voice commerce is the use of voice assistants and smart speakers to browse, select, and purchase products online. It is a fast-growing trend that is reshaping the e-commerce landscape and creating new opportunities and challenges for businesses. According to a report by Juniper Research, voice commerce sales are expected to reach $19.4 billion by 2023, up from $4.6 billion in 2020. This represents a compound annual growth rate of 39.8%.
Why is voice commerce so important for e-commerce businesses? Here are some of the main reasons:
- It offers convenience and speed for customers. Voice commerce enables customers to shop hands-free and multitask while ordering products. It also reduces the friction of typing, scrolling, and clicking on screens. Customers can simply ask their voice assistants to find, compare, and buy products with natural language commands. For example, a customer can say "Alexa, order me more coffee pods" and the voice assistant will automatically place the order based on the customer's preferences and purchase history.
- It enhances customer loyalty and retention. Voice commerce can create a more personalized and engaging shopping experience for customers. Voice assistants can learn from the customer's behavior, preferences, and feedback and provide tailored recommendations and offers. They can also remind customers of their shopping lists, wish lists, and subscriptions and encourage repeat purchases. For example, a voice assistant can say "You bought this shampoo last month. Do you want to reorder it?" or "You have a coupon for 10% off this product. Do you want to use it now?"
- It opens up new markets and segments. Voice commerce can reach customers who are less comfortable or familiar with traditional e-commerce platforms, such as older adults, visually impaired, or illiterate people. It can also appeal to customers who prefer to shop in their native languages or dialects, as voice assistants can support multiple languages and accents. For example, a customer can say "OK Google, show me sarees in Bengali" or "Siri, find me halal restaurants nearby in Arabic".
- It creates a competitive advantage and differentiation. Voice commerce can help e-commerce businesses stand out from the crowd and attract more customers. By offering voice commerce capabilities, businesses can showcase their innovation and customer-centricity. They can also leverage voice data and analytics to gain insights into customer behavior, preferences, and satisfaction and optimize their products, services, and marketing strategies. For example, a business can use voice data to identify the most popular products, the most common questions, or the most frequent complaints and act accordingly.
Voice technology is not only changing the way people interact with their devices, but also the way they shop online. According to a report by Juniper Research, voice-based ad revenue could reach $19 billion by 2022, and voice shopping is expected to grow to $40 billion by 2022 in the US and UK alone. This presents a huge opportunity for e-commerce businesses to leverage voice commerce as a new channel to reach and engage customers, increase sales, and enhance customer loyalty. Here are some of the benefits and challenges of voice commerce for e-commerce businesses:
1. Voice commerce offers convenience and speed for customers. voice assistants and smart speakers enable customers to shop online without using their hands or eyes, which can be useful in situations where they are busy, multitasking, or have limited access to screens. Customers can simply use voice commands to search for products, compare prices, add items to their carts, and check out. For example, Amazon's Alexa allows customers to order products from Amazon using voice, and also provides recommendations, deals, and order updates. Similarly, Walmart partnered with Google to enable voice shopping through Google Assistant, allowing customers to link their Walmart accounts to Google Express and reorder items using voice.
2. Voice commerce creates a personalized and engaging shopping experience. Voice technology can also provide a more human and natural way of shopping online, as customers can have a conversational and interactive experience with their voice assistants. Voice assistants can use natural language processing and machine learning to understand customer preferences, intents, and contexts, and provide personalized suggestions, offers, and feedback. For example, H&M's voice app on Google Assistant helps customers find the best outfits for their occasions, by asking them questions about their style, budget, and preferences, and showing them curated selections on their phones. Similarly, Sephora's voice app on Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa provides beauty tips, quizzes, and product reviews, and allows customers to book appointments at Sephora stores.
3. Voice commerce poses some challenges and limitations for e-commerce businesses. Despite the potential of voice commerce, there are also some barriers and drawbacks that e-commerce businesses need to overcome. One of the main challenges is the lack of visual and tactile feedback, which can make it difficult for customers to browse, compare, and evaluate products, especially for categories that rely on visual appeal, such as fashion, jewelry, and furniture. Another challenge is the accuracy and reliability of voice recognition, which can affect customer satisfaction and trust. Voice assistants may not always understand customer queries, commands, or accents, or may provide irrelevant or incorrect information or suggestions. Moreover, voice commerce also raises some privacy and security concerns, as voice assistants may collect and store customer data, such as voice recordings, personal information, and purchase history, which can be vulnerable to hacking or misuse.
Voice commerce is not just a trend, but a powerful tool to enhance your e-commerce business and gain a competitive edge in the market. By leveraging voice technology, you can offer your customers a convenient, personalized, and engaging shopping experience that drives loyalty and retention. Moreover, you can optimize your operations, reduce costs, and increase conversions by using voice analytics and insights. To get started with voice commerce and take your e-commerce business to the next level, here are some steps you can follow:
- 1. Define your voice commerce goals and strategy. Before you implement voice commerce, you need to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve and how you will measure your success. For example, do you want to increase sales, improve customer satisfaction, or create brand awareness? How will you track your voice commerce performance and roi? What are the key metrics and kpis you will use? Having a well-defined strategy will help you align your voice commerce efforts with your overall business objectives and guide your decisions along the way.
- 2. Choose the right voice platform and partner. Depending on your target audience, budget, and technical capabilities, you can choose to integrate voice commerce with existing voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, or Apple Siri, or create your own custom voice assistant using platforms such as Microsoft Azure, IBM Watson, or Dialogflow. You can also partner with voice commerce experts and agencies that can help you design, develop, and deploy your voice commerce solution. The key is to select a platform and partner that can meet your specific needs and requirements, and provide you with the best support and guidance.
- 3. design a user-friendly and conversational voice interface. The voice interface is the main touchpoint between your customers and your voice commerce solution, so it needs to be easy to use, intuitive, and natural. You need to consider factors such as voice tone, personality, language, accent, and context when designing your voice interface. You also need to ensure that your voice interface can handle different types of user queries, such as product search, comparison, recommendation, purchase, feedback, and support. Additionally, you need to test and optimize your voice interface regularly to ensure that it delivers a smooth and satisfying user experience.
- 4. Promote and market your voice commerce solution. Once you have launched your voice commerce solution, you need to make sure that your customers are aware of it and how to use it. You can use various channels and methods to promote and market your voice commerce solution, such as social media, email, website, blog, podcast, video, or offline events. You can also leverage incentives and rewards, such as discounts, coupons, or free trials, to encourage your customers to try your voice commerce solution and provide feedback. Furthermore, you can use word-of-mouth and referrals to spread the word and attract new customers to your voice commerce solution.
- 5. Analyze and improve your voice commerce solution. The last step is to monitor and evaluate your voice commerce solution and its impact on your e-commerce business. You can use tools and techniques such as voice analytics, sentiment analysis, natural language processing, and machine learning to collect and analyze data from your voice commerce interactions and transactions. You can then use the insights and findings to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your voice commerce solution, and make improvements and enhancements accordingly. You can also use the data to discover new opportunities and trends, and innovate and expand your voice commerce offerings.
By following these steps, you can successfully implement voice commerce and take your e-commerce business to the next level. Voice commerce is not only a way to differentiate yourself from your competitors, but also a way to delight your customers and build long-term relationships with them. Voice commerce is the future of e-commerce, and you don't want to miss out on this opportunity. Start your voice commerce journey today and see the difference it can make for your business.
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