20 Voice Search Statistics and Usage Insights

With many potentially revolutionary technologies like VR or AI impacting the products around us, the future of voice search is bright. Voice-enabled services have seen significant adoption rate growth within a very short period. These voice search statistics take a closer look at this phenomenon and help examine how deep this technology’s penetration is.

Voice Search Statistics (Editor’s Choice)

• 55% of households are expected to own smart speaker devices by the end of 2022. (TechCrunch)
• The voice recognition market will reach $27.16 billion by 2026. (Statista)
• Google’s voice assistant is now available on more than 1 billion devices. (Ars Technica)
• Siri leads the smartphone voice assistant market share with 45.1% ownership. (Voicebot)
• 80.5% of people aged 18-29 have tried using a voice assistant on their smartphone. (Voicebot)
• Playing music (90%) is the most popular use of smart speakers currently. (Nielsen)
• 45.5% of smart speaker owners have their devices in the bedroom. (Voicebot)
• Voice commerce is expected to jump to $40 billion by 2022. (Voicebot)

General Voice Search Stats & Facts

1. The voice recognition market will reach $27.16 billion by 2026.

The voice recognition market growth will explode in the year to come. Estimations show it will grow at a 16.8% CAGR between 2021 and 2026, reaching 27.16 billion.

(Statista)

2. 71% of consumers prefer voice search over typing.

7 in 10 consumers would choose voice search over typing. Users mostly use voice search for basic queries like checking the weather, setting a reminder, texting a friend, or putting music on, as voice search stats reveal. Given the rapid adoption and consumers’ preferences, we’re likely to witness a time when typing search queries will become obsolete.

(Oberlo)

3. Voice word accuracy rates have crossed 90% for most major platforms.

Back in 2011, when Siri was introduced by Apple, or in 2013 when Google introduced its voice-search features, it was common for queries to get misinterpreted, leading to incorrect results. Beginning from levels below 80%, word accuracy rates for most major voice-search platforms had risen to well above 90%, as per voice search statistics. This improvement is likely to encourage more people to adopt the technology. 

(SEO Expert Brad, Search Engine Land)

4. Almost 20% of all voice search queries are triggered by just 25 keywords.

Google’s Answer Box—the summary of an answer to a user’s query that is displayed at the top of search results—is the answer that is also provided by Google’s Assistant and the Google Home device. An analysis of these Google voice search answers reveals that over 20% of featured snippets are triggered by a set of 25 words. Google voice search statistics reveal the most frequently occurring terms are How, What, and Best, showing that brands should focus on content that answers queries with informational intent.

(ThriveMyWay)

5. 32% of smart speaker users have synced the device to their mobile phone.

Over a third of people using smart speakers have synced the device to their mobile phone. Another 23% have reported they have their TVs synced. Speakers or a stereo system (18%), light (17%), and thermostat (17%) are also among the devices people sync with the smart speakers.  

(Nielsen)

Voice Assistant Statistics 

6. The number of users of virtual assistants is expected to reach 1.8 billion in 2021.

Technology improvements have gained voice search a forefront place in the everyday lives of 31% of people. The number of digital virtual assistants will continue to grow at a rapid pace, reaching an estimated 1.8 billion users in 2021. 

(Go-Gulf)

7. In 2022, over 135 million people in the US will use digital virtual assistants at least once a month. 

44.2% of all internet users in the US are using voice search. This equals approximately 128 million people or 38.5% of the population in the US that have used a voice assistant in 2020. Voice assistant statistics estimate that this trend will go upward, and 2022 will see 135.6 million people in the US using voice-based digital assistants at least once a month. 

(Emarketer)

8. For 53.1% of users, the most important quality in a voice assistant is how well it understands when they are speaking. 

More than half of users think the most important quality of a voice assistant is how well it understands the speech. For 36.8% it’s important how fast the voice assistant responds and 33.4% consider how much it can do.

(DataDab)

9. Google’s voice assistant is now available on more than 1 billion devices.

Voice-activated Google search is now available on devices like Google Home, Android phones and tablets, iPhones, headphones, TVs, watches, and more. Recently, Google Assistant statistics revealed that there are 500 million active monthly users. All these data point toward one incontrovertible fact: Google’s voice-enabled service is getting popular among consumers at a relentless pace. 

