Amazon has launched a new Alexa-powered capability geared toward helping brands answer common customer questions. The capability is called Customers ask Alexa, and it works like this: When customers pose questions to Alexa, including queries related to a product’s features or compatibilities, Alexa responds with helpful answers provided by brands from those product categories.
For example, a customer shopping for cleaning products on Amazon.com could ask, “How can I remove pet hair from my carpet?” A brand can now provide answers to such questions, along with links to its Amazon storefront. This new capability was announced during Amazon’s annual seller conference, Accelerate.
How Alexa connects customers with expert brands
Brands registered with Amazon Brand Registry will see the new Customers ask Alexa feature in Seller Central, where they can easily discover and answer frequently asked customer questions using self-service tools. All answers go through Alexa’s content moderation and quality checks before Alexa selects the most relevant answer to share with customers. Customers ask Alexa responses that are answered by brands are always attributed to the brands that provided them, and are not paid for or sponsored.
“Amazon recognizes brands as experts on their products. With this new capability, we have made it easier for brands to connect with customers to help answer common questions and better inform their purchase decisions,” said Rajiv Mehta, general manager of Alexa Shopping at Amazon.
Customers ask Alexa will be available in Seller Central for a select group of brands beginning October 2022 as an invite-only program, and will become available to all eligible brands in the U.S. in 2023. Customers ask Alexa will be available to shoppers via the Amazon search bar in late 2022, and via Echo devices in mid-2023.
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