{"id":1080,"date":"2024-01-31T22:55:47","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T22:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.guided-selling.org\/conversational-commerce-is-the-now-is-your-business-ready\/"},"modified":"2024-03-01T20:04:11","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T20:04:11","slug":"curated-commerce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guided-selling.org\/curated-commerce\/","title":{"rendered":"Curated Commerce Is The Now. Is Your Business Ready?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whether you are a fan of the digital revolution or think it\u2019s all evil, we are a society driven by digital technology. It has and will continue to shape the way we live, work and shop. From hailing a cab to ordering takeout, it\u2019s a moment\u2019s job that requires just a few clicks on the go. No more hustling, no more whistling for a taxi and no more dealing with difficult people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shopping is one of the spheres that has been greatly influenced by digital technology. And as people want to be more self-reliant, shopping is increasingly shifting to digital channels. But at its very core, buying goods is still and always will be a social experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s about interactions, it\u2019s about conversations, it\u2019s about questions and answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buying and selling goods seems impossible without questions like \u2013 \u201cDo you have this bag in a different color? What can I get in under $100? Is there something that\u2019s bigger than this but the same price? I think I\u2019d like to see a few more options before I can decide. Can I ship it back for free if I don\u2019t like it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, thinking about current e-commerce interfaces, there seems to be no place to ask questions in the way, we humans, like to ask them. Today, customers need to quantify their needs based on categories and filters<\/a>, which are unnatural at best, indecipherably complicated at worst. It\u2019s a classic case of humans adapting their approach to suit machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the time has come that we change this forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is why the promise of \u2018conversational commerce\u2019 is such an alluring one \u2013 a technology where you\u2019ll be able to tell a smart speaker what you want to buy and be as specific as you want, in the most basic form of human communication \u2013 talking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumers world over have shown uncanny enthusiasm at accepting voice technologies like Amazon Echo, Google Assistant, and Alexa, with 55% of US homes likely to have voice-powered home assistants<\/a> by 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Popular smart speakers: Apple HomePod, Google Home, Amazon Echo<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even so, can e-commerce really tap into this technology as seamlessly as say, home automation? How do we shop without looking at the products we want to buy? That\u2019s indeed the biggest question that comes to mind. But the fact remains that what technology dreams, it achieves. With a few stumbles and falls, we will soon be ready to shop for our favorite things by just talking to an AI-powered machine, or texting with a chatbot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, the challenges remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting your business ready for conversational commerce will need a complete structural redesign. Being able to design voice-powered customer experiences requires rethinking the way we\u2019ve been doing this for over a decade.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shopping is inherently different from many other things we do online. It is a non-linear, highly distracted path with plenty of alternate ways a customer can go. Getting machines to keep up with the ever-changing whims and fancies of human psychology and designing your customer journey to allow for seamless human-like responses will be a mighty feat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some things like search optimization \u2013 that you think you\u2019ve just about nailed \u2013 will have to be re-imagined. Other things like seamlessly integrating payments will have to be done with a high level of technological finesse and security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the end, if you can really put in the effort and get your business ready for conversational commerce, the results will be totally worth it. In fact, if you don\u2019t hop onboard in time, you might just get left behind. Historically, businesses that failed to change with the times just collapsed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) Optimize for Voice Search & Discovery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Human beings learned to talk first and much, much later, learned the art of writing and reading. In the world of computers, however, evolution has happened in reverse order. We began with using text inputs for computers and only now are we able to substantially use voice to interact with computers. And that means we have a lot of unlearning and relearning to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When interacting with conversational commerce applications, customers will no longer be talking keywordese.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once voice-adoption truly takes off, search queries will be changed dramatically. Your business needs to be prepared to handle natural language processing like a pro and respond unblinkingly to questions like \u201cI want to buy a new pair of shoes\u201d and \u201cshow me something in black\u201d. And that\u2019s just on the easier end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will come across questions like \u201cWhich Ski Shoes or Snow Boots should I buy for a trip to the Swiss Alps?\u201d and you must have a good answer. A customer may say \u201cShow me some good options for home lighting\u201d and you must be ready with appropriate responses like \u2013 \u201csure, are you looking for indoor or outdoor lighting?\u201d Based on the customer\u2019s answers, you must be ready with appropriate product matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might have noticed that it will seldom happen, that you jump into offering product choices as soon as a customer asks the first question. You always start with asking more questions. This is where you need to know how to ask the right questions and match the customer up with the best product selection that will help them decide faster and leave your store feeling perfectly satisfied with their purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch:\u00a0The Future is Now! Buying Dog food with Alexa \u2013 SMARTASSISTANT Demo<\/a>\u00a0[Video]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Write Product Descriptions That Can Talk Back<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since conversational commerce will probably have little to no visual interface, you will need to do a bang-up job of writing product descriptions that tell the customers everything they need to know just by listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The product descriptions will need to contain answers to all common questions a customer may come up with.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if the customer is using a visual interface, they might want to ask a few questions verbally, such as \u2013 \u201chow many airbags does this car have?\u201d or \u201ccan I use this camera underwater?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will need to anticipate all possible queries that a product may inspire and use voice-specific metadata that can be instantly played back to the customer, selecting the perfect response each time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From close-ended yes\/no responses to carefully worded answers that provide enough information, you\u2019ll need to pack it all in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) Don\u2019t Forget Text Conversations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I just realized we\u2019ve spent so much time talking about talking. But that\u2019s not the only type of conversation there is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s notable that the four major messaging apps have overtaken<\/a> the four major social media apps in terms of user-base. Facebook Messenger is already upping the ante with personal shopping features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you haven\u2019t heard of the 1-800-FLOWERS collaboration with Facebook Messenger<\/a>, you can now order flowers by simply chatting with them. you can even ask suggestions, compare different products and the chatbot even does a great job of upselling. David Marcus, an executive at Facebook Messenger jokingly said \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI can guarantee that you will spend way more than you want to on this, it\u2019s very addicting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So, in your mission to get your business ready for conversational commerce, be sure to factor in messaging apps and chatbots.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Messaging apps offer one of the most personal, convenient and enjoyable avenues for shopping experiences and cannot be left out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more: A Conversation with a Chatbot: Beko\u2019s AdviceBot<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4) Find a Way Around Payments<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Making payments seamlessly through chatbots and voice-assisted platforms could be one of the trickiest details to nail. After comfortably enjoying a shopping experience with your conversational portal, finding and choosing the right product, if users then have to take out their phone or visit another interface just to make a payment, it could defeat the purpose of providing a seamless. all-conversational experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can incorporate mobile wallets or design custom digital wallets to overcome this barrier. Of course, it may be a while before this process can be as seamless as handing your card to a sales assistant, but we\u2019re getting there and we might as well be prepared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5) Pay Attention to the Human Touch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After all, that\u2019s what this was all about, right \u2013bringing the human touch back to shopping, making it social again and bringing the fun back?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is why even though conversational commerce will primarily be powered by artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing, you simply cannot overlook actual human involvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n