How Brands Can Get Noticed Through Voice in China

Given the complexity of the Chinese writing system, rapidly maturing voice technology will bring real convenience to people's lives in China. And that means marketers should pay attention. eMarketer’s Man-Chung Cheung spoke with Nate Shurilla, Asia-Pacific head of innovation at global digital marketing agency iProspect, about voice usage in China and the next big opportunities for marketers to reach voice users in the market.

Voice users in China also reported high adoption across all of the other areas in our survey, including surfing the internet or voice search (49%), operating smart home devices (47%) and engaging with digital assistants (44%).

Voice usage in Western markets is generally more concentrated in voice assistants. This is evident in the smart home space where 47% of voice users in China operate smart homes, compared with just 31% in the West.

Though we didn't investigate the specific devices used to purchase, 81% of respondents reported using smartphone personal assistants, while only 28% reported utilizing personal assistant-controlled devices—the category smart speakers fall into—which suggests that voice purchases are more likely to be done via smartphones than smart speakers.

Although Amazon recently announced that Alexa is now in 20,000 devices, China has been much quicker than the West at adopting smart devices outside the traditional smart speaker. That means smart device commerce in China will be an interesting area to watch in the coming months and years. Voice assistants paired with augmented reality [AR] and virtual realty [VR] will only further accelerate this trend.

Other areas to consider are productivity and B2B applications in a smart office. Having a digital assistant that can fetch data without having to open a dashboard or application, schedule meetings or rooms and make calls can be a huge time saver. Think the next stage of Google Duplex.

And lastly, voice search is a key area for brands. We found that 46% of voice users in China use search—it's a very large audience. Making sure your store or restaurant is recommended when people ask for nearby recommendations or ensuring your site sources the answer for a brand-critical question can have a lasting effect as voice SEO continues to gain steam.