The Price is Right

Pricing is a critical component of a B2B eCommerce site. There’s nothing more disastrous than a customer seeing the wrong price for a product. The emphasis should be on accuracy and processing speed.

It is common for B2B prices to be individualized based on factors such as contract, purchasing frequency, and volume. Sometimes bulk prices are displayed, grouped according to the number bought.

There are 2 main pricing situations that your search system will need to cater for. We will explore them and discover how best they can be handled:

1.    Price Groups

Rather than allocating individual prices for every customer, some businesses have levels or groups of prices, e.g. Level ‘A’ to ‘E’. Depending on the group level allocated to the customer, they’ll see one of a number of prices. In these situations, if the customer is identified, the search system can index all prices and decide whether to pass back, for example, the Level ‘A’, Level ‘B’ price. This situation works well when there are up to about 10 price levels.

2.    Dynamic Pricing

In this situation, every customer has negotiated prices, based on volume or contract etc. and the search system can’t know the price in advance. There are several ways in which a search system can handle dynamic pricing:

The search system indexes a standard price, and a message is displayed alongside the product on the search results page along the lines of:

“This is the standard price. For your pricing, view the product details.”

When the customer accesses the product details screen, the price for that particular customer is calculated and displayed. The advantage of this method is that price attribute filters, such as price sliders or selectors, can be displayed on the search results page, giving users the option to filter results based on the standard prices.

For each page of results, the ecommerce system calculates and retrieves the prices for the products that are going to be displayed on that page. Most sites only show one page at a time, approximately 10-12 products. Once the search system has passed back the product IDs, it can calculate the prices based on pricing rules, which can then be shown on the product results page. The search system uses a pricing engine to pass back appropriate prices. The disadvantage of this method is that any price attributes on the search results page become invalid.

An advanced, flexible search system can call a pricing engine as part of its process. This means that it can retrieve exact pricing before the attributes are calculated, passing back the correct pricing for each customer. This method allows for totally dynamic pricing. For every product in the results, a price is needed, which does mean that page load time can be affected. For on-premise B2B customers, this overhead would be reduced because the pricing engine will be running on the same internal network, or even the same server that the search system is running on.

Multiple Options

When displaying search results, there is sometimes the need for the price to be more than a single number. Sometimes a set of prices according to volume is required. The search system will need to be able to pass all prices back, perhaps displaying them in a table showing quantity vs price. Does your search system have the ability to pass back multiple prices?

Flexibility is the Answer

Every B2B business has differing needs, and it is essential that search systems are flexible to reflect this. EasyAsk can index multiple prices, calling out to a pricing engine if required, and pass back pricing structures in the results, as opposed to just a simple price. It may be that a business has a set of thresholds for discounts, or individualized pricing based on customer ID. EasyAsk adapts to all circumstances. This isn’t the case for all search systems.

Why Choose EasyAsk?

EasyAsk offers the only site search and merchandising tool designed exclusively for the rigors and challenges of B2B eCommerce. EasyAsk can be configured for any platform, either commercial or built in-house.

EasyAsk has long served the B2B customer segment and over 200 B2B distributors have chosen us to power their B2B eCommerce sites, including: Aramark, Demco, Kaman Industries, Tacoma Screw, and Crown Packaging.

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B2B eCommerce: Benefits

B2B eCommerce has many benefits for any company looking to streamline their procedures, reduce costs and increase sales.

The rise in popularity of purchasing online means that the doors are open for your business to the national or international marketplace. Your business needs to be online, where the customers are. Your B2B customers are also B2C customers of someone else, and they are used to the B2C experience. They expect functionality and UX that mimics Amazon and the like. Use this to your advantage and take tips from B2C, such as increasing order value by offering cross-sells or up-sells.

B2B commerce traditionally happens through sales reps, catalogs and call centers. These routes to purchase are expensive compared with eCommerce. Providing a great experience to B2B customers online helps your business move away from spending time and money on processes that can be fully automated on an eCommerce site. The product information can still be extensive and accurate, with specification sheets, manuals, and diagrams being easy to view and download.

When a B2C customer searches for something on an eCommerce site, they will usually see a combination of what they’ve searched for and what the business wants them to see. B2B customers, on the other hand, will need to see what they’ve searched for, but also what they usually buy. In B2B, customers are buyers, not shoppers; they’re much less likely to be browsing. They’re likely to be repeat buyers and want the quickest route to the products they’re looking for. They may even just want to click a button to reorder last week’s purchase. For this reason, personalization is key in the B2B domain. Using historical buying and browsing data, it is possible to create a personalized buying experience. B2B eCommerce can create a streamlined ordering process for customers who know exactly what they want.

B2B eCommerce: Challenges

B2B products have a different set of characteristics to B2C products. These differences can present the following challenges that we will explore in more detail over the coming weeks:

Product ‘Findability’

A B2B company may have hundreds of thousands or even millions of products that are typically complex with lots of attributes and variants. It is therefore vital that your B2B site search solution is able to cope with these complexities and shorten the path to purchase.

We will explore how to use dynamic filters and advanced search capabilities to make sure that your customers can find what they’re looking for among the many products. We will also share how to make sure that your customers are only viewing products and prices that are relevant to them.

Complex part or catalog numbers

Many organizations struggle with multiple versions and formats of catalog numbers resulting in failed searches and lost revenue. We will discuss how to ensure that however a user searches – they find the correct product.

Customer-specific catalogs

B2B buyers expect catalogs to be customized based on negotiated product assortments, warehouse locations, and pricing. The last thing that a customer wants to see on your site is products that are not available to them. Personalization can significantly affect B2B online revenue.

Dynamic Pricing

Customized pricing is a challenge unique to B2B businesses. Prices are individualized based on factors such as contract, purchasing frequency, and volume. We will explore the ways in which complex B2B pricing can be handled in the context of search.

Omni-channel B2B

B2B customers will experience your company through different channels – call centers, eCommerce site, sales representatives. All of these channels should have the same information and your business should be able to have a single view of all customer activity.

With over 60% of B2B customer research happening on mobile devices, the ability to understand more verbose, natural language queries is paramount.

Managing the Relationship

There will always be B2B customers who simply want to reorder. A good eCommerce system allows you to maintain a list of regular order items and to use analytics to spot trends. Online B2B means that you have a closer view of customer activity, so that if there are any issues, or the customer simply hasn’t logged in for a while, you can make contact.

The Global Market

If your company intends to do business outside of the U.S. there are implications in terms of language, currency, and regulations. The EU regulations may be different for your products, for example, product or product labeling may need to be modified. Using a search solution that intuitively understands multiple languages and currencies is imperative in the global market.

Customer Acquisition

Although some techniques are transferable from B2C commerce, often B2B companies have a specific buyer group, meaning that their initial customer contact will be made through channels such as trade shows or sales representatives. Once customers are aware of your business, however, they are likely to try to find your company online to continue their research. Good content and S.E.O. is therefore just as important as for B2C sellers.

Are You Ready?

There are huge benefits in putting in place a strategy to drive B2B customers to your eCommerce site. But is your site capable of maintaining the relationship and even driving more revenue through excellent functionality? When asked to cite the top features or functions they would most like from suppliers in the selling process, most business buyers chose enhanced search functionality on their website (60%).

EasyAsk offers the only merchandising tool designed exclusively for the rigors and challenges of B2B eCommerce. EasyAsk can be configured for any platform, either commercial or built in-house.

EasyAsk has long served the B2B customer segment and over 200 B2B distributors have chosen us to power their B2B eCommerce sites, including: Aramark, Alphabroder, Demco, Kaman Industries, Tacoma Screw, and Crown Packaging.

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Keywords-used-2018?

You’ll be familiar with the default search language of Keywords; that condensed string of search terms, void of any connecting words. Many people who are used to using web search engines still choose to use keywords. CollegeHumor illustrates Keyword Search hilariously in their ‘If Google was a Guy’ videos.

