# Design

Voice Search Optimization for E-Commerce: How to Design for the Hands-free Shopper

Red Rocket TeamJan 29, 20254 min read

The field of e-commerce is a popular direction among entrepreneurs, as online stores are in huge demand. With the right approach and optimization, it is possible to attract a lot of customers and generate a lot of revenue. However, there are a number of strong competitors in the market, regardless of the niche. How can you compete fairly with them?

One way to attract more customers is to make your website accessible to all people. For example, a great idea would be to make your website or app hands-free. According to statistics, more than 20% of all user queries on Google are done through voice search. This indicates that your e-commerce project definitely needs a voice activated shopping feature. How to optimize your online store for voice search and increase efficiency? We are happy to answer all these questions in this article to help your e-commerce project reach more of your target audience.

What Is Voice Search and Why Does It Matter for E-Commerce?

It's no secret today what smart speakers and voice assistants are all about. The first version of Siri became available to iPhone owners on October 4, 2011, and at the time, this technology was considered a breakthrough. Users could talk to their phone, get answer,s and give clear directions for routine chores. Today, similar technologies are all around each and every one of us. For example, smart speakers can recognize your voice commands. Switch a song, find another author, lower the volume – all this can be done with the help of voice commands. So, what is a voice search?

Voice search is a technology that recognizes human speech to fulfill user queries on the Internet. For example, take your phone and open Safari or Google. Tap on the microphone icon next to the search box and say your query. Everything works the same way as with text queries. However, this feature frees you from having to write your queries manually. Today, voice dialing technology is used both to search for information on Google, to type messages or to give directions to smart assistants.

Undoubtedly, the voice search feature is especially important in the e-commerce industry. If you want to sell something to users online, you have to create a favorable environment for them. Moreover, voice search has become increasingly popular in recent years, so it is a must-have feature for your online store.

How to Optimize for Voice Search: 7 Proven Strategies

The goal of any e-commerce project is to capture more of the target audience and convert them into real customers. That's why you may have a question about how to optimize for voice search. We have prepared 7 effective strategies that work for online stores.

1. Collect Relevant Keywords

Obviously, the first thing you need to start with is collecting the right keywords. These are the queries that users use to find the information they need on the internet. Note that keyword queries using voice are usually different from text queries. In voice searches, people are more likely to put question words at the beginning – where, when, why, and so on.

2. Create a FAQ section

The voice search FAQ section simply improves your site to a degree where it has a better chance of capturing voice search traffic that is speaking directly into the formatting of its answers. Make sure your questions and answers are optimized in such a way that they appear (and read) like regular questions people ask. A well-structured FAQ will also help search engines give quick and relevant answers, making your website more visible in voice search snippets.

3. Optimize Website Structure

One of the reasons that inhibits your website's SEO development is poor structure. A nice, well-organized site structure makes for effective navigation and helps crawl your site pages effectively by search engines. Describe the breadcrumb trail and internal links as they add to accessibility.

4. Increase Page Load Speed

Another way that will help you learn how to rank for voice search is to optimize the page load speed of your online store. Voice search results prefer sites that load quickly because people expect instant results. Reduce the load times by optimizing your images, using caching, and implementing Content Delivery Networks (CDNs).

5. Use Multiple Languages

Add in hreflang tags to tell search engines which variations of your content to index and to help users find what they're looking for. This increases the accessibility of your website for a number of audiences and language-specific voice search assistants. However, this method works if your audience is from different countries and targets different languages. If you operate globally, analyze which countries are leading in the number of your visitors.

6. Avoid Complex Words in Content

Try using a voice search on the Internet yourself to find something. After that, you will realize that all people use the simplest and simplest words for voice queries. You, as the owner of an e-commerce project, should adapt your content to this approach. Don't use complex or long words that people don't usually use in everyday speech.

7. Add a Voice Search Function to the Website

Adding voice search capabilities to your website helps ease the work for your customer. It has a built-in voice search tool that allows visitors to get information within seconds and without typing. One of the most important features of a better ecommerce voice search experience is that customers can easily navigate through product categories, check order status, or simply search for a specific item.

UX Tips on Designing for Voice-Activated Shopping

When you develop your own e-commerce platform, you have to think ahead of time about the voice shopping experience. To do this, you need to know some UX tips:

Simplify navigation with voice commands. Make sure your voice commands are easy and simple, and follow what sounds like normal language. Do not use complex prompts; instead, provide actionable steps for the users that are clear and easily actionable, like «Add to cart» or «Track my order».
Incorporate contextual recommendations. Create your voice search such that it will offer relevant product recommendations after a previous search or purchase history. That makes it a more personalized experience, similar to a customer experience in a physical store.
Ensure cross-device compatibility. Ensure that their voice shopping experience is absolute on many different devices, such as mobile and desktop, as well as smart speakers so that they can continue their journey without any disruption.
Focus on clear and short answers. If you have a voice assistant on your e-commerce platform, make sure it gives clear and short answers. Users don't want to wait a long time and get unnecessary information. Answers should be clear, including price, title, size, and so on.

Voice shopping is one of the top UI/UX trends of recent years. Learn other trends to make your e-commerce platform meet customer expectations and be a convenient place to shop.

The Latest Trends in Voice Shopping and Their Impact on Consumer Behavior

It seems unbelievable sometimes, as users can literally buy some product online without manually interacting with a smartphone. Owners of the device can ask the voice assistant to add an item to their cart and pay for it. However, what if we told you that voice shopping trends are going beyond this by offering more options?

Shopping via voice has evolved quickly, with advances in AI and the preference for hands-free convenience. Products such as Amazon Echo have become the smart speakers for consumers and recognize their search for products, place orders, and wait for updates through simple voice commands! For example, Amazon’s Alexa has the capability to make it very easy to order household essentials so that ordinary purchases become a no-hassle transaction.

Do you want to see more trends and real-life examples? Personalized voice assistants that adapt recommendations based on the consumer's shopping behaviors are one of the most important trends in this market. The perfect example of this would be Walmart partnering with Google Assistant, so users can add products to their virtual cart based on what they’ve bought in the past. This level of personalization enhances the likelihood of a voice purchase and reinforces brand loyalty by offering a highly customized experience.

Final thoughts

As you might have realized by now, voice search features are simply essential if you own an e-commerce website or mobile app. Users can search for the items they need literally without using voice commands. They can also ask to place an order and confirm the purchase, which is especially handy when your hands are busy with other things.

Frequently asked questions

How does voice search impact the customer experience for customers?

Voice search makes interactions faster and more intuitive, which improves the customer experience. To take advantage of convenience, user queries can be entered out loud instead of typed and have immediate answers. Especially for on-the-go shopping, this hands-free approach is a perfect way for customers to search for products, check prices, and track orders, all without manual effort.

What platforms is voice search suitable for?

Different mobile devices, smart speakers, desktops, and wearable technology support voice search. E-commerce websites and mobile apps can also add built-in voice search features, which will further increase the functionality of the platform.

What are some mistakes to avoid when implementing voice search?

Many newcomers make common mistakes when implementing voice search features on an e-commerce site or mobile app. The most common problem is ignoring long conversational queries. Users formulate voice queries as full phrases, so content should take these features into account. The second mistake is the lack of structured data. Without clear markup, search engines will not be able to correctly interpret and rank your site.