Voice Shopping: Enhancing Business Performance and Sales

Voice shopping, also known as voice commerce, is revolutionizing e-commerce as we know it. Using voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa or Google Assistant, consumers can shop online by speaking, streamlining the process of making a purchase.

This hands-free shopping experience doesn’t just make buying products more convenient for consumers, it can help businesses grow. Here are a few benefits of voice shopping for businesses:

Improved customer experience

Voice assistant-enabled shopping can improve the customer experience by making it easier for them to purchase the products they need when they need them. All they have to do is tell their voice assistant to purchase a particular product. They can also use Google Shopping to compare prices, brands, and offerings. No more going on a computer or smartphone, clicking a bunch of buttons, and entering their car information. It’s as simple as speaking.

This convenience leads to an overall better customer experience while catering to individuals with disabilities who may require more accessible means for shopping online. In addition, voice assistants can learn from customers’ preferences and past purchase history to provide product recommendations tailored specifically to them.

Increased sales and revenue

A better customer experience that streamlines shopping can lead to an increase in sales and revenues for businesses. Integrating voice shopping into your website and other platforms enables you to tap into new channels for sales and engagement.

In addition, when customers shop online, they may get distracted. It can take them a while to find the product they want, add it to their shopping carts, and check out with their card information.

With voice commerce, they can avoid the lengthy process of purchasing something online, forgoing the need to pull out their credit cards because their information is already stored in a digital wallet.

Enhanced brand visibility and recognition

Voice shopping can improve brand visibility. Consider this: A customer knows they need a certain type of product, but they don’t know what brand. A voice assistant can recommend a particular brand or product, ultimately boosting that business’s visibility online.

By optimizing your presence on voice platforms, you can enable better product recommendations and use voice search optimization (VSO) to create custom responses and reinforce your existing brand identity while amplifying your exposure online.

Voice search requires consumers to use voice commands to perform internet searches in the same way they might on their computers. However, instead of using their fingers to type, they use their voice to activate devices like smartphones, tablets, and smart speakers to shop online by asking questions or requesting information.

Voice search is a type of SEO that focuses on the nuances of talking versus typing. With a smart speaker or another device with a voice assistant, users can ask questions and get instant responses without scrolling through thousands of search results.

Understanding how voice search works versus traditional SEO can help you create better strategies for users who may be using their voices to browse different categories of products online.

How voice search differs from traditional text-based search

Voice search is a type of search engine optimization (SEO). Traditional text-based search requires users to sign online, go to a search engine, and enter a query. Then, they’re presented with thousands of results. With voice search, users don’t have to listen to thousands of results. Instead, the voice assistant pulls from the first result to provide answers.

Voice search is verbal, and verbal queries tend to differ from text-based searches. In general, they’re more conversational and allow for longer queries. In addition, voice search relies on voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant to interpret user queries and interact with search engines.

Key factors influencing voice search rankings

While voice search is a subset of SEO, your rankings will differ because of the various differences between them. Understanding the key factors that influence voice search rankings can help develop a more comprehensive strategy.

With voice search, the consumer isn’t directly interacting with a search engine. Instead, they rely on their voice assistant to give them accurate information. These smart assistants tend to read answers from position zero on search engine result pages (SERPs), which is the featured snippet if there is one.

There are ways to optimize for the featured snippet, and businesses should create content designed to be featured in position zero.

In addition, because voice shopping is more conversational, conversational content that aligns with natural language is crucial. Businesses should focus on long-tail keywords and questions in their content strategy to match the types of questions consumers may ask.

Optimizing website content for voice search is different from traditional text-based SEO because of the more conversational nature and how voice assistants work, adding an extra layer of difficulty to any marketing strategy. Here are a few ways you can optimize your content for voice search:

Perform long-tail keyword research

Long-tail keyword research enables you to find questions consumers might ask when voice shopping. They’re longer and more likely to be full questions rather than keywords or disjointed queries.

Use natural language and a conversational tone

Voice searches are much more conversational than traditional queries, so your content should be more conversational in nature to meet their needs.

Structured data markup for enhanced visibility

Structured data helps search engines understand what a web page is about. By providing structured data, you can include essential information about your online store that customers may be asking about, giving you a better opportunity to rank in search results in general.

Optimize for local search

If you operate a local business, optimizing for local search can help you rank in voice search results to capture users nearby. You should use location-specific keywords and relevant information about your business’s location, hours of operation, and so forth.

Optimize for mobile

Many people use voice assistants on their smartphones to voice shop. Their devices will also provide them with a link where they can go to learn more or view product photos and videos. Optimizing your website for mobile ensures a consistent experience across channels and improves your chances of ranking highly.

Create FAQ pages

Frequently asked questions (FAQ) pages can help your content rank higher, giving you a better chance to be featured in position zero. By anticipating the questions voice shoppers might use to browse your products, you can structure your content in a way that’s easy to interpret.

Stay ahead

Stay ahead of the latest trends and tools in voice shopping and voice search. These technologies are still evolving and improving, so the better you keep up, the better a position you’ll be in when voice search becomes an everyday activity for consumers.

Challenges and considerations in voice shopping

Voice shopping allows businesses to connect with customers in a completely new way. However, one major challenge is that these technologies are still evolving. Currently, voice assistants still struggle to interpret a user’s commands.

If a voice assistant misunderstands queries, they’ll provide incorrect results, which can lead to frustration. Unfortunately, there’s nothing a business can do about this because even if you’re well-ranked in search results, the voice assistant doesn’t understand the query well enough to provide accurate results.

Another consideration is adapting your marketing strategy to cater to voice search users. While the difference between voice search and traditional SEO isn’t drastic, its complexities can be confusing for businesses who once thought they understood everything about SEO.

In addition, a new strategy may require you to edit or change your existing web content, which takes time and resources many small businesses simply don’t have. Yet, by overcoming these obstacles now, you can set yourself up for success in the future when voice assistants become more widely used, allowing you to get a foothold now and plan for the future of your business.

Optimize your website for voice shopping with Mailchimp. Use our website builder to develop a comprehensive voice search strategy and promote your store in new ways. Embrace the future of online shopping and stay connected with your audience, whether they’re using their hands or their voice, to improve the customer experience and drive sales.