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A whopping 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a good customer experience. Also, after a poor customer experience, 76% of consumers will stop doing business with a brand.
What do these stats depict?
The role and importance of Customer Experience in modern E-Commerce.
And one of the most important pillars of modern E-Commerce Customer Experience is Conversational Commerce.
Conversational commerce refers to the use of messaging and chatting applications for improved customer service. It involves the digitalization of customer service and allows for simultaneous communication with thousands of potential customers via social media, messenger apps, and websites. The conversations can be carried out by live customer service agents or chatbots, or a combination of both. It’s important for E-Commerce businesses as it provides a convenient and efficient way for customers to get the information and support they need.
Using conversational commerce, E-Commerce businesses can improve customer satisfaction, increase sales, and build stronger customer relationships. Additionally, since many customers prefer to communicate through chat or messaging, it helps businesses meet their customers where they are and offer support in the channel they prefer.
Platform: Whatsapp
TataCliq utilizes Whatsapp Commerce to facilitate their customers’ shopping journey. Many customers add items to their cart and create wish lists but fail to complete the purchase.
To reduce cart abandonment, TataCliq sends abandoned cart recovery messages via Whatsapp as a gentle reminder. These messages sometimes even turn into a conversation, allowing TataCliq to better understand their customers’ requirements and provide personalized recommendations.
It’s safe to say that Whatsapp plays a significant role in recovering those lost sales and enhancing customers’ overall satisfaction since it’s the most used and accessible conversational platform in the world.
Why it works:
Platform: Whatsapp Commerce
Westside makes the best use of Conversational Commerce by incorporating Whatsapp Commerce to build customer loyalty.
They offer exclusive deals to its members on Whatsapp, enticing more people to add to its sales revenue. Here is an example of sending personalized offers on their birthdays. This approach creates a sense of inclusivity with the brand and leads to increased customer satisfaction.
Why it works:
Credit: Starbucks
Platform: Mobile App
Starbucks has utilized its app to tackle a common problem for busy customers: long lines for coffee. With their app, customers can place an order with a “virtual barista” through messaging and customize their morning beverage just as they would with a real barista.
The streamlined message-based ordering system allows customers to use voice commands, text, and payment through their devices. Upon completion, they receive a notification when the order is ready, allowing them to bypass those long lines.
Why it works:
Credit: H&M
Platform: Chatbot
H&M has elevated its conversational commerce approach and serves as a prime example of personalized customer service. They’ve developed a virtual assistant that provides fashion guidance, enhancing the customer’s experience and presenting potential upselling opportunities.
Why it works:
Credit: Clinique
Platform: Website chatbot
Clinique has adopted conversational commerce to provide supplementary product assistance, exemplifying how E-commerce brands can utilize conversational commerce tools for personalized product suggestions. Given the premium prices, this service has become a customer expectation.
Customers have the choice of using Facebook Messenger, text messaging, or video chat. The inclusion of video chat holds significant power, making the experience more personal and ideal for imparting skincare and makeup advice, given the nature of the products sold.
Why it works:
Conversational commerce improves the shopping experience by making it an easier, more personalized, and a fun experience for the buyers. According to a recent study by PwC, buyers look for speed, convenience, consistency, and friendliness while shopping online.
Unlike intrusive pop-ups and banners, conversational commerce involves using messaging or chat interfaces to facilitate transactions and interactions with customers.
It provides online stores an opportunity to engage with their customers at every stage of the customer journey.
One of the most sought-after tools for conversational commerce is the WhatsApp messenger app, so much so that since its launch in 2021, more than 5 million businesses have been using WhatsApp to engage with their target customers.
Using the WhatsApp messenger app, you can use conversational commerce to build customer relationships at each stage of a buyer’s journey, here is how:
The customer journey starts with recognizing the need for a product or service, leading to a search for fulfillment. During this process, customers may come across your brand and seek to engage with you.
Here, you can use Whatsapp Commerce to raise awareness about your products and generate leads through targeted ads and text on the messenger app. The personal, one-on-one communication demonstrates that you care about your customers, contributing to better customer retention and conversion rates by increasing consumer confidence in your brand.
At this stage, customers have already conducted initial research and gained some knowledge about your business. However, their quest for information continues as they compare your offerings with competitors and read customer reviews. This is where Whatsappcommerce can provide customers with additional insights to deepen their understanding of your offerings.
With the help of Whatsapp Commerce, Â you can:
After obtaining information about the products and services under consideration, customers evaluate these options based on factors such as price, quality, benefits, performance, and brand trust.
Direct communication with customers at this stage strengthens their trust in the brand and increases the chances of acquiring a loyal customer. It also presents opportunities for making the sale by providing different pricing options, highlighting features, and reassuring customers of the quality through a personal and credible conversation.
You can use Whatsapp commerce to:
If the customer has reached this stage, you have met their requirements thus far. However, this does not mean you stop striving for excellence. Providing exceptional care for customers during this stage is highly advantageous as it’s much easier to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one.
With Whatsapp commerce, you can provide post-purchase support, such as tracking order status, accepting return orders, answering customer queries, etc. You can also use Whatsapp  to gather feedback and reviews from customers.
This is the final stage of the customer journey and the most challenging to achieve. At this point, the customer should have become a brand advocate who actively promotes your products in their network.
By continuing the conversation with customers, you can also request testimonials or product reviews, making them feel like a valued part of your team. This reinforces the relationship and enhances your business’ credibility amongst potential customers.
Here are the four major types of conversational commerce:
Chatbots are software programs that assist users by answering their questions through text messages. They have the ability to communicate with multiple users at the same time and provide information quickly, 24Ă—7.