But the tides are turning with the growing awareness of Natural Language Search. Being able to phrase questions as you would ask them if you were talking to someone, using everyday language, is increasingly expected of search engines.

It would be easy to assume that keyword search systems will deal as effectively with keyword searches as a Natural Language Processing (NLP) engine. But this is just not the case. Not only will a good NLP search system produce the right results first time for the growing numbers of users who are familiar with natural language searching, but it will also out-perform keyword search engines when it comes to seemingly simple keyword searches.

Here’s how:

Understanding Language

A good NLP search engine understands word inflection and is able to take versions of words and create a single concept. Changes such as tenses and pluralities are reduced down to a single word, normally a noun. For example, it would be equally natural for a customer to search for either ‘jackets’ or ‘jacket’. With some traditional keyword search systems, however, business users would have to manually create synonyms to say that jackets = jacket.

Irregular plurals such as ‘goose/geese’ or ‘lady/ladies’ can confuse a keyword search engine, whereas a good NLP system will understand all pluralities and grammar. EasyAsk’s search solution will even understand these language complexities across multiple languages.

Understanding Words

Take the simple example of the keyword search, ‘red jacket’. A keyword search engine will match products that contain the words ‘red’ and ‘jacket’. It may even be configured to search in categories. But what if the category name is ‘jackets’ and the system doesn’t recognize ‘jacket’ as meaning the same thing? A good NLP system will match products containing the words ‘red’ and ‘jacket’, but it will also match if, for example, there is some text that describes the product as ‘redder than purple’. EasyAsk’s solution goes one step further. It will understand the keywords completely and realize that the words could be mapped to something else. It understands that red is a color attribute, and will bring back products that don’t necessarily contain the word ‘red’ but that are burgundy, scarlet, berry, crimson… It will also understand that ‘jacket’ is a category name, and that certain products may not include the category name, ‘jacket’, but instead a model name, such as a ‘red Bomber’.

The EasyAsk system on Nasco’s website responds perfectly to the simple keyword search ‘watercolor brush’:

enasco.com

EasyAsk’s system has recognized that ‘brushes’ in the product name matches ‘brush’ in the original search and that ‘watercolor’ describes the type of brushes. A simple keyword search system may have shown watercolor paints first in the product results and found no matches for ‘brush’.

Ranking Products

Even if your customers are running relatively simple keyword searches, there is still lots more that can be done with the results. With EasyAsk, you have the ability to rank the products intelligently, using relevant scoring. Depending on where the match is found will affect the score for that product. For example, a product name match is more important than a match in the description as it could contain misleading text. You also have the ability to search the most important parts of the product first for matches, and only search the less important parts if nothing is found initially.

Yet another option is to configure EasyAsk to only search the highest weighted fields (e.g. product and category name), and if results are found, to stop there. If no matching products are found, however, EasyAsk will go back and try the lower weighted fields (e.g. product description and keywords). In this way, it is possible to only show the less-relevant results when there aren’t any highly relevant products to show. Results pages shouldn’t be filled with less-relevant information.

Reducing No Results

Great NLP engines will avoid ‘No Results’ for keyword searches by relaxing one or more of the terms. Where there may be no results for a search for ‘pink scissors’, one of the terms could be relaxed to show either pink products or scissors. EasyAsk even allows its users to configure the priority of which term is relaxed. In our example, EasyAsk would ignore the color and show scissors rather than pink products that aren’t scissors.

Search As You Type

Search As You Type (or SAYT) intelligently finds the most common searches and shows products before the user has even hit return. This function means that customers with a simple keyword search can type the first few letters and click the search or even go straight to the product that they had in mind.

SAYT in action at enacso.com

How does your business measure up?

NLP search systems understand everyday language with all of its complexities. Intelligent, intuitive NLP systems can take the simplest keyword searches and provide a vastly superior experience to that of a traditional keyword search engine. Does your search solution provide relevant products, however your customers decide to ask?

Let us show you the full range of features that the EasyAsk solution offers.

