Salmat Tech Lead – Speech & Automation, Peter Nann spoke at the AdTech meet up in Sydney recently on the subject: "The Voice UX revolution. Opportunities and challenges for brands”. In his presentation, speech technology expert Peter discussed the burgeoning voice device landscape led by Amazon's Alexa and the Google Home devices - looking at opportunities and challenges for brands and advertising on this revolutionary new channel. For more information about what is possible today in the voice space, contact us on 1300 725 628 or visit our website https://www.salmat.com.au Visit our blog to read about the latest marketing best practice and trends: https://www.salmat.com.au/blog Or explore our library of downloadable marketing guides here: https://www.salmat.com.au/marketing-guides About Salmat Salmat is a leading Australian marketing services business. We partner with our clients to help them with the constant pressure of acquiring and servicing their customers, week-in, week-out. With media, digital and contact capabilities, we have the right solutions for our clients, enabling them to Reach, Convert and Serve more customers. Founded in 1979, Salmat has evolved from a small letterbox distribution business to an ASX-listed company. With a talented team across four countries, we work with some of Australia’s most recognised and trusted brands to manage billions of customer interactions every year.

1. The voice
UX revolution
Opportunities and challenges for brands
Peter Nann - Senior Designer, Speech Solutions

2. the landscape
Echo Echo Dot Tap Echo Look Echo Show Dash Wand
+
and more just about every month...

3. Why voice?
it’s convenient!
● It can be used while you’re doing something else
● Speaking, it’s natural and familiar
● Consumers build a relationship with their device -
YES REALLY!
● Why push a button on a Mobile App when you can
just shout a command

4. impact on the retail
landscape will be huge
75%
40% >
50% >
20K
US household
ownership by
2020
- Gartner
predicted for
the UK, just 12
months after
release!
- Radiocentre
of owners say
they make
fewer in-store
purchases now
- Toluna, May/2017
third-party
'Skills' already
(Most of them poor
quality - More on this
later…)
Alexa has

5. ?But voice isn’t that big in AUS
so why worry
It’s not yet but it will be…... we’re early adopters
Customers will begin to expect, even demand,
convenience from their brands
‘I have to call you up?’ ‘Install your app?’
Trawl your web site? ‘ ‘How yesterday!’
If you’re not on voice you just
don’t care about customer service

6. Where are
the ads?
Voice-ads within the 'assistants' are risky but not impossible
Some early forays have not gone well
The trick? Very few but laser-targeted ads
● Aim for ~50% of ads being relevant and useful to the user.
Less is more.
● They should feel like assistance, not like ads!
● Carefully placed, to minimise the impact on user flow
● If you're not sure, don't do it
● Advertising has to be smarter
- Think an AI-driven laser, not a double barrel shotgun

7. get in early with "Acme"
or you'll be "Acme Australia"
• Get a device and get to know it in your home
• The software development is easier but high quality voice
interaction design is hard. Poor voice design is widespread!
• First-movers can grab the lead in skills, experience, breadth
of offering, and kudos
So what
should I do?act
now!

8. Thank
you
www.salmat.com.au

9. Feel free to get in touch
contact us
Peter Nann
senior designer, speech solutions
P +61 2 9928 6718
M +61 414 998 437
E peter.nann@salmat.com.au
www.salmat.com.au

10. FAQ
Part 1
Always listening? What about privacy?
● You should worry about your Mobile & Laptop mic - Possibly moreso...
Speech recognition? That never works
● The performance, and importantly, the experience is different now
How far can it hear, really?
● Across a couple of rooms, pretty easily
Isn't this just like Siri? - i.e. pretty disappointing?
● Siri is very 'closed'. Has evolved slowly (Barely, stunted even)
● Room-filling music is a big use case - Not seamless via Siri/iPhone
● 'Beam forming' microphone, and true hands-free feels very different
● Alexa feels like an extra helper/person, always there in the home (Weird, I know…)
What about home automation?
● Sure. HA is an edge factor, not a core factor. That hype is far from essential

11. FAQ
Part 2
Why 'in-home' devices? Isn't that a bit limiting?
● Easy to deploy a true hands-free experience - The 'wow' factor
● Obvious hook into purchasing and music services...
What about that toddler that spent big $$$ ?
● Purchase PIN! Naive user setup ('Voice ID' coming too…)
Do different branded devices 'interop'?
● Largely, no. Pick one eco-system
● But to a degree, yes. e.g. Google Calendar integration likely to be widespread
● Alexa-Cortana integration announced Aug/2017!
Do the devices work right now, in Australia?
● The Google Home - Buy it now!
● Alexa - Yes, to a very large degree! (Need a US-based iTunes account for Alexa)
● Aus accent = Quite OK. Matthew McConaughey accent = better!
● How to buy? - eBay, BigAppleBuddy, etc.

12. FAQ
Part 3
How do I get a 'voice app' published?
● Free sign-up as an Amazon/Google developer
● Free-tier cloud services (Up to a certain volume per month)
● Plenty of online walkthroughs
● Manual 'review/cert' process - Can be tricky to navigate
How is this space being monetized?
● A largely outstanding problem…
● Amazon experimenting with developer 'micro-payments'
● Google appearing to 'clip the ticket' for retailers on the platform
● B2B - Implementation skills. How do websites make $$$ ?