Conversational commerce: engage in conversation
Elsa Paparone
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Introduction
Conversational commerce is transforming and improving the way brands interact with their customers, building longer-lasting exchange relationships.
This new conversational approach to customer relations allows you to start a conversation with your users, wherever they may be, by sending messages directly to their cell phones via a variety of channels (RCS, SMS, WhatsApp).
A variety of tools (online platforms, chatbots, product carousels, etc.) are available to professionals, enabling them to offer content that is richer and more dynamic than ever. This evolution not only adds a new dimension to the customer experience, but also reshuffles the cards in your sales strategy.
Today we take you on a journey of discovery into conversational commerce.
What is conversational commerce?
Conversational commerce is characterized by the use by companies of new communication technologies such as chatbots integrated into messaging applications, two-way SMS two-way and other voice assistants.
It enables professionals to ensure personalized interactions with their customers, but above all to lead the exchange with your customers and accompany them throughout the sales funnel during a session/conversation.
These conversations can easily be automated, ensuring efficiency and speed for the company. What's more, the use of these different customer relations channels, sometimes in concert, leads to an overall improvement in the customer experience and the ability for operational staff to analyze the data collected. The integration of a multi-channel sales strategy rapidly accelerates the sales process.
In short, the principle of conversational commerce is to enable your customers to carry out all their purchasing actions in a single channel, without having to leave it to land on your website or an online payment platform. It is therefore important to identify in advance which conversational messaging is preferred by your targets to ensure the purchase of your products.
What are the different mobile channels used for conversational commerce?
SMS - Via a dedicated number (Time2Chat)
In recent years, corporate communication via SMS has exploded. Nowadays, customers don't just want to be kept informed by SMS, they also want to talk to companies via these popular messages. New legislation forcing companies to use 09 numbers has led to the emergence of a new feature called Time2Chat.
Visit Time2Chatalso known as SMS conversational, is a mobile solution specially designed for exchanges between brands and their customers. This product combines SMS and voice. Benefiting from the native presence of SMS, available on all phones even without an Internet connection, it combines a number of advantages for a variety of uses (appointment confirmation, parcel delivery...). Communicate with your users via a messaging system that's well-known and popular with the general public. Time2Chat offers a toll-free number linked to your business. So your customers can respond directly to the number (09) assigned to you. It's also possible to plugging a chatbot (like the one proposed by smsmode© and dydu, powered by artificial intelligence 😉)
RCS - Chat sessions within the native messaging application
RCS (Rich Communication Service), or SMS 2.0, is a messaging protocol developed by Google that enables you to share messages with your customers featuring enriched media content (images, videos, GIFs, carousels, maps, buttons, etc.). Just like its predecessor, there's no need for an additional application to receive these messages: they're received directly in the native messaging applications of smartphones(both Android and Apple). Its professional use (called RBM for Riche Business Messaging) enables you to engage in conversations with your customers from a Google-validated brand profile, a certification that can be identified and recognized by your users.
WhatsApp Business - WhatsApp for Professionals
With 100 billion messages a day, WhatsApp is a channel that is very popular with users. WhatsApp Business is the version dedicated to the business world. This channel enables you to reach your customers on their mobiles, via the most popular instant messaging application of the moment. Once your profile has been validated by Meta (Facebook), you're ready for enriched conversations! Please note that WhatsApp Business is designed more for customer service or "pull marketing" (initiated by the online user). It's customary to include a chatbot to answer your users' recurring questions.
A few figures on conversational commerce
Recent studies show that conversational commerce has been well received by users, becoming part of their daily routine. For example, they prefer to be informed of the most important updates to their favorite service by SMS, which they are much more likely to open than a conventional e-mail. Engagement rates and sales seem to be rising steadily. This proposal for an exchange channel and an "upgraded" customer experience at your fingertips is seductive. Its use seems to be taking root in customer habits.
- 75% of consumers have responded to a SMS message from a company in the past year (Source: SimpleTexting, 2023).
- Services using conversational commerce have seen a 30% increase in sales conversions. (Source: Business Insider, 2023)
- 45% of brands have integrated conversational commerce solutions into their marketing strategy by 2023. (Source: Forrester, 2023)
- 80% of companies will use chatbots for customer service by 2025. (Source: Gartner, 2023)
- SMS messages have an average open rate of 98%, compared with around 20% for e-mails. (Source: Mobile Marketing Watch, 2023)
- SMS campaigns generate an average engagement rate of 45%, compared with 20% for e-mail marketing (Source: SMS Global, 2023).
- 90% of consumers prefer to receive notifications via SMS rather than e-mail for important updates. (Source: Twilio, 2023)
Conclusion
Technological advances in conversational commerce will benefit companies that know how best to integrate them into their sales strategy. Chatbots, SMS conversational, are all tools that will enable brands to offer a more fluid, personalized and responsive customer experience and purchasing process. Recent figures show that these new instant messaging tools are becoming increasingly popular.
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