If that still doesnt ring a bell think Amazon Echo "Alexa, play Alice in Chains unplugged" or "Ok Google, What's the meaning of life?"
The IoT is more than just a cool concept—it’s quickly becoming an important player in how our technologies are evolving. This is especially true when it comes to eCommerce. Today, astounding numbers of customers are using IoT to order products online, rather than pulling up a seat at their laptop and visiting a website. This has forced a shift in computation and how language and requests are processed, which means digital retailers need to evolve in tandem. "Natural Language Search"
Making searches easier
The first and best upgrade eCommerce managers can make is to their site search function. To understand why, it’s critical to look at how IoT is influencing customer purchase tendencies.
Smart devices within the IoT that are capable of processing executable tasks via voice recognition—such as navigating to a website or returning search results—are able to provide this service through a combination of machine learning and natural language processing (NLP). This means customer commands are being translated into executables before the actual action takes place. It also means that the device must have the ability to connect a customer command with a proper action, variable or designation to perform properly.
While smart devices are doing much of the work when it comes to processing requests and returning results, ecommerce websites also have a part to play. If your site search function doesn’t support natural language processing, for example, it will stall requests or work against them, actually complicating the customer experience. Moreover, it could signal your website as one that’s not up to date with modern technology, which could send savvy shoppers elsewhere.
Don’t just enable; encourage!
Step two in modernizing your eCommerce store is to work in tandem with IoT, not just supporting it but encouraging it. This can include a number of simple, yet highly effective modernizations:
- Allow for natural voice searching. Instead of typing a query in your search box, allow customers to literally tell you what they’re looking for.
- Implement guided navigation. With so many different mediums for shopping (phone, tablet, TV, etc.) and so many different screen sizes, having consolidated, smart navigation is imperative.
- Program trigger actions. Using NLP, you can set up triggers on your website to capture users coming to you from specific IoT devices, offering them sales, providing a different web layout, or even hiding and showing specific categories.
Leveraging IoT means further tailoring your ecommerce shopping experience for users. A better user experience is one that more often leads to conversions and repeats!
Welcome new-age shoppers
It’s critically important to welcome customers using IoT to shop online—soon enough, this group will represent a substantial segment of your customer base. Making upgrades to your site search now, along with peripheral NLP adjustments and IoT-specific changes, will enable you to reap the benefits of having a smarter ecommerce.
Celebros is the only site search technology certified for both Magento 1 and 2 — and we’re bringing the future of ecommerce searching to you now, to ensure your site is welcoming shoppers from the IoT revolution!
Make sure to schedule your free demo with Celebros today!
