Nowadays, with the growing sales of Google Home and Amazon Echo, we can safely say that voice assistants have become more than novelty items. Adobe Analytics provided a survey concluding 32% of consumers own such devices and expected to grow 79% by the end of the year.
But when it comes to shopping, have you ever used voice assistance for that? Though the owners’ purchasing from such features are only 3% currently, this is expected to grow. Moreover, Capgemini has predicted that within 3 years 40% of customers will shop with the help of these devices with nearly 18% of their total shopping budgets. If you wish to try out this feature to your online Shopify store, you can use Shopify web development.
Echo users can shop Amazon and Google Home can purchase from big retailers like Target, Ulta, Walgreens, and Walmart. With the rise of their sales and popularity, they might partner with smaller retailers too. With time and demand for voice search technology, consumers will expect better voice shopping experiences.
Gear up and adopt the following trends in your business to popularize voice shopping:
- Upgrade your Customer Service
You can enable voice shopping in your store by instilling a customer service chat option. Many retailers are introducing these features by using artificial intelligence (AI) platforms like Linc.
For instance, Lamps Plus, a home goods retailer installed chatbots with voice-assistance for users to ask product questions, return and track orders simply by speaking to their devices.
- Take advantage of customer data
The customers’ data you have will be important for voice shopping, mostly for special occasions and repeat purchases. Many shoppers shop which they feel is the most user-friendly platform, which is one of the reasons for voice assistance’s slow adoption.
When it comes to shopping for consumable goods like groceries, cosmetics, and household cleaners, this feature can work wonders for your website by providing a fast shopping experience. For instance, Target and Walmart use Google Home to remind its customers when it is the estimated time of reordering household products. This method could be used to remind customers to order gifts for special occasions.
- Use interactive keywords
When you use any keywords for your products, research how users search by voice. In-text searches usually are short while in voice queries go around 6 to 10 words and start with how, why, who, where, what, and when.
For instance, if you want to know about nearby salons, you search with the text “salons near you” and in voice-assistant, you would say “Where can I get a good haircut near me?” When you speak you tend to ask exactly what’s in your mind and hence it goes a long tail and more action-oriented. So, make sure you use such keywords to catch the eyeballs of the consumers.
- Improvise product content
You could also add features that will tell more about your product whenever the voice shopper asks. Don’t make too wordy content. It could either be bullet points or explained in 2-3 sentences. It should be spoken within 20 seconds. Make sure your content is precise and in a conversational tone to provide a user-friendly shopping experience to users.
Moreover, the visual elements are not enough to answer the voice shoppers’ queries. You need to have descriptive information emphasizing the product’s features. In today’s scenario, the ratio of device owners getting inaccurate results through spoken queries is 60%, according to Digital Commerce 360.
- Take leverage of Amazon Echo
When consumers search for any product, the results are shown as per Google search engine algorithms. According to the research by Bain & Company, 54% of the purchase searches are shown Amazon’s Choice suggestion when shopped through Echo. So, selling on Amazon will provide you with more traffic than any other platform.
Amazon has never disclosed how its algorithm works for selecting items on Amazon’s Choice. But, mostly these products are the one which is high priced, high rated, and eligible for Amazon Prime delivery.
- Else go for Google Home
If you felt that Amazon Echo is a biased device, Google Home could be your pick. It provides better opportunities for smaller retailers, especially for physical store owners. However, Paul Mandeville of Multichannel Merchant has predicted that Google voice-activation shopping applications will resemble search algorithms.
For instance, when you ask Google assistance to order rice, flatware, or a new dress, it will suggest ordering from the local retailer who has risen to that categories’ search result. By registering with Google, you can optimize your business as per your target audience. You can then encourage customers to provide reviews, and ratings on your Google my business page to augment your search ranking.
The Future of Shopping
If you think voice assistance is limited to Amazon Echo and Google Home devices, it is just the beginning. You might have found many vehicles with built-in voice-assistant options to search for nearby or particular stores, hotels, and restaurants. Also, some of the high-tech refrigerators contain features like allowing the owners to order groceries through voice assistants.
However, we are in the starting and developing stage of the voice shopping experience. Currently, it is difficult to predict how much time it will take for voice searches to get standard on smart speakers and when homes and offices will get accustomed to it. Big tech companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon are investing huge amounts of money in the next decade to research and develop voice recognition to take over market control.
Voice assistance has been designed to make consumers’ lives easier. Moreover, we can safely say that this trend is here to stay and develop with time. More and more businesses will try to incorporate it. So, take advantage of this technology and provide a better shopping experience for your customers. You will certainly become their trusted shopping destination and they will become your loyal customer.