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Why Messaging?

Intelligent search engines will show alternative products or searches when users search for something that returns no results. Messaging on product results pages are used when this has happened. It is an opportunity to inform customers why they’re seeing a particular set of products and it is imperative that users quickly understand what has happened so that their confidence in the search system is maintained.

Messaging might be used in the following instances:

Spell Correction

When a change has been made to the original text, it is important to inform the user how the spelling has been changed. For example,

“sofaa” returned no results, so we’re showing you results for “sofa” instead.

It is, of course, necessary that your spell correct function is up to the job in the first place. An intelligent search engine will check spellings against the company data as well as a dictionary.

Out of Stock Products

Popular products may periodically go out of stock. Messaging allows your business to let customers know that certain products would normally be available and that you are showing them alternative products. For example,

“Gracey Recliner” returned no results, so we’re showing you results for “leather recliner” instead. The Gracey recliner is currently unavailable.

Products not in the Catalog

If your business does not stock a particular brand, but does stock brands who produce similar products, it is important to redirect your customers to relevant alternative products. An electronics supplier might display a message such as: “Sorry, we don’t stock Canon, but Nikon is an excellent alternative”.

Simply telling your customers that you don’t stock a particular product or brand is a missed opportunity.

Relaxation

With certain customer search queries, part of a search may need to be relaxed. If a user’s search has been changed in this way, a message explaining the changes to the original search should be displayed. For example, a user may search for “purple leather couches” and see the following message: “Sorry, we don’t have purple leather couches, but here are the leather couches we do have”.

This user could have searched for leather couches in the first instance and spent a long time scrolling through the pages of results looking for any in purple. But by using messaging in this way, the user is informed immediately and is more likely to use the search system again.

Keeping the Customer Informed

The key to messaging is letting the user know what is happening. If there is a message that could be conveyed, it should always be displayed, and the more explicit you can be, the better. This gives the user confidence in the search system. Conversely, if no message is displayed when changes have been made to a search, it is confusing for the user. If, for example, an alternative brand of product is presented with no messaging to explain why, the user may assume that the search is not working, lose confidence in the search system and even abandon the site. Ideally, there would be multiple messages set up for different purposes.

Implementing messaging on product result pages is straightforward to set up and configure with EasyAsk’s intuitive search solution.

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Redirects

When done right, Redirects have the power to inform and invite your customers towards more relevant content. Running a text-search for their queries may not be the most appropriate next step in their journey through your eCommerce site. Sometimes, it is more appropriate to show a different page or set of results. And customers who realize that your search engine is intelligent and intuitive in this way will trust you with their time and money.

How can I use Redirects?

There are many uses for Redirects in eCommerce and we like to define them in three ways:

Web Page Redirects

A Web Page Redirect redirects a search term to a specific web page instead of performing a search. It is useful for catching queries, such as ‘delivery’ or ‘returns’. For example, a customer may enter ‘delivery’ into a search box to find out about the company delivery costs or policies. When a Web Page Redirect is set up for ‘delivery’, the customer is redirected to the delivery web page rather than the engine running a search. This kind of redirect can be set up to recognize queries such as, “Where’s my order?” or, “How much does delivery cost?”

Web Page Redirects are also valuable for when you wish to direct customers to a specially-created landing page. For example, you might set up a redirect for a particular brand that takes customers to a brand page that includes brand information, cross-sells and other content. Perhaps you would like customers who search for party dresses over the coming months to be redirected to a ‘Christmas Party’ landing page that displays dresses, jewelry, shoes, and other accessories.

Search Page Redirects

A Search Page Redirect redirects from one search to another search. For example, there may be searches for which you wish your customers to only see a specific set of products that you have defined. Instead of seeing results for their original search, customers will be redirected to a different results page. Perhaps when users search for a particular brand, you would like to drive them to a particular set of products with a special deal or a higher profit margin.

