What You Should Know About Conversational Commerce

Is your brand ready for the conversational commerce era? Today, there are numerous channels for customers to purchase goods and interact with their preferred stores. As a result, companies need to engage with their consumers at all times and in all places.

In fact, having a standard customer contact form or help desk is no longer viable. Modern-day customers expect conversations and relevant interactions with businesses. 
 
What Is Conversational Commerce?

Conversational commerce is the concept of using technology to interact with your buyers in real-time and aiding them with the purchasing process.

Brands can leverage automated tools like chatbots and messaging applications to balance efficiency and personalization to enhance the buying process. Conversational commerce is a great example of multiple channel marketing that represents a give and take for shoppers and merchants alike.  
 
Examples of Conversational Commerce 

Here are some ways businesses integrate customer conversations and sales with digital tools:

• Live Chat 

Over 40% of consumers favor live chat assistance over competing service mediums like email and calls. Live chat support is ideal for customers seeking direct answers. Today, eCommerce websites are adopting platforms that allow users to ask questions and receive direct updates. Live chat platforms allow customers to choose between chatting with a bot or a customer support representative. 

• Chatbots 

Chatbot marketing is increasingly becoming popular, especially on social media. Did you know that more than 35% of consumers are only interested in finding answers whether they talk to a bot or an actual person? Social media bots are ideal for basic automatable FAQs and questions. Chatbots also free your employees, allowing them to handle more pressing issues. 

The Importance of Conversational Commerce

eCommerce businesses should prioritize the use of tools like chatbots and live chat support. Here is how retailers can have a competitive advantage using conversational commerce:

Makes Brands More Available to Their Customers

Today, eCommerce businesses sell to consumers across different time zones and borders. Bots and messengers facilitate a connection between brands and customers shopping outside business hours. Some customers withdraw from brands that fall behind on their social media response times. Conversational commerce enables businesses to offer support round the clock. 
 
Facilitates Business Automation

Conversational commerce enables brands to automate some of the most time-consuming and tedious components of their business. Some of the automatable processes include:

• Discharging updates that would have required an email
• Answering questions about policies
• Collecting customer data such as feedback and complaints

By automating your tasks, you free up time to help customers who need immediate attention. 
 
Sweet Tips from Ally:

Through conversational commerce, brands can collect valuable feedback, strike relevant engagements with their customers, and increase sales instead of losing customers, making it a must for every company to adopt conversational commerce.