(Ars Technica, Voicebot)

10. Apple’s Siri counts 500 million installs. 

Coming head to head with Google Assistant by the number of installs, Siri is one of the game leaders. Microsoft Cortana comes next with over 400 million installs. Amazon Alexa follows with more than 100 million installs.
(Statista)

11. Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant are the market leaders with a 36% market share.

As per voice assistant statistics on the global market, Siri and Google Assistant lead the way each with a 36% share across devices. Amazon’s Alexa is the third most popular voice search assistant and accounts for 25% of the market, followed by Microsoft’s Cortana with a 19% share. 

(SEMrush)

12. Siri leads the smartphone voice assistant market share with 45.1% of users.

Even though Siri voice search is viewed as less capable than other voice assistants, its long-time presence on iPhone has helped it develop familiarity among users. Siri statistics reveal it accounts for 45.1% of smartphone voice assistant users, the largest relative market share among smartphone voice assistants. 

Google Assistant (with a 29.9% market share) has made it onto millions of Android devices, but the company still needs to educate users on its availability and capabilities. Meanwhile, Amazon’s voice assistant has garnered an 18.3% share, whereas Samsung Bixby accounts for 6.7% of total smartphone voice assistant users.

(Voicebot)

13. Between 2018 and 2020, the number of voice assistant users on smartphones rose by 11%. 

Smartphone voice assistants offer great convenience which is why their usage grows even faster than the overall smartphone ownership. Over two years, smartphone voice assistant use grew by 11% to 56.4%, and the number of daily active users climbed by 23% in the same period. 

(Voicebot)

14. The average answer match between Google Assistants is 22% across devices.

Every Google voice-activated device runs on similar algorithms and returns the same answers but with different wording. So the answers will differ depending on the device used. Google Home statistics indicate that Home Hub and Android phones have matching results of 66%, whereas Google Home Mini and Android phones have mere 0.33% matching results. 

(SEMrush)

15. The answer length of the answers provided by the voice assistant for local queries is 23 words.

Google Mini and Google Home show the longer-than-the-average length of answers — 41 words. This number is 3.7x higher compared to answers provided by Google Home Hub and Alexa, with an average answer of 11 words, each. The average answer that Siri yields contains 15 words.

(SEMrush)

16. Voice assistants can’t answer on average 6.3% of the questions across all devices. 

This is quite an improvement from only a few years ago when the average number of unanswered queries was 35%. Of all voice assistants analyzed, Alexa struggled to answer 23% of the queries. Google Home Hub had 5% unanswered queries, whereas Google Home Mini, and Google Home had 3% each. 

(SEMrush)

Smart Speaker Statistics

17. 55% of households are expected to own smart speaker devices by the end of 2022. 

The smart speaker market is mainly held by two tech behemoths: Amazon Echo (70.6% US penetration) and Google Home (23.8%), with other smart speaker devices taking 5.6% of the market share. 

By the end of this year, more than half of households should own a smart speaker device, as per Amazon Echo statistics.

(TechCrunch)

18. 87.7 million adults in the US are using smart speakers. 

The smart speaker installed user base grows at a rapid pace, noting a 34.4% adoption rate. Now, close to 90 million US adults are using smart speakers, up by 32% from 2019 and a whopping 85% from 2018.   

(Voicebot)

19. 68% of smart speaker users use them to listen to the news.

Seeking information on news, weather, recipes, appointments, and relationships is what people use most with their smart speakers. This is followed by chatting with the voice assistant for fun (68%) and setting alarms or timers (68%), as voice search trends reveal.

(Nielsen)

20. Playing music (90%) is the most popular use of smart speakers currently.

The next two most popular uses are searching for weather information (81%) and searching for factual information (75%). The functionality evolution of smart speakers is expected to reflect that of the iPod, which was used mainly for music initially but evolved to play media and answer queries in time. As artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and machine learning are developing, and businesses embrace the technology to meet consumer needs, the sophistication of functionality will evolve among smart speakers as well, reflecting the trends shown by Apple Siri statistics.