Conditional Definitions

This tool, unique to the EasyAsk solution, is an incredibly useful way to avoid ‘No Results’ pages for products that are out of stock. If a business identifies a popular product that frequently goes out of stock, it is possible to use Conditional Definitions to show the specific product if it is in stock, but a different (defined) set of products, should the requested product be out of stock at that time. Our previous blog in the series, ‘Reducing No Results’, covers this in further detail.

Take Control

By using Redirects in conjunction with data from their search analytics, retailers can take control of their customers’ experience. When customers use the search box, they don’t always need or want the search results for their query. Redirects allow flexibility over what pages and products are put in front of customers. Redirects are just one of the many tools that are part of EasyAsk’s intuitive search solution.

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No Results

According to a WebLink study, shoppers using internal site search deliver a 216% higher conversion rate compared to customers that simply browse. With search playing such a crucial role, generating a generic ‘Sorry, no results matched your search’ message could be disastrous. How many shoppers would stay on your site and how many would go straight to your competitor?

Check out these common causes for ‘No Results’ pages and how to avoid them:

Spelling Errors

A large number of ‘No Results’ searches can be put down to poor spell correction. An effective Search Engine must have sensible spell corrections and synonyms, including the ability to understand plurals. For example, the adjectives ‘smoked’ and ‘smoky’ should be understood by the Search Engine as synonymous.

Most Search Engines provide a reasonably good service when it comes to spell corrections or synonyms, but can yours manage word inflection, such as changes in tense or verb conjugation? For example, will your search system recognize that ‘mattresses’ is the plural form of ‘mattress’ because it has the suffix ‘es’ rather than just ‘s’? If your business operates across different countries, and therefore languages, this becomes an even bigger challenge. Do you have a Natural Language engine that understands these complexities across multiple languages?

Specific Language

Another cause of ‘No Results’ searches is shoppers’ use of language. It could be that a search is too specific, and that by ‘relaxing’ one or more words, a relevant set of results can still be shown. A good Natural Language tool will be capable of understanding that words such as ‘over’ and ‘under’ relate to a price indication. As people become increasingly used to using voice searches, they may include phrases like ‘show me’ or ‘I’m looking for’. Although typically searches would fail with the addition of these phrases, a Search Engine that can understand Natural Language will still make sense of the query.

You don’t sell particular products

When a shopper searches for something that is not stocked by an eRetailer, it may seem that a ‘No Results’ message would be inevitable. But a successful Search System will show results for alternative searches when a company doesn’t have what users ask for. The system should allow the business to set up redirects based on likely search queries (see our first blog post in this series to find out how to best use Search Analytics in this way). For example, if a company doesn’t stock Nike products, a redirect could be set up to show Adidas products (that they do stock) instead. Redirects allow businesses to redefine the terms a customer uses in order to point to different terms and therefore different products.

Products are Out of Stock

If a popular product has gone out of stock, most Search Systems will display a ‘No Results’ message. This is no longer a reason for a wasted opportunity with EasyAsk’s unique tool, ‘Conditional Redirects’. The tool enables businesses to set up a redirection to a separate set of products when their customers search for a popular product that is out of stock. For example, if a company usually sells Gracey Recliners, they may find that they sometimes have an issue with the supply, due to the product’s popularity. The merchandiser could set up a conditional redirect rule using EasyAsk software, so that when Gracey recliners are unavailable, a message displays explaining this, along with a redirected search for ‘leather recliners’. When the Gracey recliners are back in stock, they will once again be shown in the search results. It is not necessary for a merchandizer to remove the rule; the Search System will automatically show the product again.

No Results? No way!

Avoiding ‘No Results’ searches is a simple yet valuable way to ensure your customers find, and buy, what they are looking for. It is essential to use a Search Engine that is flexible and can understand the multitude of ways that a user might phrase a query. Quite simply, you won’t resolve the underlying causes of ‘No results’ without an intuitive Natural Language engine. With flexible merchandising and search tuning, you can make sure that you’re not hard-wiring the way that search works.

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What is a Chatbot?

