Four out of every five consumers purchase on their phones, and 87% of smartphone owners use messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat. And stores are taking note. E-commerce organizations that have already embraced the omnichannel concept of being where their consumers have begun to set the framework for rich conversational marketing geared at delivering a constantly better customer experience.
With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at how conversational messaging is changing e-commerce and the user experience—and why your company should pay attention.
The shift from e-commerce to c-commerce
Conversational commerce will not replace e-commerce, but it will be limited to more complex purchases. The trend is undeniable—a staggering 83% of customers report utilising texting to contact a firm to learn about products, and 75% of the purchase as a result. Users are abandoning desktops and laptops in favour of mobile devices, and WhatsApp, Google Business Messenger, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat are capitalizing on this by allowing customers to purchase products within their apps.
According to Facebook, 65% of consumers will indeed shop from a business they can chat with, and 40% of shoppers began buying as a result of conversational commerce. There is little reason to suppose that those figures will not rise.
Omnichannel persistence by messaging
Customers have made it clear that when requesting assistance, they want to be able to reach out via any channel they pick, more crucially, to smoothly switch from channel to channel throughout a request without having to repeat themselves. Businesses must be able to connect with customers across several channels without losing the context to meet those needs. In other words, support teams must have a unified perspective of the consumer and access to numerous communication threads. Here are some advantages of messaging over regular chat:
Convenience
C-commerce will soon become the new home for upselling products, adding new services, and providing quick and easy checkouts, among other things. Instead of being stuck on the phone or tied to a chat box waiting for a response, customers can message at their leisure.
Persistence
Businesses can transition from one-time interactions to asynchronous, “always-on” communication.
Speed
Messaging is quick and to the point; there are no long wait times to speak with someone.
Customers can start conversations on any channel and carry them on any other channel thanks to the company’s messaging service with the help of conversational commerce. This implies that the business has a single perspective of every consumer thanks to connections across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, iOS, Android, and its website on the same platform. Customers can purchase pizza from Pizza Hut through web chat, well-known proprietary apps, and social media sites. That eliminates the need for clients to wait or the possibility that a human taking their order made a mistake.
The message process is sophisticated, dynamic, and contemporary
If there is one thing that sets messaging apart from other channels, it is that it gives customers greater direct control over the dialogue, empowering them and giving them a sense of agency. However, it also expands what businesses can accomplish by giving them the chance to offer tailored suggestions and transact commerce via messaging via compound messages, carousels, and other purchasing possibilities.
The outcome? A less complicated purchasing process with fewer steps. For instance, several online merchants have developed apps that allow users to conduct a transaction and talk with fashion stylists. With the use of conversation extensions, those stylists can now share a carousel with photographs of various clothing alternatives, allowing consumers to put together and buy outfits interactively.
AI and bots enable e-commerce businesses to provide excellent self-service
Now, messaging apps can serve as the personal assistants of users. Consumers are becoming more amenable to making purchases through a chatbot, and Gartner forecasts that by 2022, 70% of all customer interactions will incorporate new technologies like chatbots, machine learning, and mobile messaging. Of course, there are also about 1 billion voice assistants in use today, which offer both options for direct shopping as well as information and advice. The advantage of these virtual assistants is that they feel, well, human. They have access to client information, transactions, preferences, and more.
Messaging assists businesses in transitioning from reactive to proactive support
In the CX trends report from Zendesk, nearly a quarter of businesses rate proactive support favorably for the customer experience. Given that 90% of businesses are eager to do business with a provider that sends them event-based reminders and that 85% of customers are interested in receiving proactive messages, that percentage is certain to increase.
Proactive messaging improves the customer experience by keeping customers informed throughout the purchasing journey. Businesses must discover ways to anticipate customer issues before they arise to boost engagement and loyalty. This might involve initiatives like Amazon updating customers on the status of their orders or marketing teams emphasizing new goods or services by consumer preferences.
Conversational commerce has arrived at this time
Customer needs have motivated an increasing number of businesses to commit to enhancing messaging alternatives since 2020. This quick change is consistent with consumers’ good perceptions of the message, which according to Zendesk’s benchmark report consistently has a 98% satisfaction score, outperforming both phone and live chat. The signs are clear: messaging has already started to transform e-commerce, and further transformation is imminent and that is when conversational commerce comes into play.
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