Conversational AI in Marketing

Meet Our Speakers

Event Q&A

Carrie: What do you think may be the killer apps for voice?

Claire: That's a really good question. And if I knew I would probably be a millionaire. But I do think that rather than thinking about the killer app, thinking about the killer experiences is one way to approach it. And my thought is that sound design and using nonverbal cues, figuring out how to give subtle responses to the user to allow them to explore and make it more conversational. That's where that's what will really progress this medium.

Emily: Is there a brand that you feel was more of an innovator or early adopter versus the rest of the pack who are catching up right now and who perhaps had great use of the voice technology already, which has proven results?

Claire: Yeah, I think the ones that have done a great job thus far are often ones that have that create content as part of their core brand. And that does make it a little bit easier because they're already sort of generating that content but:

• The NPR Wait, wait, don't tell me quiz which has done a great job and it's really been well received.
• There was a Westworld application called the maze (non-HBO trailer accessible in North America), which was brilliantly done and expanded the TV show into an interactive experience. I think that those sorts of entertainment properties have done a great job and probably have a slightly easier time of it because they're already great at sound design and storytelling. So those would be my picks.

Jason: So why do you think there is a slow hesitation or slow way to adoption? Do you think it comes down to users not trusting the voice AI?

Claire: Well, I think that there's been somewhat of a rapid adoption when you compare the same time period That we had other technologies in hand. But I do think that there is this sort of ladder effect where developers are and designers are figuring out how to what they can do on the platform and how far they can stretch it at the same time that consumers are trying to figure out, what can they actually ask this voice assistant that it's going to come back with an answer for and not say, I don't know that. And there's also a simultaneous increase in functionality and complexity on the platform side. So all three of those are sort of pushing each other forward. And I think that that's just the nature of the technology.

Polina: Do you have any advice around convincing or selling voice technology to brands who haven't tried it before?

Claire: I think the biggest advice would be to not necessarily force it as an answer to unless the problem warrants it. So rather than starting with the technology, start with the challenges that the brand is facing or is in need of solutions for and then find out that's a right fit. If it's not, and if it starts the other direction. I think there's always going to be pushback.

Polina: With Schema.org, will we still need to build Actions on Google manually?

Katherine: I've heard from other SEOs. And I want to say it might have been Rabbit & Pork, where they noticed that for certain queries, the answers were subpar. And they decided to fulfill the queries by building an action. (see the case study in the resource)

Carrie: Do you see an integration between voice search and voice apps in the future? For example, for example, seamless handoff from search to app

Katherine: In the Google universe? Absolutely. You can search for a random topic on Google. If your answer is fully answered by a moment inside a podcast, it will allow you to play from that moment inside of the podcast. [...] Amazon because when it comes to information-based queries, it's relying on Wikipedia and Bing. So it's a little bit more limited