Voice recognition tech comes in many varieties, and despite being less than a decade old (in its modern form), we’ve already started to get used to it as an essential technological tool. According to Google, about 20 percent of all mobile search queries are done using voice commands, and with the rise of home-based digital assistants, smart speakers, and the internet-of-things (IoT) overall, users are becoming more and more used to relying on voice commands to get things done.

The sophistication of voice recognition systems is continuously improving thanks to deep learning algorithms and the commitment of vocal recognition teams in major tech companies; authorities realize that consumers like using their voices to carry out technological functions because it’s more convenient, and the easier it is to use, the more convenient it gets.

But the rise of voice recognition will have implications far beyond convenience — both for consumers and the people marketing to them. So just how far can voice recognition go, and what implications are marketers going to face because of it?

The Limits of User Adoption

Right now, 20 percent of mobile queries are voice prompts. So how long before we reach 50 percent? 80 percent? Or even higher?

All we know for sure is that the number of users relying on voice search will certainly rise, as more users get used to the functionality and voice recognition grows better and better. Consider this; we consider ourselves to be in the “mobile age,” with mobile devices dominating desktops and laptops, yet mobile devices barely hold the majority of searches, with 60 percent of query volume. That’s a substantial leap, considering back in 2007, only 400 million people used mobile devices for any online actions.

Considering a similar curve, we might expect voice searches to become the dominant form of search within the next decade, and probably within the next five years. The pace of technology adoption has been incrementally rising, which means every new technology will be adopted faster than the one before it.

So what would this mean for consumers and marketers? Ultimately, you can think of the consequences and opportunities playing out in two key areas: an increased availability and diversity of user data, and changes to user behavior.

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