Conversational Commerce for eCommerce Website

Overview

Integrate Conversational Commerce (aka C-Commerce) as a complementary part of your eCommerce business might help take your business to the next level.

Harnessing the power of one-to-one conversation is one of the latest strategies to emerge in eCommerce. We often forget that, from the customer’s point of view, the process of searching, scrolling, and browsing to find a product can be tedious.

What if we took advantage of direct, natural interactions, using our everyday conversation as social beings to help shoppers find what they want?

In this article, you will be introduced to chat commerce pros, platforms, and examples. Moreover, you’ll discover how you can do it effortlessly, with the best Chat Commerce solution designed for omnichannel retailers: the Easy Website eCommerce website.

What is Conversational Commerce

Conversational Commerce is a growing business trend that implies the usage of chats and messages to sell and purchase products in a one-to-one conversation.

Chat Commerce streamlines digital commerce by incorporating or even sometimes replacing it with real-time communication between customers and brands.

Instead of hunting around a website for information, shoppers can open a messaging app and learn from an agent (or sometimes a chatbot). An order can be placed and paid for quickly and conveniently.

It is also great for smoothing out other related processes, like package tracking, updating account information etc.

It can work for just about any digital shopping channel. It does not create additional work for your business and, in fact, can make it easier to troubleshoot problems and improve brand loyalty. There are several ways to do it:

You can use one of the messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, Instagram direct, WhatsApp, Telegram etc. or you can add chat functionality to your eCommerce website. In other words, with a simple operational change, you can reach customers whenever and wherever they are, creating a reliable service for them, and reducing the chances of abandoned carts.

Benefits of Conversational Commerce

Six reasons to run Messaging Commerce

But why chat commerce trend is becoming more and more important over time? And what are the pros?

1. First of all, on average, people spend more than 60% of their phone usage time using instant messaging apps. The necessity of being constantly in touch is increasing as behavior, even for the less tech-savvy.
2. One of the greatest advantages of conversational e-commerce is about leveraging the power of interactions to convince customers that you are a trustworthy business, present and ready to help with their queries. By simplifying communication, the chat interaction can be what makes a shopper go through with an order. We often have questions or last-minute concerns during online shopping that can be difficult to answer via the FAQ page or by sending emails. What’s more, personalized messages similar to text messages are much more likely to be responded to than emails. Especially younger consumers expect fast, effortless communication and the option to get things done through instant messaging.
3. Messaging commerce improves engagement with customers in a seamless way. It helps people focus their research, suggesting add-on related products, upgrades, promotions, and assisting with the checkout process.
4. Chat commerce improve conversion rate and overall order volumes. Because of the above, this also helps reduce the number of abandoned cart, which can lead to considerable loss of sales in the long-term.
5. It personalizes buying journeys for customers, giving brands a way to replicate the feel and attention of working with an in-store associate.
6. Communication Commerce ensures a positive post-purchase experience, providing superior customer service and support will undeniably turn more customers into advocates of your brand

Conversational Commerce examples

So what are some successful conversational commerce use cases?

Lego has been using Facebook Messenger to introduce Ralph, a super friendly chatbot that makes gift shopping a fun experience.

Although chatbots clearly cannot replace a human-to-human conversation entirely, in this case, it has become very popular. Ralph starts by asking customers a range of questions to personalize options for the gift recipient, often followed by GIFs. Then they are redirected to the Lego website. It was originally created to assist with Christmas indecision around selecting gifts, but has now become permanent.

This is a simple tool but it actually eases a lot of the friction and stress around last-minute shopping, turning it into something a little more entertaining.

Luxury fashion brands have also understood that one of the best ways to keep in touch and make a customer feel welcome is through texting. A shopper will either reach out or be messaged to receive product recommendations and complete a purchase. Coach and Gucci are examples high-end brands that utilize this method as much as others. Particularly for their shoppers, the conversation makes the experience feel a lot more special and tailored

Even though Lego and Gucci are multi-billion dollar companies, a small business employing few people would likely see the very same benefits of C-commerce. A unique interactive experience is a huge step towards increasing brand awareness and long-term customer loyalty.

If you are wondering about the type of platform best suited for your business, keep reading for some more examples!

Chat Commerce platforms

Chat commerce on Messenger

Messenger has long also employed rich tools to facilitate the same processes. As the Facebook developers describe it: “Messaging can offer a concierge-like experience that makes people feel cared for, creating a sense of connection that can lead to loyalty”.

Selling on social media platforms does not differ at all from the look and feel of a regular messenger chat with a friend, making it a very familiar interaction but this time it facilitates shopping and helps businesses drive sales. This certainly gives it a unique position among other chat commerce platforms that have been late to the game.

Sell on Telegram

Far from simply being a messaging platform, Telegram has shown ambitions to become the default application for a lot more networking and professional needs.

With Payments 2.0, Telegram enables acceptance of payments using several approved gateways for merchants, such as the highly popular Stripe. Payments are now enabled directly in all chats, channels, and groups. This is a big boost for eCommerce, considering Telegram allows businesses to showcase their products within the app. You can provide customer support through its in-app push notifications and send invoices easily.

eCommerce on WhatsApp

WhatsApp, one of the most popular live chat services devised by Meta, offers a version of the program tailored for seller needs: WhatsApp Business.

With WhatsApp messages, you can have conversations with customers from anywhere and build a personal connection with your customers, who will feel valued and be more inclined to buy from you.

You can integrate your WhatsApp Business into your Facebook Catalog, or into your Easy website, the eCommerce website by Nembol.

With Easy Website, you can gather all your multichannel products and integrate WhatsApp business API and Telegram with a click! It can become your conversational website, where reply to customer queries and sell products.

Bottom line: using Easy Website, customers can check on your products and directly contact you, asking for info, and shipping costs or to directly finalize a purchase and pay via PayPal.

Watch this YouTube video to know more about it!

In Short

The online customer experience that you can create with Conversational Commerce is definitely one to invest in, as this method has offered fresh ways to connect with shoppers. The tailored advice, rapid responses and even the ability to negotiate prices or shipping methods mean customers are positively inclined towards you. When done right, the conversational experience can feel like a value exchange between customers and sellers – from the moment a customer asks a question about your product to the moment you realise you have a new loyal customer.