“Ok Google, are voice assistants rewriting how we shop, and which gadget should I buy first?”
By 2024, active voice assistants topped 8.4 billion worldwide—yes, that’s more assistants than humans. Voice-driven purchases now account for $3.3 billion in consumer spending, with projections reaching $45 billion by 2028. Adoption is meaningful, too: as many as 43% of people with voice-enabled devices use them for shopping activities. Of those, 51% use voice to research products, 22% buy directly, and 17% use it to reorder.
As voice assistants and AI chat experiences become standard household tools, consumer behavior is shifting across search, discovery, and purchase. Louis Riat-Bonello at Optisearch argues that conversational commerce is forcing brands to adjust both how they show up in search as well as how they convert demand once it appears.
Why Conversational Commerce Is Picking Up Speed
Conversational commerce is the use of voice commands or chat interfaces to find information, evaluate options, and complete transactions. Instead of typing keywords and clicking through pages, consumers rely on AI assistants, smart speakers, or embedded chat tools that provide guided paths to answers and products.
The buying behavior is already showing up in patterns that are hard to ignore. Each month, 11.5% of smart speaker owners make purchases—roughly 5.5 million U.S. adults. Interest in promotions is also high (52%), and voice ads are perceived differently than traditional ads: 38% say they feel less intrusive, while 39% find them more tempting. In plain terms: there’s demand here that doesn’t always surface in the channels marketers are used to optimizing.
From a marketing and commercial lens, growth is being driven by a few practical realities:
- Ease and convenience: Voice and chat reduce friction, especially for hands-free moments and multitasking.
- Quicker decisions: Conversational interfaces tend to deliver a single answer or recommendation, shrinking the gap between intent and action.
- Rising comfort with AI: As accuracy improves, consumers are more willing to use assistants for routine tasks, including shopping.
- High-intent and local behavior: Many voice searches skew transactional or location-based—often from people ready to act.
- Embedded in daily habits: Smart speakers, mobile assistants, and site chat tools fit naturally into how people already use devices.
“Voice search and conversational tools are changing how brands are found and how people shop online. When someone speaks to their assistant, they want a fast, accurate answer. That means businesses need to optimise content for natural, full-sentence queries, ensure product data is structured and reliable, and use AI-driven chat to guide customers to the right products.
Smart brands are thinking beyond screens. Every voice query is a potential conversion, and every interaction shapes how consumers perceive your business. Voice shopping is not just a trend. It is becoming a core part of the customer journey, and businesses that adapt early will gain a real advantage,” says SEO Specialist Louis Riat-Bonello of Optisearch.
How Brands Should Optimise for Voice Commerce
Voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant don’t “scroll.” They typically choose one answer. That shifts the competitive game from “rank well” to “be the single best match.”
Voice assistants tend to reward four things:
- Structured, machine-readable data
- Accurate and consistent business/product details
- Authority signals across trusted sources
- Content that directly answers spoken, natural-language questions
Practical steps to improve performance in conversational commerce include:
- Structure product and business data with schema markup (pricing, availability, reviews, location, etc.).
- Keep listings consistent across Google Business Profile, Apple Maps, Amazon, and other sources voice assistants depend on.
- Write for spoken intent: target full-sentence questions and intent-driven queries, not just short keywords.
- Build strong FAQ and support content that answers “how,” “where,” and “best” questions clearly.
- Reinforce local SEO since many voice searches are location-based and action-oriented.
- Prioritize reviews, ratings, and fulfillment reliability, which act as confidence signals for recommendations.
- Add AI-driven site chat that reflects how people ask questions and helps move them to decisions.
- Audit product feeds, structured data, and listings regularly to prevent drift as platforms change.
In other words, voice assistants are picky, they dislike ambiguity, and they don’t believe your product page unless your data is clean.
About Louis Riat-Bonello
Louis Riat-Bonello is a Google Ads and SEO Specialist at Optisearch with years of experience helping brands achieve measurable results. He focuses on audience targeting, data-driven insights, ROI optimisation, and full-funnel strategies that drive growth across search and paid media campaigns.
About Optisearch
Optisearch is a full-service digital marketing agency that helps brands grow through data-driven strategies and measurable results. Specialising in SEO, Google Ads, analytics, and full-funnel marketing, the agency guides clients in optimising campaigns, improving ROI, and navigating the constantly evolving digital landscape. Optisearch combines technical expertise with creative insight to deliver strategies that drive engagement, conversions, and long-term growth.
