Talking avatar for ecommerce
A Talking Avatar for Your Online Store
A talking avatar is an animated character on a website that speaks its answers out loud, with lip movements matched to the words. On an online store, a talking avatar works as a sales associate: shoppers ask a question by voice or text and hear a spoken answer drawn from the store's own catalog and policies.
How a talking avatar works
Three pieces work together. Speech recognition turns the shopper's voice into text. An AI model writes the answer from the store's data. Text-to-speech reads the answer aloud, and the avatar's mouth follows the sounds, so the lips move with the words instead of flapping at random.
agenola's avatars are lip-synced 2D and 3D characters. Shoppers can talk or type, turn captions on, and the conversation keeps going as they move between product pages.
Talking avatar vs. video avatar
A video avatar is a recorded clip: the same message for every visitor. A talking avatar answers in real time, so each shopper hears an answer to their own question.
| Video avatar | Talking avatar | |
|---|---|---|
| What it says | A fixed, recorded script | An answer to the shopper's question |
| Uses your store's data | No | Yes: catalog, stock and policies |
| Shopper can ask back | No | Yes, by voice or text |
| Best for | Ads, onboarding videos, announcements | Product pages and pre-purchase questions |
Why stores use a talking avatar
- Shoppers who would ask a sales associate in a shop can ask the same question on the product page.
- Speaking is faster than typing on a phone, and easier for shoppers who don't like typing.
- A face draws attention in a way a chat bubble in the corner doesn't.
- It works at every hour, in the shopper's language: English, Turkish or Arabic.
What a good store avatar should do
- Answer only from your catalog, stock and policies, and say so when it doesn't know.
- Know which product page the shopper is on, so "Does this come in blue?" gets the right answer.
- Hand the conversation to your team, and open a ticket in your help desk, when it can't help.
- Let shoppers type instead of talking, and show captions.
- Start talking only when the shopper asks it to, never on its own.
- Not store voice recordings. agenola turns speech into text and keeps the transcript, not the audio.
Adding a talking avatar to your store
- Install the agenola app on Shopify or the plugin on WooCommerce; Magento and BigCommerce are supported too.
- Choose an avatar, its voice, language and tone. On the Pro plan you can upload an avatar of your own.
- Switch it on in your theme. The avatar appears on your storefront and answers from your live catalog.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a talking avatar?
- An animated character on a website that speaks its answers out loud with lip sync. On a store, it answers shoppers' questions from the store's own catalog and policies.
- Does the avatar start talking on its own?
- No. The shopper opens it and starts the conversation; sound only plays after that.
- Are shoppers' voices recorded?
- No. Speech is turned into text for the answer; the audio is not stored, only the transcript.
- Can I use my own avatar?
- Yes, on the Pro plan you can upload an avatar of your own. Every plan includes ready-made 2D and 3D avatars.
- Which languages can it speak?
- English, Turkish and Arabic, with Arabic shown right to left.
Related pages
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