Voice Commerce: A New Frontier
“Hey, Google!” “Hey, Alexa!” Whether you have one or not, you’ve probably heard someone using one of these virtual assistants. From asking Alexa for the weather forecast to adding things to a virtual grocery list to buying more coffee pods as soon as you see that your stock is low, this new frontier of buying products has been coined Voice Commerce. It is the hands-free way for customers to order from your business with simple sentences starting along the lines of “Hey Alexa….”
The question now is how to optimize your business for voice commerce. Keep reading and we’ve got you covered.
If you want to check out current trends in Ecommerce in general, check out a blog we previously wrote here.
Where to start
This may be common sense in 2021, but you must have a fully functioning eCommerce website. Without a website that Google’s AI can crawl, read and analyze, it will not be able to gather data about your business and suggest it to voice commerce users.
Understanding where to look
According to Shopify, currently, Amazon Alexa users can only shop from Amazon, while Google Home users have some more options like Ulta, Walmart, Target, and Walgreens. So you might be thinking: What does this have to do with me and my business? Voice technology is proving itself to be a growing technology, not just a fad. Thus, it’s likely these virtual assistants will be opening their doors to smaller eCommerce businesses as well.
Another thing to look out for is the demographics of voice commerce users. In a 2019 article, it’s been cited that more men use smart speaker shopping. This is an important indicator as to which part of your audience you will be catering to when optimizing your business for voice commerce.
SEO
While SEO is well known in digital marketing, voice commerce works a bit differently. In a Google search, you might type something like “work boots,” and you get a result page with recommendations of stores offering said item. With voice searches, someone will say something more like, “Hey Alexa…where can I buy work boots near me?” Very different.
While AI is always evolving to better understand how we speak, we as business owners need to do our part with keywords and phrases.
Optimizing your SEO for voice commands is one of the most important things you can do. Sellbrite.com suggests that for voice commerce optimization, use long-tail keywords. If you don’t know what those are, they’re keywords that are a bit longer, more specific, and mostly focus on niches. An example of this is something like “how to advertise your website.” Using these longer keywords can hit more phrases in the way people speak to their voice assistant.
The future of shopping
While voice commerce might not be something your business can get its hands on just yet, staying ahead of the competition is something a good entrepreneur always considers. Optimizing your business for voice commerce will help you stay on top of the game, and optimize your business for SEO in general- you’ve got nothing to lose, and everything to gain!
Contact us here at James Ross Advertising so we can help you stay ahead of the game!
