Latest / The DTC Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Direct-to-Consumer Brands, Shopify, and E-Commerce Growth / How DTC Brands Use Voice Commerce to Boost Repeat Purchases
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, I want to talk about something that feels futuristic but is actually happening right now — voice commerce. Not the novelty of asking Alexa to order paper towels, but DTC brands using voice as a deliberate retention channel. Luna: You mean like, setting up a skill so customers can reorder their subscription with a spoken command? Lucas: Exactly. And the numbers are starting to justify the investment. There's a pet food DTC brand — I'm thinking of one that sells fresh dog food — that added an Alexa reorder skill last year. Within three months, their repeat purchase rate among users who enabled the skill jumped twenty-two percent. Luna: Twenty-two percent — that's significant. But how many people actually enabled it? Lucas: That's the rub. Adoption is still low — maybe one to two percent of their customer base. But the people who do enable it become incredibly sticky. Their order frequency goes up, their churn drops. The brand's view is that even if it's a small slice now, those customers are their highest-value segment. Luna: So the ROI isn't from volume — it's from deepening the relationship with a subset of superusers. Lucas: Right. And the psychology is interesting. Voice ordering removes what behavioral scientists call 'choice friction'. When you have to open an app, navigate to your account, find the product, confirm the size — there are multiple decision points where you might second-guess or abandon. Voice collapses that into one command: 'Alexa, reorder my dog food'. Luna: It's the difference between making a decision and executing a habit. Lucas: Exactly. And habits are what drive retention in DTC. Brands that can turn a purchase into a routine — something you do without thinking — have dramatically lower churn. Voice commerce is essentially a habit amplifier. Luna: But isn't there a discovery problem? How do customers even know the skill exists? Lucas: That's the biggest hurdle. Most brands rely on post-purchase email sequences — 'Hey, did you know you can reorder with your voice?' — plus in-package inserts and SMS. Some do a one-time discount for enabling the skill. But you're right, it's not something people search for. Luna: And then there's the privacy angle. People are wary of having a microphone in their kitchen constantly listening for commands. Lucas: That concern hasn't gone away. But what I've noticed is that once someone trusts the device for basic tasks — timers, weather, music — they're more willing to extend that trust to purchases. It's a gradual onboarding. Luna: So the brand has to earn the trust before voice reordering becomes natural. Lucas: Exactly. And the technical setup matters too. The skill needs to link to the customer's account seamlessly, recognize their specific product and frequency, and confirm the order aloud before placing it. That confirmation step is crucial — it avoids the 'I accidentally ordered fifty pounds of kibble' horror story. Luna: Which would definitely kill trust. Luna: And what about Google Assistant versus Alexa — is one better for DTC? Lucas: Alexa has a larger installed base, especially in the US. But Google Assistant is catching up, and some brands see higher engagement on Google because it's already tied to the user's email and payment info. For DTC, the smart move is to build for both — but start with Alexa if you have to pick one. Luna: Are there any DTC brands besides pet food that are doing this well? Lucas: Sure. A coffee subscription brand — I won't name them, but they're well-known — added a 'reorder my usual' skill and saw average order value actually increase, because customers would sometimes add a second bag on impulse when prompted. And a vitamin brand uses voice to let customers skip a month without logging in. That reduces subscription cancellations. Luna: So it's not just about ordering — it's about managing the subscription without friction. Lucas: Right. The whole value prop is reducing the cognitive load of being a repeat customer. Every time you make it easier to stay, you reduce the chance they'll leave. Luna: What about the cost? Building an Alexa skill isn't free. Lucas: It's not trivial. A basic reorder skill might cost fifteen to thirty thousand dollars to develop and another few thousand a year to maintain. But if you're a DTC brand doing, say, ten million in revenue with a twenty percent repeat rate, even a modest lift in retention can justify that cost quickly. Luna: So the math can work if you target it at your highest-frequency customers. Lucas: Exactly. And the beauty is that voice commerce data gives you insights into customer habits that you can't get from clicks. You can see what time of day people reorder, what phrasing they use, whether they add products spontaneously. That's gold for personalization. Luna: I hadn't thought about the data side. That's actually really valuable. Lucas: It is. And it's still early. The number of DTC brands with a voice skill is tiny — maybe a few hundred globally. So there's first-mover advantage in categories where voice adoption is growing. Luna: Which categories are seeing the most traction? Lucas: Pet food, coffee, vitamins, beauty refills — anything consumable and predictable. If you order the same thing on a regular cadence, voice is a natural fit. But it's also starting to work for things like razor blades and cleaning supplies. Luna: So the product needs to be a repeat purchase with low variability. Lucas: Exactly. You're not going to voice-order a pair of shoes where you want to see different colors. But for replenishment — that's the sweet spot. Luna: And what about the voice commerce platforms like Buy with Alexa or Google's Shopping Actions? Are those helping? Lucas: They are, but they take a cut. For DTC brands that already have a direct relationship, building your own skill gives you more control and better data. The platform integrations are better for discovery, but you lose the direct connection. Luna: So it's a trade-off between reach and ownership. Lucas: Right. And most DTC brands prioritize ownership because their whole model is based on the direct relationship. Luna: Makes sense. So if a brand is listening and thinking about getting started, what's the first step? Lucas: Start with your existing customer data. Identify the top ten percent of customers by order frequency. Survey them — do they own a smart speaker? Would they use it to reorder? If the answer is yes, build a minimal viable skill that only works for that segment. Test for three months and measure the lift in repeat rate and average order value. Luna: That's a smart, low-risk approach. Lucas: And it gives you hard numbers to decide whether to scale. I've seen brands that did a small pilot, saw a fifteen percent lift in retention, and then rolled out to all customers within six months. Luna: You know, this kind of deep-dive into retention tactics is exactly why people listen to this show. It's practical, specific, and actionable. Lucas: And it's ad-free, which matters to us. Which reminds me — if these conversations have sparked something you've actually used, a couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps these going. Buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, if you've gotten something out of them. Luna: Yeah, it really does make a difference. Even a few bucks helps us keep the show independent and focused on what works, not what sells ads. Lucas: That's the whole point. And speaking of what works — let's look ahead. Where do you see voice commerce going in the next year or two? Luna: I think we'll see more brands embedding voice ordering directly into their mobile apps, not just smart speakers. So you could say 'reorder' into your phone without opening the app. That would massively increase adoption. Lucas: I agree. And as voice recognition gets better at handling accents and background noise, the friction drops further. The brands that get in early and learn the user behavior now will have a real advantage as voice becomes more mainstream. Luna: It's one of those quiet shifts — not a flashy trend, but a genuine improvement in how customers interact with brands. Lucas: Exactly. And for DTC, where retention is the whole game, anything that makes it easier to stay is worth exploring.