(Nielsen)

21. 45.5% of smart speaker owners have their devices in the bedroom. 

The number rose by 8% from 2019 when 37.6% of smart speaker owners had their voice-enabled device placed in the bedroom. Voice search statistics indicate that consumers that have the smart speaker in the bedroom are more likely to be heavy users. They are 21-25% more likely to listen to streaming music, podcast, and radio, and 27% more likely to listen to the news daily. 

(Voicebot)

22. With 43.2%, the living room is another place where smart speakers are often placed. 

Smart speaker statistics reveal the living room is the second most likely place for consumers to have their smart speakers. The kitchen follows with 41.5%. 13.3% of smart speaker owners have placed the voice-activated device in the bathroom, 11.6% in the home office, 5.8% in the dining room, and 5.5% in the garage. 

(Voicebot)

23. 82% of smart speaker owners find their intelligent assistants to be useful.

The longer people use smart speaker devices, the more useful they find them to be, which is in contrast to some other tech fads like activity trackers in which users lose interest after a few months. Based on smart speaker statistics, 65% of owners use their intelligent assistants more than four times a week. 81% of smart speaker owners agree or strongly agree that their devices meet their expectations.

(Tattva Creations)

24. 53% of smart speaker owners say it feels natural talking to voice-activated devices.

41% of smart speaker owners even admit that talking to these devices feels like talking to a friend or another person. This bodes well for the wider adoption of voice-enabled devices and indicates that the potential for increasing utility is high. More voice search statistics from the survey indicate that 51% of 55+ smart speaker owners say that the top reason for using these devices is that they empower the owners by providing instant answers and information.

(Google)

Voice Search Usage Statistics

25. 61% of consumers use voice search when their hands or vision is occupied.

The ability to get information when typing is not an option is the primary reason why consumers use voice search. This could include instances like driving, watching over children, cooking, doing household chores, etc. Stats in voice search indicate that other important reasons include faster results (30%), difficulty typing on certain devices (24%), the element of fun (22%), and avoidance of confusing menus (12%). 

(Webolutions)

26. 38% of US consumers are using voice assistants when relaxing at home. 

Nearly 40% of US consumers reported using voice search when relaxing at home. Another 21% are using voice search when walking, 20% when at work, and 17% when in bed. 

(DataDab)

27. 52% of users said they are using voice-enabled tech a few times a day or nearly every day. 

As much as 77% of US adults have reported their daily routine changed due to the coronavirus outbreak. 52% of users started using their voice-enabled devices several times a day or nearly every day compared to 46% before the COVID-19 outbreak. Additionally, voice search user statistics show that 36% of US adults and 52% of 18-34-year olds started using their smart speakers more to listen to music and entertainment. Similarly, 35% of the US adults and 50% of smart speaker users aged 18-34 used the devices more to listen to the news. 

(National Public Media)

28. By 2022, 73% of consumers on average will use voice assistants in cars.

Voice assistants enable consumers that drive to book an appointment without taking their eyes off the road. Currently, 49% of drivers are using voice assistants in cars and this number is projected to grow to 73%. Voice assistant statistics estimate that 85% of consumers will use digital virtual assistants to play music or check directions, 78% will be integrating at-home voice systems, 74% will be booking a service appointment, and 72% will be placing an order. 

(CapGemini)

29. Over half of users want their voice assistants to be personalized. 

56% of users would like to personalize their voice assistant, while 63% want the voice assistant to understand their personality and adapt accordingly. 60% want to give it a name and another 58% want to define its personality to make them more personal. 

(CapGemini)

30. 3 in 5 users prefer having one integrated voice-based service in their car, home, and mobile device. 

53% of people use their in-car voice assistants because they have more versatile functions compared to those at home. However, 62% of consumers would like to use an integrated voice service across their car, home, and mobile. 

(CapGemini)

31. The most common setting for voice-assisted search is people’s homes (43%). 

This is followed by 36% for their cars and 19% for on-the-go. Voice search statistics show that the most compelling use case for voice-assisted search is in a hands-free environment, allowing users to multitask. As such, there is likely to be increasing demand for more home-based devices and apps, similar to Amazon Echo, but also enabling other connected home appliances and devices by voice. 