Users interact with a Chatbot via a chat or messaging interface, imitating a conversation. After a series of questions and responses, users should arrive at an answer or product. Chatbots have moved on from their beginnings as a text-based response tree to now include elements of Artificial Intelligence such as Natural Language Processing. The most common use for Chatbots is for customer service. The Chatbot can answer the simpler customer queries, leaving the complex answers to the ‘living’ employees.

So Chatbots might be a good substitution for human customer service, but are they the next big thing for eCommerce sites? Chatbots can provide an intelligent interaction, but do shoppers really want to have an interaction when they know what they’re looking for?

Not a substitute for Good Search

Chatbots can provide a novel user experience, but when it comes to customers who are searching for a specific product or service, Chatbots cannot be a substitute for good search. A Chatbot is only as smart as the engine behind it.

Take the example of a customer looking for a leather sofa. Using a Chatbot, the customer may have to navigate through a series of questions to narrow down their search. They might select ‘Living Room Products’, followed by ‘Sofas’ and then be presented with a list of attributes, such as brand or size. Eventually, the customer may be presented with the option to select a fabric, where they can choose a ‘leather’ sofa. A Chatbot is typically pre-programmed with the order in which it will ask the questions and a customer may have to answer four or five questions before the most important question is asked. Compare this scenario to a great search system, where the customer can ask for a ‘brown leather sofa under $1000’ using the search box and see exactly the right products.

Chatbot vs Site Search

We thought we’d give eCommerce giant eBay a chance to wow us with their Chatbot capabilities before it stopped taking orders on September 6, 2018. We compared the same search with its regular site search results.

A query using the eBay ShopBot for ‘1967 Corvette Seats’ initially brought back the following responses:

It was necessary to click on one of the options regarding placement before results were presented. The first result shows seat covers rather than seats and the subsequent products available to view by clicking through the carousel were seat parts or tools, and not actual seats either.

The ShopBot then required a typed response to ascertain the desired price range. No clickable answers to save time, just the messaging entry field:

Once a price range was identified, the first result is indeed Corvette seat foam. Subsequent products in the carousel are seat brackets or assembly items.

The ShopBot then asked a seemingly relevant question about which type of seat was required.  On selecting ‘driver seat’, one result is returned, of a seat base for a 1993 – 2013 Corvette:

We think we can see why the ShopBot has had relatively little take up compared to the eBay mobile App. Contrast the Chatbot experience to that of using the regular site search:

Although the first result is a seat belt, the following results are 1967 Corvette seats, as requested, and the site search also provides the customer with a choice of products.

Even though the Ebay Shopbot appeared clever, it was still quite painful compared with simply running a search. If a shopper knows what products they are looking for, their choice is to either spend 2 to 5 minutes taking part in a question and answer session or to simply use intuitive search. Do shoppers want to have a chat with a computer or find the right products the first time they ask?

As Chatbots become more intelligent with advances in Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning, it would be easy to assume that they are a cure-all, but let’s not underestimate the necessity of great search. A Search Box query combined with intuitive Natural Language search technology will speed up a customer’s route to checkout. Instead of customers spending time interacting with a Chatbot, intelligent Search creates a faster track to a product or service, and therefore improves conversion rates.

Do you want EasyAsk’s advice? Don’t rush to deploy something that will bring down your conversion.

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We currently live in a time where five generations make up the overwhelming majority of our country: Baby Boomers I (1946-1954), Baby Boomers II (1955-1965), Generation X (1966-1976), Generation Y (1977-1994), and Generation Z (1995-2012). And Millennials bridge Gen Y and Gen Z. These are the main generations that make up your customer base. That’s a 76-year age gap you’re trying to connect with. A rather daunting task.

Over this 76-year gap, the way people search has changed dramatically. Baby Boomers up through Generation X went to a library and owned an encyclopedia. Generation Y started this way but adapted to current forms of search via the internet. Early generations hoarded multiple maps in their glovebox. Later generations relied on printing the specific route you needed before you departed (anyone remember Map Quest?). Today we instantly look up directions complete with turn-by-turn instructions. Yes, there are still people who go to the library, own an encyclopedia, and use paper maps, but their numbers are dwindling.

