The Values and Motivations Driving Today’s Voice-Activated Shoppers

By Ericka Podesta McCoy On Nov 12, 2018

Today’s consumers want new ways to shop, and that includes telling their smart speakers to order their next gallon of milk. Smart speaker adoption will more than double over the next four years. Eleven percent of US online adults are now using smart speakers for ordering and reordering products such as groceries and clothing. And several more are using smart speakers for services such as transportation and meal delivery.

Voice assistants will become an even more dominant mode of consumer interaction three years from now, with 40 percent of consumers using voice assistants rather than a website or an app to make a purchase. More than 30 percent of consumers will use voice assistants instead of visiting a shop or a bank branch.

Given the importance of the voice-activated shopping trend, Resonate recently set out to gain a deeper understanding of the 57.4 million people who have used or plan to use voice-activated devices to make a purchase. The analysis was derived from the Resonate consumer insights platform, which has more than 10,000 attributes representing 185 million US adults.

According to Resonate’s insights, the segment of voice-activated shoppers is mostly made up of married women in the 35-44 age range. One-fourth of them have a household income of $25K to $50K, and about half have children. Other key insights of the analysis include the following:

Personal Values

“Being in charge and directing people” tops the voice-activated shopper’s list of personal values. This means they’re more likely to be decisive and direct, to take risks to gain rewards, to have high self-confidence and to be motivated by solving challenging problems.

Their second personal value is “having the opportunity to show one’s abilities and to be admired for what one does.” They’re more ambitious and determined. To them, life is about getting ahead, “winning” and impressing others.

Their third personal value is “treating every person in the world equally.” Life is about social justice for this segment and equality and protection for all people. Marketing messages to this group should focus on being assertive, commanding and confident, as well as centered around themes like being admired, appreciated, successful and acknowledged and philanthropy and social activism.

Product Preferences

When it comes to their product preferences, voice-activated shoppers are 34 percent more likely than the average consumer to buy based on innovation. This makes sense since they’re on the front wave of consumers using smart speakers to make purchases. They also gravitate towards products that are family-friendly, unique and produced sustainably.

Voice-activated shoppers also use smart products for other functions, including smart media systems, smart lighting and smart smoke or carbon monoxide detectors. They’re also 40 percent more likely to shop in-store and buy online; 33 percent more likely to check prices via mobile when they’re in a store; and 16 percent more likely to make impulse purchases.

Daily Routines

As far as their daily routines, voice-activated shoppers are focused on good health and family. They limit calories, fat and salt, they eat with family at least four times per week, and their family is physically active. For fun, they go to theme parks, shop for clothes and go hiking and camping.

They also prefer to buy from companies that support the community, listen to the public and reduce their energy use. They’re 27 percent more likely to contact companies to share their thoughts, 24 percent more likely to follow companies on social media and 21 percent more likely to know about or buy a product before their friends and family.

When they do venture out to a brick-and-mortar store, they’re 13 percent more likely to select a retailer based on their loyalty program, followed by knowledgeable, fast and responsive staff. They’re 3 percent less likely to choose a retailer based on convenient locations, and they’re also not as focused on looking for retailers with the best prices and sales and having enjoyable/clean stores.

We also looked at ways this segment is using other disruptive technology. They’re 62 percent more likely than the average consumer to use online payment apps for 11-20 percent of their transactions. They’re 3 percent more likely to use an online-only bank and 5 percent more comfortable than the average consumer with self-driving cars.

The number of people who use voice-activated devices for shopping today is relatively small—but not for long. Millions more are planning to join the ranks of voice-activated shoppers over the coming year, and over time, voice shopping has the potential to fundamentally redefine the retail industry. It’s time for retailers to start factoring this emerging behavior into their long-term marketing strategies.