(Webolutions)

32. About 45% of US adults would like their favorite apps to offer voice interactive features.

Voicebot’s survey reveals that 45.1% of adults based in the US would like “very much” or think “it would be nice” if the mobile apps they use the most offer voice-based features. Only 7.1% are not interested in this feature, 17.8% are leaning against it, and a little over 30% of the respondents said they are unsure, as voice search user stats reveal.

(Voicebot)

33. 71% of wearable device owners believe they’ll be performing more voice searches in the future.

Among four categories of devices—smartphones, tablets, speakers, and wearable devices—it’s the owners of wearable devices who seem most optimistic about higher use of voice searches on their devices. Tablet and speaker owners follow closely behind with 64% and 63% of owners expecting more use for voice search features.    

(PwC)

Voice Search Demographics

34. The majority of smart speaker owners in the US are in the 18-36 age group.

About 41.1% of smart speaker owners are millennials or younger, 34.5% are from the Gen X group (37 to 52), and only 17.6% are 53 or older. Voice search statistics also show that teenagers are more likely to use mobile search assistants than adults are. 

For many of the users in the youngest age group, by the time they began using smartphones, Apple’s digital assistant Siri had already made its appearance, and voice search was a much more natural technology for them than for older users who are generally slower to make the transition from conventional search. 

(Emarketer)

35. 51.3% of consumers in the 30-44 age group speak to their voice-enabled devices at least once every day.

With minor variations, most voice search trends indicate that younger users are more likely to be frequent users of voice search features on their devices. 30 to 44-year-olds are followed closely by 60-year-olds in terms of usage frequency. However, the 60+ demographic is credited with helping to drive the early adoption of the technology.

(Voicebot)

36. 64% of 25 to 64-year-olds say they will use their voice devices more in the future.

According to this survey, the older users may have been slow to transition to voice technology, but many of them are interested in increasing their use to bring them at par with their younger peers. The corresponding figure for the 18-to-24-year-old cohort is 55%.

(PwC)

37. 80.5% of people aged 18-29 have tried using a voice assistant on their smartphone at least once. 

According to voice search stats, over 80% of people aged 18-29 have given it a go. Additionally, 74.7% of consumers in the 30-44 age bracket have tried voice assistants on smartphones, whereas the 45-60 age group has a 68.8% rate of voice assistant trial. Surprisingly, over 60% of the 60+ demographics have also tried voice-enabled assistants on smartphones. 

(Voicebot)

38. Siri adoption on smartphones is highest among the 60+ demographic.

There’s an age-related preference when it comes to choosing voice assistants on smartphones. 47.3% of the 60+ demographic has adopted Siri, whereas only 19.1% are using Google Assistant. Google Assistant had the strongest adoption rate among the 30-44 age group — 31.8%.

(Voicebot)

39. Amazon is the prevalent brand of smart speakers among 70.4% of 60+ consumers. 

The 60+ and 45-60 age groups are the largest Amazon Echo demographics. The state is similar to the 45-60 age group where Amazon dominates with 65.2% ownership. Younger consumers are also leaning toward Amazon smart speakers. 55.8% of 18-29-year olds and 53.6% of 30-44-year olds are owning one. However, the 30-44 age group has the highest rate of Google Home devices — 31.7%. 

(Voicebot)

Voice Commerce Statistics

40. Voice commerce is expected to jump to $40 billion by 2022.

The voice shopping market was worth just about $2 billion in 2018, but it is expected to become the next major disruptive force in retail because of the strong penetration smart household speakers see across the world. 

As voice search facts show, the most commonly shopped categories via voice-activated search are grocery (20%), entertainment (19%), electronics (17%), and apparel (8%). However, to drive additional spending, more apps within the voice shopping category and better personalization are required. Within this same period, the voice commerce market in the UK is predicted to be worth $5 billion.

(Voicebot)

41. 11.5% of smart speaker owners in the US make purchases by voice every month.