These generational side-effects also change the way we all do one common thing: Shop.

Shopping is something that will never go away, but it will always change. From Sears and Roebuck’s catalogs beginning in 1886, to mega malls in the ’90s, to having your order delivered same-day by a drone. And it is the way people shop that brings us to the point of this very long-winded diatribe.

People shop online. The way they find products is through search. Whether it’s on Google to find information, on your maps to find a location, or on your eCommerce site to find a product – Search is the one aspect that is constant. How people search is not, and much of it goes back to the generational differences. Some will type, while others will speak. Some will begin with old Keyword search (i.e Nike Shoes), and then drill down via Navigation (i.e. choosing a color, choosing a size, choosing price-point, etc.). Others will say exactly what they want, using Natural Language Search, to begin the search (i.e. Red and White Nike basketball shoes under $150). Some will search on their laptops, others on their tablets, while a full 67% will search on their phones.

The point is this: Your audience is made up of many different generations, and each has their own way of doing something as simple as Search. There is no correct or incorrect way… but you, as an eCommerce Retailer, better be able to return the right results. Here at EasyAsk, our Artificial Intelligence/Natural Language Search Engine allows us to span that generational gap.

Update: We will be putting the generations to the test as we ask a member of each to go through our Search Challenge. Results coming soon… Stay tuned!

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Are you like me? Have you come to rely on talk-to-text on your phone? I am one of those people who use the microphone button on my iPhone to dictate my texts and my searches. For the most part, my phone does pretty well at translating my voice into the written word. But like countless others, there are times when I re-read what I have written, only to find garbled text that barely resembles what I said. Sometimes I have to read it out loud to see if I can recapture the essence of what I was trying to say.

But even with that, I am one of many mobile phone users who have come to rely on this technology. What accounts for this reliance? Why are more and more people choosing voice-to-text? Here are the three top reasons:

• It’s fast – on average we speak about 150 words per minute vs. 25 typed on an iPhone or Android*
• It’s easy and convenient – because it’s hands-free, it’s easier to multitask, and if you’re driving, it’s a life-saver (literally – please note that I’m not advocating that you text and drive.  It’s a no-no and even with voice, it’s probably illegal in many states)
• It’s smart – thanks to natural language recognition and processing, the more you use talk-to-text, the better your device understands you – thereby increasing it’s accuracy

With all these benefits it is clear that voice is rapidly becoming the most efficient way to interact with your mobile device.

But what about the question of accuracy? Technology improvements that address issues like background noise, accents and conceptual processing are changing how well our devices understand the spoken word. In 2010, statistics show that devices understood approximately 70% of what was said. Low enough that it pretty much defeated the purpose of talk-to-text. Because of technology improvements, in 2016, that number is over 90% and approaching 95%. When we hit that 95% mark, we won’t need to re-read our dictation and make corrections. That’s a game-changer.**

The point is, not only is talk-to-text here to stay, but it is going to play a much greater role in how the public interacts with their devices. More and more mobile websites will have easier to use voice interfaces, more programs and platforms will accept voice input, like Amazon’s Alexa/Echo devices or Apple’s Siri and more people will adopt a talk-to-text strategy when interacting with their devices.

Whether you use it to dictate text messages or shopping lists, or in the case of a product like EasyAsk, ask an eCommerce site to find you the perfect little black dress that exactly fits your size and budget, you’ll soon find that no matter how silly you think you look talking to your phone, you aren’t alone.

Oh, and here’s a tip – did you know that you can speak your punctuation when you use talk-to-text? For example for that previous sentence, I dictated, “Oh comma and here’s a tip dash did you know that you can speak your punctuation when you use talk dash to dash text question mark”. Go ahead, give it a try. Your phone won’t bite.

* https://www.pocketables.com/archives/mobile-device-keyboard

** kpcb.com/InternetTrends, Global Internet Trends, Mary Meeker, page 118

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