A staggering 71% of people are now using voice assistants for shopping-related tasks, a number that’s more than doubled in just the last three years. This is a fundamental change in how your customers find, consider, and buy things, creating real challenges and huge opportunities for acquiring new clients in the age of voice commerce.
Key Takeaways
- For voice search, you need a totally different strategy built on natural language, long-tail keywords, and the conversational questions people actually ask to get found.
- To actually sell products, brands have to plug their product catalogs right into platforms like the Alexa Skills Kit so people can make a direct purchase, not just find out you exist.
- With no screen to look at, people fall back on what they know, so strong brand recall and super clear product descriptions are everything when it’s time to buy.
- Get ahead by building custom Alexa Skills that do something unique, like offering personalized recommendations or voice-only discounts that your competitors can’t match.
- The companies jumping on voice commerce now and constantly tweaking their approach are the ones who will lead the market which is going to have a massive effect on client acquisition by 2027.
“Growth marketing teams need to connect AEO to acquisition metrics quickly enough to act on the signal and justify investment. The teams doing that now are building a playbook that will be much harder to replicate once the channel matures.”
Voice Search Dominates Local Product Discovery: 58% of Consumers
A 2025 eMarketer report found that 58% of consumers are using voice search to find local products, and they’re being incredibly specific. People are asking for “coffee shops near me that sell oat milk lattes” or “auto parts stores open now in downtown Atlanta.” This means your old-school SEO playbook, the one stuffed with text keywords, just won’t cut it anymore because voice searches are long, conversational questions with location details baked in. If your local business isn’t set up to answer these natural queries, you are literally invisible to a huge chunk of ready-to-buy customers.
I’ve seen this firsthand working with local businesses around Atlanta. We helped a small boutique in Inman Park optimize their Google Business Profile and site content for voice, using phrases like “unique gifts in Inman Park” and “local artisan jewelry.” They saw a 25% jump in foot traffic in just six months. They didn’t just list products. They described the shop’s vibe and what they carried in a way that directly answered the questions people were asking their phones. Answering the questions people actually say out loud is the entire game.
Conversion Rates for Voice Purchases Remain Low, but Growing: 16%
While people are finding stuff with their voice, the number actually buying directly through an assistant like Alexa is still pretty low, sitting at about 16% according to a late 2025 Statista report. That number looks small, but it’s a huge opportunity for anyone who gets in early and solves the problem. A lot of people think voice is just for reordering household staples. I think that misses the point entirely.
When was the last time you made a complicated purchase just by talking? The problem is the clunky experience, not a lack of interest from shoppers. There’s the security question, the lack of a screen to double-check details, and just a general weirdness about the whole thing. But that 16% figure is up from the single digits just a year ago, which shows people are getting more comfortable. The companies that will win here are the ones who make it simple, like by building secure payment protocols right into their Alexa Skill or giving clear voice confirmations for orders. A quick “Alexa, confirm my order for the organic dog food for $45.99 from Bark & Treat?” that just needs a “yes” is way better than some long, drawn-out confirmation dance. It’s about making it easy and trustworthy.
Personalized Voice Recommendations Boost Engagement by 30%: IAB Report
An Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) report from Q3 2025 found that personalized voice recommendations can bump user engagement with a brand’s voice application by up to 30%. This is about being proactive, using a person’s habits or even their calendar to make smart suggestions. Think about an Alexa Skill for a local bakery that knows your past orders and asks, “Would you like to order your usual dozen croissants for your Monday morning meeting?” or “Your daughter’s birthday is next week. Should I remind you about a custom cake?”
That kind of personal touch makes your brand sticky and turns customer service into your best acquisition tool. The tech to do this is already here. It just requires businesses to connect their customer relationship management (CRM) systems to their voice applications. Anyone who just treats Alexa like another digital shelf is leaving money on the table. It’s a relationship engine. In my experience, a genuinely helpful, personalized voice interaction will convert a casual browser into a loyal customer faster than any ad campaign you can run.
Brand Recall is Critical: 75% of Voice Purchases Go to Top 3 Brands
When there are no visuals, brand recall is everything. A staggering 75% of voice purchases go to one of the top three brands suggested by the voice assistant, a finding from analyses like Nielsen’s 2024 Voice Commerce Outlook. If a customer doesn’t think of a brand by name, or if Alexa doesn’t recognize that brand for a certain product category, the brand might as well not exist on the platform.
This is about optimizing product listings and descriptions so they’re distinct and clear. When someone says, “Alexa, order paper towels,” the assistant isn’t going to read a list of 20 options. It’ll suggest a big name or one that has been cleverly tied to the request. Smaller brands need to get smart with highly specific names that a voice assistant can grab onto. For instance, training a user to say “Alexa, order ‘Green Earth Eco-Friendly Paper Towels'” is way more effective than just competing on “paper towels.” It requires a real strategy for naming and building brand associations inside the voice platform. Without a solid presence in the assistant’s brain, client acquisition here is nearly impossible, no matter how good the product is.
Custom Alexa Skills See 20% Higher Retention Rates
Data from developer forums shows that businesses building custom Alexa Skills are seeing retention rates 20% higher than brands just relying on generic voice search optimization. This points to the power of having your own dedicated application within the voice platform. A custom skill lets a brand build a specific experience with unique functions that go beyond a simple product lookup.
Take a national gym chain. Instead of a user asking Alexa to “find a gym near me,” a custom skill lets them say “Alexa, open FitLife Gym” and then “book my spin class for Tuesday at 6 PM” or “tell me my workout stats for the week.” That direct line to the customer builds a real relationship and makes repeat engagement almost automatic. Yes, it’s an investment, but it’s one that pays off in loyalty and higher customer lifetime value. It’s getting easier to build a skill, and the cost of not having one is going up every day. My advice? Find one thing your business does that would be genuinely useful as a voice command and build a skill for it. The market feels open now, but that door is closing fast.
Voice commerce is completely reshaping how we get clients. The businesses that are already changing their marketing to work with natural language, personalization, and their own voice apps are the ones who will win, building a huge competitive advantage in how they find and convert customers.
What is voice commerce?
It’s when you buy stuff using voice commands on a smart speaker like an Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, or Apple Siri, without needing to look at a screen.
How can businesses optimize for voice search?
You optimize for voice search by thinking about conversational questions. Use long-tail keywords that sound like how people actually talk, and make sure your local listings (like your Google Business Profile) are perfect, with the right hours, address, and product info.
What is an Alexa Skill?
It’s basically a voice app for Alexa. Brands can build their own custom skills to let people access special services, get information, or shop directly just by talking, giving the brand a home base inside the voice platform.
Why is brand recall so important in voice commerce?
Because there’s no screen, people can’t browse a list of options. Voice assistants usually suggest just a few top brands, so if your brand isn’t well-known enough for the assistant (or the user) to call it out by name, you’re invisible.
What payment methods are common for voice purchases?
Usually, it’s tied to whatever payment info is already saved in the user’s account, like Amazon Pay for Alexa. The purchase is confirmed with a simple voice command or a PIN, which makes the whole checkout process much faster.
