Beyond Skills: Building a Voice Strategy for 2021

With hundreds of millions of Alexa devices now out there with customers, it’s never been more critical for agencies, developers, and brands to understand the power of developing a voice strategy.  Beyond just creating an Alexa skill, a winning voice strategy outlines a comprehensive approach for how a brand can elevate their products and services through voice across the full customer journey.

So, how can agencies and brands get started with building a winning voice strategy? We recommend diving into our Voice Strategy & Planning Spotlight, part of the comprehensive Alexa Agency Curriculum we released this summer. The Spotlight outlines how agencies and brands can get inspired around the value of voice, align on the most compelling voice opportunities, and develop a structured plan for pursuing voice initiatives.

As part of this effort, you should be seeking to understand how brand’s customers are using voice throughout their day, sharing noteworthy examples and identifying specific opportunities in their customer journey where voice can add value or remove friction.

Beyond understanding how voice can fit into customers’ lives and building creative Alexa skills to service their needs, agencies and brands will want to collaborate to define a thorough go-to-market plan and a roadmap to evolve and monetize your voice initiatives over time.

The best voice strategies are integrated with broader business and digital priorities as part of brands' annual strategy and planning process, contextualizing immediate opportunities within a long-term framework.

Here are some questions you will want to consider as you work through your end-to-end voice strategy development:

• What are the key business drivers you’re looking to voice to affect?
• What cross-functional stakeholders (technical, creative, product, CX, etc.) need to get enrolled in formulating and executing on your voice strategy?
• Where and how will you promote your voice experiences to customers?
• How often will you update or develop new content for your Alexa skill to drive retention and keep your users engaged?
• Have you considered features like Amazon Pay for Alexa Skills or In-Skill Purchasing to monetize your Alexa skill?
• Do you have a roadmap in place to guide future feature development?
• s your brand optimized for voice search?

As you get started planning for 2021, please find resources on planning for voice and developing your strategy in our Alexa Agency Curriculum. Register to access guides, best practices and case studies here.