Amazon rolls out its ‘Customers Ask Alexa’ feature

Amazon wants Alexa users to buy more items. Customers Ask Alexa, a new Alexa feature launched today at Amazon’s Accelerate conference, allows marketers to submit answers to popular inquiries like “How can I remove pet hair from my carpet?” and “How to eradicate odour from dirt stains?” Previously, Alexa would respond to similar requests with generic advice from the web and other sources. Customers Ask Alexa, on the other hand, transforms responses into product placements.

The new feature will be offered to selected sellers in October 2022, although it will be invitation-only at first. In 2023, all eligible brands will have access to the feature.

All responses offered by businesses are screened by “Alexa’s content moderation, and quality checks,” and Alexa will purportedly only provide the most relevant replies. Amazon said in the same write-up that any answers provided through “Customers ask Alexa” will always be acknowledged to the companies from which they came and “are not paid for or promoted” — yet it feels a lot like sponsored content to us.

Amazon leverages personal voice data to garner greater ad bids from marketers, which may not be acceptable to all customers. According to a report released in April — crucial aspects of which were confirmed to the sources by an Amazon spokesman — Amazon and third parties, such as advertising and monitoring firms, gather data from users’ interactions with Alexa via speakers, televisions, and other devices.