Voice shopping by smart speakers has already become a monthly habit for one in nine smart speaker owners in the US. Voice search usage statistics reveal that 47.3 million US adults have access to smart speakers. With 11.5% of them claiming to use these devices for purchases at least once a month, 5.44 million US adults have transitioned to making voice-enabled purchases regularly. 

(Voicebot)

42. The number of people who make purchases using a smart speaker will jump to 23.5 million in 2021.

Emarketer estimates that 23.5 million people will have purchased smart speakers by the end of 2021. Voice search trends show faster adoption of voice-enabled tech for shopping, although buyers are still concerned about payment security and privacy.

(Emarketer)

43. 65% of smart speaker owners say they are comfortable making purchases with a smart speaker.

Shopping, which voice search stats show as being one of the most popular activities involving smart speakers currently, is likely to involve building shopping lists in many cases rather than actual shopping. 24% of people shop using voice-activated virtual assistants on their mobile, while 8% shop using a voice-activated device, pointing toward the strong potential of voice-enabled technology for ecommerce platforms soon.

(Just AI, Narvar)

44. Up to 43% of voice-enabled device owners use their devices to shop.

Consumers across age groups are using voice searches on their devices to assist with making purchases—a 41% increase in 2018 alone. Interestingly, the use of voice-enabled devices for shopping is most prevalent (43%) in the 45-60 age group, followed by 38% in the 30-44 age group. Voice assistant user demographics reveal that 15% of under-30 users engage in shopping through voice, as do 4% of users in the 60-plus age group.

(Narvar)

45. Product research is the most common shopping-related activity performed through voice search.

The highest percentage of voice searches related to shopping, accounting for 51% of users, is done to research products. The other shopping-related activities performed using voice are adding items to shopping lists (36%), tracking a package (30%), making a purchase (22%), providing ratings or reviews (20%), contacting support (18%), and reordering items (17%).

(Narvar) 

46. 52% of smart speaker owners are interested in receiving info about deals, sales, and promotions from brands.

This and other insights from a Google survey show that smart speakers can prove a novel way for brands to engage with their customers. For instance, smart speaker statistics reveal that 48% of owners would like to receive personalized tips and information from brands, and 42% would like to receive info about upcoming events or activities from brands. Incorporate these insights into your marketing analytics software, and the chances of running unsuccessful marketing campaigns are almost non-existent.

(Google) 

47. 76% of smart speaker users perform local voice searches at least weekly.

53% of smart speaker owners use voice-activated search to look for information on local businesses daily. A substantial percentage of consumers also use voice search for local businesses on their smartphones, tablets, and desktops. Because of their convenience for on-the-go customers, voice search services are often used to research and locate local businesses.

(BrightLocal)

48. 51% of consumers use voice search to research restaurants. 

While restaurants are the most commonly voice-searched business, voice search statistics show that consumers make use of voice search to find information on a large variety of businesses. These include grocery stores (41%), food delivery services (35%), doctors (28%), veterinarians (19%), childcare facilities (11%), and many more.

(BrightLocal)

49. 28% of consumers go on to call the business they voice searched for. 

This is the most common action following a voice search since it allows consumers to continue interacting with brands via their voices. Other common follow-up actions include visiting the business’s website (27%), visiting its location (19%), conducting more research on the business (14%), and conducting more research into other businesses (12%), as per voice search stats.

(BrightLocal)

FAQs

Sources

• TechCrunch
• Statista
• Ars Technica
• Voicebot
• Voicebot
• Voicebot
• Voicebot
• Oberlo
• SEO Expert Brad
• Search Engine Land
• ThriveMyWay
• Nielsen
• Go-Gulf
• Emarketer
• DataDab
• Voicebot
• Statista
• SEMrush
• TechCrunch
• Voicebot
• Tattva Creations
• Google
• Webolutions
• National Public Media
• CapGemini
• Voicebot
• PwC
• Emarketer
• Voicebot
• Emarketer
• Just AI
• Narvar
• Google
• BrightLocal
• Statista
• Harman Kardon
• Backlinko
• Digital Agency Network
• SEMrush
• YouGov

By Ana Gajic