Conversational Commerce:
Why it’s important

What this concept means for businesses- today, tomorrow and in the future

Back in 2016 Chris Messina (the same guy who invented the hashtag) introduced us to a new concept he called Conversational Commerce. He describes this concept as “utilizing chat, messaging, or other natural language interfaces to interact with people, brands, or services and bots that heretofore have had no real place in the bidirectional, asynchronous messaging context.” The demand for this type of communication has exploded in recent years with 79% of customers saying that engaging with a knowledgeable store associate is important. Conversational commerce presents businesses with a new way of communicating and a streamlined sales process.

What’s the significance?

Messaging is and will continue to be on the rise, with WhatsApp’s 1.5 billion users and Facebook Messenger’s 1.3 billion, alongside other apps such as Instagram and WeChat. Currently on Facebook Messenger alone 20 billion messages are exchanged each month between people and businesses. Conversational commerce is gaining momentum as:

Over 70% of customers surveyed say they will message businesses with customer service questions and over 59% to make purchases.
Over 58% of customers feel more confident messaging a business than filling out a form on their website.
75% of customers are more likely to spend more with a brand if they can message rather than call.

Customers are driven by convenience.

Convenience is a significant driving force for most of today’s world and conversational commerce is no different. The consolidated consumer journey is a lot more appealing than lengthy email correspondence or slow unnavigable websites.

What are Gen Z and the Millennials doing about this?

The digitally savvy generations are amplifying the conversational commerce concept as they seek out a convenient purchase process and socially centric customer service.

of Gen Z & Millenials have recently purchased natively from a social media platform

Types of Conversational Commerce:

1. Messaging Apps

The use of SM messaging apps is booming offering many opportunities for social commerce through convenience and consumer confidence, such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger.

2. Messaging & Support Tools

Live chat is often supplemented by automated help desks and messaging tools. They sync with your CRM and keep note of order history and interactions.

3. Live Chat

This is an ideal option for those who want answers ASAP. 41% of consumers prefer live chat options over other service channels like calls or email. The best option for live chat offers customers a chance to chat to a person or a bot. Tools like Help Scout are commonly used on e-commerce sites.

4. Chatbots

Chatbot marketing has increased a lot in recent years, they are ideal for answering basic customer queries and FAQs such as order status or availability. When it comes to more complex queries and complaints, chatbot innovation has a lot of work to do. For now we still need humans, whether we like it or not! Despite this 40% of consumers have no preference as to whether they talk to a person or bot.

5. Voice Assistants

Voice-shopping is quite literally conversational commerce, with examples such as Amazon Echo’s ability to confirm or add to orders based on previous purchases. In the coming years virtual assistants most likely grow their own sales channel.

of consumers prefer live chat options over other service channels like email

Benefits to businesses:

1. Improved Customer Service

It is no longer enough to provide one customer service touchpoint; customers expect quick responses across a range of channels. Now businesses can (almost) effortlessly provide omnichannel experience driving sales and customer retention.

2. Time & cost-effective

Today’s customers are constantly on the go and expecting instant replies which conversational commerce can provide. The use of conversational AI (artificial intelligence) can reduce customer service costs by up to 30% whilst providing a quicker service for customers.

3. Increasingly personalized

Customer service experience is elevated with the implementation of new technologies including natural language processing (NLP) improving chatbot’s ability to make recommendations.

4. Better conversion rate

An effective conversational commerce strategy should promote stress-free website navigation using an intelligent AI assistant. Even a website that isn’t super optimized should produce an improved conversion rate.

5. Lower cart abandonment

Less carts will be left behind as chatbots are known to reduce cart abandonment rate by 20-30% by following up hesitant customers and enticing them with offers and discounts.

Gabnela Porto

Benefits to customers:

1. Less waiting around

Reducing the steps required, and the number of information sources consumers need to turn to, and shortens the distance between prospect and purchase. Customer service and purchasing has never been more efficient.

2. Optimal convenience

No longer need to toggle back and forth between text conversations and websites to gather information and make purchases thanks to conversational commerce tools such as chatbots and voice assistants.

3. Personalized assistance

Conversational commerce offers a step closer to the attention you might get from a sales associate in the store. Chatbots may understand what you need more than you do. Often chatbots and human agents will collaborate to provide comprehensive assistance.

In short…

Conversational commerce may be a relatively new term but it’s one you will want to add to your vocab. With the growth of social media platforms and new technological developments being made every day, this way of serving customers is unlikely to disappear anytime soon. Into the future… Customers’ expectations are ever-growing, and your business needs to be equipped and flexible to adapt to the diverse and changing needs of customers.

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