Conversational Actions Sunset– How to carry on the conversation

If you have a Conversational Action

Continue the conversation

Now is the time to let your customer base know what is happening. Google has included a message when users invoke the action, but you can proactively communicate to your customers so they know they can continue the conversation via your other channels.

If you have an Alexa Skill, a chatbot on your website, or more traditional customer support, direct them there. Proactive communication on your social media or email list will go a long way to help customers navigate the transition. And don’t neglect the messaging on your marketing and support pages; make sure these are updated so customers are not left confused.

Explore what people are asking Google

Just because users won’t be able to ask your Conversational Action, it doesn’t mean that they’re not asking Google Assistant about your brand. Do you know if the answers are accurate?

The latest Voice Consumer Index indicated that 25% have Google Assistant devices in their homes or hands, and 43% are asking Google Assistant for answers to questions.

Now is the time to focus on optimising your website. Get a comprehensive VSEO (Voice SEO) audit to improve your website copy, and use structured data to optimise a step further. While you are undergoing platform change, doing this work matters more than ever.

Prepare to turn off your servers

On June 13, 2023, Google will stop directing traffic from Conversational Actions, which means that you’ll have server resources behind the scenes that are suddenly no longer required. Now is a good time to review your infrastructure to ensure that you are not spending money on cloud resources that are not being used.

Similarly, ensure you have a backup of your codebase (you may want to review it in the future), and we’d encourage reviewing the user data that you may be storing to ensure that you still require it.

What does this mean for Alexa?

In our last post on this subject, we asked, does this impact Alexa? The answer was no back then, and the answer today is still no! Amazon continues to develop and grow the Alexa platform, and independent reports are saying that Amazon is actively working on integrating similar technology as the ones behind ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. It’s certainly not too late to explore migrating your Conversational Action to an Alexa Skill. And if you need ideas on how, get in touch.

Do I need to think about ChatGPT?

Yes! Large Language Models (LLMs) are creating huge opportunities for you to design personalised conversations with your customers, whether that’s via a chatbot, voice, in your app, or beyond. There are plenty of areas to explore how LLMs can carry on the conversation that Conversational Actions are dropping.

Need some help?

Whether it is for support crafting a communication plan, improving your Voice SEO, implementing a migration to Amazon Alexa, or exploring the opportunities that Large Language Models bring for your business, we’re here to help. Book a free 30-minute call with the team to see how we might support you and your business.