What is Voice Commerce?
Voice commerce is the use of voice-activated technology, such as AI assistants, to facilitate shopping and purchasing processes. Through devices such as Amazon Alexa or Apple’s Siri, shoppers can interact with online stores without the need for screens or keyboards. While still in its early stages, voice commerce is rapidly evolving as businesses invest heavily in this innovative shopping experience.
How Does Voice Commerce Work?
Voice commerce requires advanced AI and natural language processing (NLP) to function effectively. These technologies enable voice assistants to understand user intent. Here is how the voice technology works for commerce:
1. Voice Input
The process starts with a customer speaking a command, such as, “Order a pair of sneakers”. The voice assistant then uses NLP to process the command. The NLP technology helps the voice assistant understand keywords like “order” and “sneakers”. With this understanding, the assistant can then determine the message’s intent. In this example, the intent is to shop and buy a pair of sneakers.
2. AI Personalization
The AI decides what results to surface by considering the customer’s preferences, purchase history, and other data. For example, the AI-powered voice assistant could suggest products from a brand the customer has bought before. Or, if the customer has a history of shopping promotional deals, the AI could recommend items that are on sale.
3. Action Execution
From there, the voice assistant answers any questions that the customer may have about the product or offers suggestions for other items if the user is disinterested in the item in question. Once the customer decides what they want, the voice assistant will add the product to a virtual cart or proceed to place the order.
Benefits of Voice Commerce
Voice commerce offers distinct advantages for both consumers and businesses. This includes:
Faster Resolution of Sales-Related Tasks
Voice commerce platforms streamline processes like tracking orders or finding discounts. This simplifies the end-to-end customer journey and can motivate users to make voice-assisted shopping their go-to choice for buying products online.
Gives Customers Unmatched Convenience
With voice commerce, shopping becomes hands-free. Customers can place orders while cooking, driving, or performing other tasks. There’s no need to log in or manually enter details. As a result, shoppers save time while enjoying a low-effort buying process.
Helps Reach a Wider Audience
Voice commerce allows businesses to expand their reach by tapping into a growing audience that prefers voice-enabled interactions. For the reasons mentioned above, more users are turning to voice commands for convenience in shopping and searching. Optimizing for voice search by refining content to match natural language patterns helps your business become visible to this audience.
