Why Alexa+ is an unparalleled opportunity for brands

We’ve been talking about hyper-personalisation for ages in the marketing world, but Amazon's latest offering, Alexa+ feels like the real deal, a true game-changer for how brands can actually connect with consumers.

What Amazon has done here, making Alexa+ fundamentally different from its predecessor, is build an AI that’s actively curious about you. It’s no longer just waiting around for instructions.

From the moment you set it up, it begins crafting a rich, layered picture of who you are – logging your purchases, your music tastes, the shows you binge (and probably which of the best laptops for streaming movies you use to do so), even where you live and how you like to pay. And that’s just the start.

What’s clever is that users can give it even more personal information – from contacts and calendar events to family recipes, birthdays, food preferences, and even those annoying frequent flyer numbers. Alexa+ also pulls useful bits from your documents, emails, and photos – meaning it can remember, organise, or act on them.

Snap a pic of a concert lineup and it can add the show to your diary. Forward a school email and it’ll set a reminder for pick-up. This ever-growing, detailed knowledge of each person – their routines, likes, and day-to-day life – is the real foundation of meaningful personalisation. And for brands, that’s where the magic happens.

This level of insight lets Alexa+ deliver suggestions and content that genuinely resonate. That kind of relevance boosts not only engagement but, more importantly, conversions. For instance, if Alexa+ knows your household’s dietary quirks – say your child is vegetarian or your partner avoids gluten – it can recommend meals or nearby spots that tick all the boxes.

That gives food brands and delivery services an incredibly focused, personal way to reach consumers. Also, with its ability to monitor price changes and alert users when something they want goes on sale, it becomes a kind of smart shopping assistant. Brands now have a way to reach people right when they’re most likely to act – almost like it can read the room.

Then there’s the conversational aspect which is truly next level. Conversations with Alexa+ are becoming "expansive and natural," making it feel less like you’re interacting with a piece of tech and more like chatting with an insightful friend.

It’s built to handle half-formed thoughts, everyday expressions, and even interruptions, which makes the whole interaction feel seamless and intuitive. This natural voice interface is a massive opportunity for brands.

We’re talking about developing Alexa skills and voice-activated ads that are truly immersive and personalised. It means voice-based marketing is going to integrate even more tightly with our traditional digital campaigns, creating multi-channel experiences where consumers can engage with a brand in more diverse and organic ways.

Perhaps the most exciting part for us in the brand world is Alexa+'s ability to turn talk into action. This isn't just about conversation; it's about conversion.

The powerful large language models allow Alexa+ to orchestrate across tens of thousands of services and devices. This is revolutionary for e-commerce because it makes shopping through voice commands incredibly easy for consumers. It’s going to push brands to create seamless and frictionless e-commerce experiences via voice, driving a significant shift toward voice-driven sales.

Whether it's ordering groceries from Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods Market, making reservations with OpenTable, or even being reminded when concert tickets go on sale via Ticketmaster, Alexa+ can facilitate these actions directly through voice.

This dramatically shortens the path from discovery to purchase. And let’s not forget its capability to actually navigate the internet autonomously to complete complex tasks, like arranging a repair service on your behalf without you needing to supervise. Plus, it’s proactive, nudging users about sales on items they might want. That’s getting relevant offers to consumers precisely when they’re most receptive.

The sheer volume of user interaction data that Alexa+ can collect and analyse is an invaluable asset for advertisers. This data provides valuable insights into consumer preferences and behaviours, empowering brands to fine-tune their targeted marketing strategies with unprecedented precision.

And, of course, as voice search becomes ever more prevalent because of Alexa+, businesses will adapt their digital strategies. This means optimising content for voice queries, which will certainly mean altering our traditional SEO approaches to ensure brands remain visible in voice search results.

Alexa+ combined with this advanced AI isn't just an upgrade; it's a paradigm shift. It’s fostering truly deep personalisation through comprehensive user data, incredibly natural conversations, frictionless commerce, and deep integration into daily life. For brands, it means an unparalleled opportunity for highly relevant messaging, seamless voice commerce, and truly invaluable data-driven insights.

If you want more AI in your life, check out our piece on how to use DALL·E in Chat-GPT. If you want to retreat back to pen and paper, check out the best pencils and best sketchbooks.