Voice assistants such as Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant, and Siri are becoming a bigger part of many people's lives, according to a new Adobe Analytics survey.
Many consumers are also now using voice assistants to search the Web, make calls, check the news, get directions, find sports scores, shop, and more.
"Technology trends come and go, but it's clear that voice is here to stay," Adobe Group Product Marketing Manager Heidi Besik said in a statement. "As a society, we are realizing that the usefulness of voice assistant technology can far outweigh the initial awkwardness felt when talking to devices in front of others, and the growth in smart speaker usage has had the most impact in driving this forward."
As of August 2018, 32 percent of US consumers owned a smart speaker, up from 28 percent in January of this year, Adobe found. The company called that increase "considerable," especially given that its previous research indicates most smart-speaker sales occur during the holiday quarter.
In this recent survey, 76 percent of smart speaker owners and 38 percent of non-owners said they use voice assistants more now than they did a year ago. Moreover, 71 percent of smart speaker owners use them at least daily, with 44 percent saying they do so multiple times a day.
When it comes to shopping, Adobe found that while consumers don't always buy directly on smart speakers, many use voice assistants to research products and compare prices.
As we go into the holiday season, 45 percent of smart speaker owners are planning to purchase another one for themselves, and 23 percent plan to buy one for someone else. Meanwhile, 23 percent of non-owners plan to buy one for themselves and 9 percent plan to purchase one for someone else. Following this holiday season, almost half of consumers (48 percent) will own a smart speaker, Adobe found.
"It is becoming critical for major brands to give voice as much priority as other channels like website and mobile," Besik said. "If they don't move quickly, many will miss the boat like they did when smartphones suddenly became ubiquitous."
For anyone who hasn't yet jumped into the smart-speaker world, first consider which voice assistance platform will work best for you. The top choices don't work very well together, so when you equip several rooms, it's best to stick to a single assistant. Currently, our analysts prefer Alexa and Google Assistant, then Siri, then Microsoft Cortana (which still feels a generation or two behind the other three).
As for specific devices, PCMag recommends the Amazon Echo, affordable Echo Dot, or alarm clock–like Echo Spot for Alexa fans and the Sonos Beam for "Alexa-acclimated audiophiles." For "audio-focused Google Assistant users," we recommend the Google Home Max. Those who want their pick of either Alexa or Google Assistant should check out the Sonos One.