Chatbots can be integrated into E-commerce sites and messaging platforms, offering a seamless experience throughout the customer journey. These capabilities have made chatbots a widespread form of conversational commerce, enabling brands to engage with customers with minimal effort.
Live chat applications provide customers with the ability to communicate with a real customer service representative. The days of cumbersome customer service forms and phone numbers are a thing of the past. Live chat apps can automate common responses to frequently asked questions, freeing up human customer service agents to assist customers with more complex issues.
According to Facebook, 64% of customers prefer using a chat app over calling customer service, and live chat enables customer service to handle multiple customer interactions simultaneously, improving efficiency and enhancing the customer experience.
You can easily reach your customers by allowing them to talk to your brand through messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram messenger to name a few. There are many more, but you don’t have to use all of them. Instead, think about the ones your customers use the most and focus on those. Messaging apps create an interpersonal connection between your business and your customers, making them a good way to provide customer support and offer product suggestions.
Shopping with voice technology like Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant is another part of conversational commerce. Many online shoppers, especially millennials, use these voice assistants to make purchases.
According to a survey, almost half of the online millennial shoppers (47%) have used a voice assistant for shopping. Marketers should anticipate common questions or orders from customers and make it easier for them to purchase by enabling voice commands.
This way, they can simplify the buying process and make it more convenient for the customer to just ask their voice assistant to make the purchase, instead of manually navigating through the product pages.
Now that you understand the role of conversational commerce in modern E-commerce, here are a few benefits you get from leveraging it:
The ecommerce industry experiences significant loss of revenue due to abandoned shopping carts, with an estimate of $18 billion annually. The implementation of conversational commerce strategies can help address this problem by sending reminders or nudges to customers who have abandoned their carts, inquiring into the reason for abandonment and gaining valuable information, and providing automated links to specific products sought by the customers.
You can also check out our guide to learn about setting up a fool-proof abandoned cart recovery strategy here.
People are busy, and waiting for responses can make them abandon your brand immediately. This is where implementing conversational commerce strategies helps. With the help of an instant customer query addressing system, you can be available for your customers 24Ă—7 and instantly help them in resolving their issues.
With the use of chatbots in conversational commerce, you can:
Your interaction with a customer doesn’t have to stop after they make a purchase. Your chatbot can follow up with them to gather reviews or feedback, freeing up time for live customer service agents.
Additionally, you can send automated follow-up messages to increase the likelihood of receiving a review. Research shows that 63% of customers are more likely to provide personal information if they had a positive experience.
Maximize your first impression opportunity by offering a warm welcome to new customers in-store.
While conversational commerce comes with a lot of benefits, there are also some challenges, including-
Automation tools can sometimes result in a dehumanising user experience, especially if the AI is outdated or lacks empathy. To prevent this, businesses must ensure that their tool effectively recognizes keywords and can detect frustration or the desire to speak to a human. Avoid frustrating customer interactions by ensuring your chatbot effectively understands your customer base.
When you have different departments or ways to communicate with customers, it’s important to keep the data organized. If the data is not kept together, it can cause problems. For example, a customer may start talking to you on one platform, but then switch to another platform, like text or email.
If the information they shared on one platform is not transferred to the other platform, they might have to repeat themselves and become frustrated. To avoid this, make sure to choose a tool that can easily integrate with other tools.
Your conversational commerce strategy will not be established overnight. To attain exceptional outcomes and differentiate yourself from the competition, it is essential to focus on even the most minor details.
Here are three steps to help you leverage conversational commerce for your E-Commerce business:
Prior to implementing your conversational tool, assess the challenges faced by your team and customers. Establish achievable goals that you aim to attain.
Your goal may be to boost sales, which can be accomplished by reducing shopping cart abandonment.
Alternatively, you may aim to provide faster and more convenient customer support, which can enhance brand loyalty. You decide your objectives.
After outlining your desired outcomes, categorise and prioritise them to determine the ones that are most vital to your business. It may be better to introduce changes incrementally and assess their effectiveness rather than attempting to overhaul all processes at once.
Before selecting a specific solution, establish your benchmark. Study how other companies within your industry are harnessing the power of conversational commerce.
Next, make a list of the available solutions and request demonstrations or sign up for free trials to evaluate the pros and cons of each option. If you have a preferred solution or channel in mind, familiarize yourself with popular and exceptional examples that you can draw upon.
Also, consider your customers’ perspectives. Review customer feedback to identify areas for improvement in your services. Consider conducting interviews with customers to gain a better understanding of their current needs.
After selecting your conversational tool, it’s important to establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Examples of KPIs could include the number of customer conversations, customer satisfaction scores, or conversation rates.
Having KPIs in place will help you track your progress, identify which solution is delivering the best results, and suggest areas for improvement. Once you have established your KPIs, you are ready to launch your conversational commerce strategy.
Once you’ve launched your strategy, it’s crucial to monitor the important growth metrics. Utilizing quality, real-time metrics can assist in evaluating your performance and continuously enhance your conversational activities throughout the customer’s journey.
To reap the benefits of conversational commerce, brands must adopt real-time communication tools like bots, messenger apps, and voice assistants. Though creating a strategy and managing conversations can be time-consuming and challenging, treating conversational commerce as a personalized, empathetic experience can foster a sense of comfort and familiarity with customers. Monitoring performance with quality, real-time metrics can also help evaluate and improve interactions throughout the customer’s journey.
​​If you’re looking to optimize your sales funnel and expand your e-commerce business, ANS Commerce can help.
As India’s leading full-stack e-commerce enabler, our team of e-commerce marketing experts can provide a free consultation to help you improve your business.
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