Google has returned to the idea of automatically calling local businesses on your behalf. Its new “Ask for Me” feature uses AI to call local businesses to inquire about simple questions. We say “returning” because Google has attempted various flavors of this concept in the past (more on that in a bit).
The idea behind Ask for Me is to save consumers time by automating the act of picking up the phone to call local businesses – everything from bike shops to nail salons – to ask qualifying questions. It’s the latest in Google’s blitz of AI capabilities that are being integrated throughout its orbiting products.
Meanwhile, the key term above is “simple.” The idea is to offload rote and time-consuming consumer research such as finding out when a business is open, if a given product is in stock, and how much it costs. These are not only tedious tasks, but also the ones that AI is halfway decent at these days.
From Ads to Offers
To further illustrate the Ask for Me user experience, the feature is available on desktop and mobile to users who have opted into Search Labs. From there, it’s accessed by searching for local services like “teeth cleaning” or “sushi near me.” Users will then see an “Ask for me” option and “Get started” button.
Users are then prompted to enter details about the specific service they’re looking for. To use the above example, that could include things like “teeth cleaning” or “tire rotation” or whatever the need is. Users can then enter a time frame to indicate their urgency before Google starts calling businesses to inquire.
The outcome of that workflow ends in a summary that Google sends the user with variables like pricing and availability. The latter could mean inventory availability (if products) and appointment availability (if services). Monetization is unclear but you can bet Google is planning to sell warm leads in some way.
That last part speaks to Google’s broader evolution. A high-stakes question often asked is how Google will monetize AI search (one answer) without cannibalizing paid search (many links). Yext CDO Christian Ward sees selling high-value leads or “offers” as a way to reconcile fewer ad slots. Quality over quantity.
Wheel it Back Out
Another thing that remains unclear is how Google’s outbound queries manifest. In other words, what’s the interface? An AI agent that asks questions to whoever picks up the phone? Will that call recipient be confused or thrown by the Google bot? What about when there’s a phone tree? Robots talking to robots?
Questions like the above could be answered in the near term, given Google’s experimental treatment. In fact, several recent AI features have come out of Search Labs, including the now-ubiquitous AI Summaries. Whether or not Ask for Me sees a full rollout will depend on its functionality and popularity.
Popularity is actually the key question for the feature, and there’s historical evidence to handicap its fate. As noted, this isn’t Google’s first attempt at calling local businesses for you. Last year’s “Talk to a Live Rep” navigated phone trees – starting with airlines – then notified users when a live rep was available.
Closer in functionality to “Ask for Me,” a core selling point of Google’s now-defunct Duplex was to call businesses on behalf of users. Though Duplex didn’t survive, Google now ostensibly sees opportunity in its automated calling feature. And with its current AI blitz, now’s the logical time to wheel it back out.
Header Image Credit: Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash
