The Time is Apt for Unleashing the Potential in Voice Assistants

By: Retail CIO Outlook | Wednesday, August 07, 2019

It is beyond doubt that voice assistants have been at the center of the retail industry’s ongoing attempts towards a digital transformation. However, in spite of their wide-spread use, voice-based assistants remain a technology with huge untapped potential.

FREMONT, CA: Many a time, regular use of voice assistants for shopping doesn’t happen. Its use is restricted to simple tasks such as getting updates on weather, playing selected music and general inquiries.

As the natural language processing (NLP) and voice recognition continue to evolve technologically, the time is ripe to unleash the potential in voice assistants. For retailers and brands, voice assistants are capable of functioning as innovative channels for selling and marketing products. Moreover, consumers can save vast amounts of time through interaction with voice assistants.

Retailers and brands can play a pivotal role in strategizing ways to leverage the technological advantages of voice commerce. Before that, it is inevitable to know what the preventive factors are towards a complete adoption of voice assistants.

Many customers don’t trust voice-enabled shopping; instead, prefer to stick to conventional methods. Such customers are apprehensive of voice-based device’s ability to correctly interpret orders or making payments through them.

Privacy is another concern. For instance, there have been cases wherein customers were uncomfortable when a voice assistant had to detect if the customer is alone before suggesting recommendations based on previous purchase history. Additionally, many parents are skeptical about children at home having access to voice shopping.

Voice assistants based on smartphones tend to have the lowest customer satisfaction rate. Several factors are responsible here; including lack of technological understanding on the user’s end, lack of accuracy and faster responses.

All in all, voice assistants are not always preferred as a shopping method. This trend has been repetitive as with any innovative technology. It takes customers time to adapt to new ways. However, considering the current scenario with respect to voice-enabled shopping, it can be assumed that once there sets in a solid base of reliability and trust, besides technological understanding, voice assistants would be transforming lives of people.