital commerce firm Sumo Heavy.

About a quarter of North American marketers have launched a voice app such as a skill for Alexa or an action for Google Assistant, per a recent survey by Vociebot.ai and Voices.com. Another 10% of marketers said they expect to introduce a voice app either this year or next, bringing the total to 34% by the end of 2020. Adobe this week introduced more software tools to help with the design of voice-powered skills for Amazon's Alexa, another sign that demand for voice-enabled experiences is blossoming.

Amazon is the leader in voice apps among marketers thanks to Alexa. Eighty-three percent of marketers with a voice app launched an Alexa skill, compared with 47% for a Google action, Vociebot.ai and Voices.com's survey found. While businesses need to prepare for the possibility of handling more voice-powered interactions with customers as they grow comfortable transacting through the tech, just 3.8% displayed correct contact information for voice searches, per a separate study by location marketing firm Uberall.