The need for safe and contactless shopping due to the pandemic has boosted e-commerce adoption primarily driven by the Next Billion Users. These users were previously using smartphones for only entertainment purposes like social media, video consumption, voice chatting and photo sharing. But the pandemic has woken them up to the power of Ecommerce.
Most of these users, like our parents, are coming online for the first time and are not familiar with how apps work. Moreover, the citizens of Bharat are more comfortable interacting in their mother tongue than English, unlike their urban counterparts. During the festive sales last year, Amazon reported 91% of new customers, and 66% of new prime sign-ups were from small towns; Shopping in 5 Indian languages, and orders from over 98.4% of India's pin-codes in just 48 hours.
Chatbots are still touch and type - not the natural choice for Bharat!
E-commerce brands have been using chatbots inside apps for a long time but their usage is primarily limited to customer support and it just feels like an extension of the touch and type UI. Brands need to start thinking on the lines of "What can we do so that the users don't even have to contact customer support?".
Chatbots don't solve problems like complex app navigation and language barriers which the Next Billion Users face. If brands want to capture this massive customer segment , they need to start thinking about adding in-app Voice Assistants.
Top e-commerce brands in India like JioMart, BigBasket, and Udaan have all started adding In-App Voice Assistants. Once integrated, they give users the ability to control the app in the most natural way, using their voice in the language they are familiar with.
In-App Voice Assistants provide a better business value than Chatbots
Break into a large untapped market!
In-App Voice Assistants are typically multilingual, enabling vernacular users to speak in their own language and transact on the app using voice. This makes voice the biggest lever for Ecommerce brands to expand into this market.
Chatbots, on the other hand, are usually not multilingual. The input is only text-based and in English. Even vernacular keyboards or vernacular translated text is not a major boon as they are harder to use on phone screens. Moreover, Voice is 3X faster compared to typing in a vernacular language on the smartphone.
Retain existing users with a better experience!.
In-App Voice Assistants make navigating complex apps, or adding multiple items to cart very easy using natural voice commands. They make doing basic app actions like search and adding to cart easy. This improves the chances of the search converting into a purchase, leading to better buying frequency and revenue.
Chatbots, being useful only for customer support, don't resolve the complexities of app navigation or help in any other part of the user journey. Users might drop off at any stage if they encounter a problem or call customer support via phone, defeating the very purpose of chatbots!
Reduce the Need for Customer Support
In-App Voice Assistants enhance the user experience by simplifying the tasks users do inside the app. Users can start the conversation at any given point in the app, and they can be guided via voice for tasks like search or add to cart. This way, if the customers face any trouble it gets resolved in the app itself, without the need to reach out for customer support.
Chatbots, on the other hand, is just an automated version of customer support. They answer queries asked by users or help in after-sales support. The communication also happens on a single screen, which isn’t intuitive.
In-App Voice Assistants are Intelligent; Chatbots are rule-based
In-App Voice Assistants employ ML/AI models that evolve based on how users interact with it in the app. They use NLP models to understand complicated questions and provide answers.
Most chatbots are dumb. Under the hood, they rely on hardcoded rules to converse with the customer. If user input doesn't conform to these pre-set rules, results are erroneous, leading to frustration and a lower NPS.
In-App Voice Assistants have a higher Customer Satisfaction(CSAT) than Chatbots
This is because they provide a much superior experience to the customer. Voice assistants seamlessly integrate into the app’s user interface, which feels native to the app. They work with both touch and voice, making it easy for the users.
Chatbots on the other hand feel like a separate interface, which is cumbersome to interact with. It feels like an add-on, a third party experience which has been forfeited to the app. Poor customer experience and bad UI/UX leads to a lower CSAT.
In-App Voice Assistants are Multilingual
In-App Voice Assistants usually support multiple Indian languages. Voice Technology has matured enough that they can recognize Indian dialects and accents. Users can get things done in the app in a language of their choice, while the app can continue to function in English. Chatbots, on the other hand, typically have no multilingual support.
Voice technology has caught up well. It can understand vernacular languages and help users efficiently at every point of their user journey. These attributes, along with its inherent natural and intuitive experience, will empower the Next Billion users of Bharat to use their voice with equal confidence and efficiency as their digital-savvy urban peers.