My PM Interview® - Preparation for Success

My PM Interview® - Preparation for Success

How to Build Voice-First Growth Products?

Reverse engineer assistants, build voice funnels, and measure real business impact.

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My PM Interview
Jan 23, 2026
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Voice assistants are no longer a novelty feature. They are becoming a default interface for search, commerce, and productivity. Users now ask questions, buy products, control devices, and consume content using voice instead of typing or clicking.

For product managers, this shift changes three core things:

1) Discovery

Voice assistants often return one single answer, not a list of links. If your product is not that answer, you are invisible.

2) UX Expectations

Users expect instant, conversational, and actionable responses, not long explanations or complex flows.

3) Distribution Power

Voice platforms are controlled by a few players (Google, Amazon, Apple). That means platform strategy becomes as important as SEO strategy.


By the end of this, you will be able to:

  • Understand how voice assistants decide what to answer

  • Reverse engineer voice search results like a PM reverse engineers competitor features

  • Design content and experiences optimized for voice-first users

  • Build a platform strategy for Google Assistant, Alexa, and Siri

  • Identify owned vs earned levers to grow voice presence

  • Create a roadmap for voice-driven product growth


Voice Search Landscape Today

Voice assistants fundamentally change how search and discovery work.

Voice Is an Answer Engine, Not a Search Engine

Traditional search shows 10 blue links.
Voice gives one spoken answer.

This creates a winner-takes-all discovery model.

For PMs, this means:

  • Ranking #2 in voice equals zero visibility

  • UX must be optimized for short, spoken responses

  • Content must be structured for extraction, not reading


Where Voice Assistants Get Their Data

Each assistant pulls data from different ecosystems:

Google Assistant

  • Web pages and featured snippets

  • Google Knowledge Graph

  • Google Business Profiles

  • Google Maps and reviews

Amazon Alexa

  • Amazon product listings and reviews

  • Alexa skills and apps

  • Structured third-party content

Apple Siri

  • Apple Maps

  • Yelp

  • Apple Search index

  • Apple device integrations

Insight: Voice is not just SEO. It is a platform product distribution.


Why AI Changes Voice Optimisation

Modern AI models summarize content instead of quoting it. This creates new challenges:

  • AI might paraphrase your content without linking

  • Only structured and authoritative content gets picked

  • Entities and knowledge graphs matter more than keywords

Implication: You are optimizing for machine understanding, not just humans.


Who Benefits Most From Voice Optimization

Voice-first wins are strongest in:

  • Local services (food, travel, healthcare)

  • E-commerce and reordering flows

  • How-to content and tutorials

  • Smart home and automation products

  • Productivity and scheduling tools

Takeaway: If your product has a repetitive or real-world action, voice is a growth channel.


Start With Intent:

Voice optimisation starts with understanding what users say and why they say it.

Think of this like building a Jobs To Be Done map for voice.

Step 1: Identify the Trigger Phrase

User's avatar

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