Everything You Need to Know About Chat Commerce

Chat commerce is rapidly gaining traction as the preferred form of customer support. This new method of customer service is taking over from the traditional phone, email, and even in-person support agents. It gives customers convenience, efficiency, and detailed analytics that are not possible with traditional forms.

What is Chat Commerce

Chat commerce is a form of eCommerce in which customers interact with businesses through a messaging app such as Viber Business Messages or Facebook Messenger. Its goal is to enhance the customer experience and simplify making purchases online.

At its core, conversational commerce is a new way of engaging with customers, providing them with a real-life conversation experience. This type of chat eCommerce allows customers to ask questions in real time.

Businesses can provide options, along with automated recommendations and personalized offers that are instantaneous. They can do this through artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and bots, which enable faster response times.

Customers can ask questions regarding product availability, place orders, and make requests for customer service. With chat-based commerce, businesses can also send discounts, promotions, and other marketing material, as well as track customers’ activities.

As an important new strategy for eCommerce businesses, it has shown the potential to improve customer experience and increase sales. As the use of business text messaging apps continues to grow, companies will have to keep up to stay competitive.

How Does Chat-Based Commerce Work

Thanks to eCommerce live chat, companies can provide customers with a personalized and conversational shopping experience. Customers can ask questions and get help with products, learn more about their purchases, or even make purchases directly. Businesses can also use platforms for mass texting customers, providing customer service, and even processing payments.

By utilizing the immediacy of one-on-one conversations, chat-based commerce provides customers with a more efficient shopping experience. eCommerce businesses benefit from improved customer relationships, as well as increased retention and loyalty. As the technology continues to advance, businesses can expect to see a greater ROI from their chat commerce efforts.

Top 5 Advantages to Keep in Mind

1. Increased Customer Engagement

When customers engage in chat-based commerce, they are more likely to make a purchase. This is because customer service agents can answer questions in real time and guide them through the sales process. This way, customers feel more confident and comfortable during the process.

2. Improved Customer Satisfaction

As customers become more comfortable with the process, their satisfaction increases because they feel heard and valued.

3. Cost Savings

Setting up a customer service department to field questions and complaints from customers can be quite expensive for businesses. Chat commerce is often much more affordable and does not require any additional staffing.

4. Higher Quality Responses

Instead of routing customers through confusing phone menus, customers are able to immediately get straight to the source. These interactions allow customer service agents to more quickly and effectively provide answers and troubleshoot customer issues.

5. Cordial Relationships

Chat-based commerce provides a much more cordial customer service experience than other customer service methods. This is because customers can be in direct contact with the customer service team, gaining trust on a personal level.

6. Reduce Cart Abandonments

Chat commerce can better tailor a customer’s experience on a website or in a store. This can result in an improved overall shopping experience, fewer cart abandonments, and increased customer loyalty.

7. Double Your Profits

Chat commerce provides businesses with opportunities to maximize sales through upselling and cross-selling. Upselling involves convincing a customer to purchase a higher-priced version or a more premium product than the one they initially intended to buy. This way, businesses can provide customers with detailed product information, show off additional features, and explain the benefits of opting for a more expensive solution.

Cross-selling, on the other hand, requires suggesting additional products or services that complement a customer's purchase. A salesperson can suggest related items that would be beneficial to the website visitor based on their preferences or prior browsing history.

What is Conversational Commerce

Similar to chat, conversational commerce carries out interactive conversations with customers to facilitate sales. It combines the technology of AI and natural language processing to have conversations through chatbots or voice-controlled systems.

The goal of conversational commerce is to make the customer experience easier and help them make purchase decisions more quickly. By using AI, customers can receive personalized recommendations. And, their conversations with the company can be tracked to better understand the customers' needs. This way, businesses can increase the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

This also allows businesses to monitor customer data and behavior, providing insights on how to adjust services. In addition, conversational commerce is seen as a cost-effective way of converting potential customers into paying ones.

How Does Conversational Commerce Work

Through conversation commerce, customers are provided with a more natural and interactive way to search, purchase and review products and services. From virtual assistants to interactive video displays, conversational technologies help customers access products and services, provide feedback, and control their environments.

All this is possible through natural language dialogue. Not only does it provide a more efficient customer journey, but it also allows businesses to offer personalized product recommendations and dynamic pricing.

A conversational commerce strategy eliminates the need for complex code structures. It makes it easier for customers to interact with businesses, which fosters trust and loyalty. By enabling customers to access information faster, businesses can save on costs related to manual research, customer service, and operations.

By utilizing natural language understanding, AI, and machine learning algorithms, these tools can provide code-free transparency.

Chat and Conversational Commerce Examples

As chat and conversational commerce continue to evolve and become more sophisticated, companies can take advantage of them to provide a better shopping experience. From providing personalized recommendations to streamlining their checkout process, companies can use this to increase satisfaction and drive sales.

Mobile Messaging

With the rise of mobile messaging apps, companies are increasingly looking to reach out to customers through personal and conversational channels. For example, a clothing retailer might send a customer a product suggestion via WhatsApp Business based on their past purchase. This conversational commerce example makes it easier for customers to find and browse items that are closely aligned with their interests.

Live Chat

Live chat platforms are also becoming increasingly popular as a way for eCommerce websites to engage customers. It provides customers with a more efficient channel for support, allowing them to receive an immediate response to their inquiries. Some companies are using live chat features to streamline their checkout process, allowing customers to complete their orders.

SMS

The use of an SMS platform allows businesses to make use of direct conversations to better understand their target market's needs. Businesses can engage in two-way conversations to send SMS marketing messages, reminders and alerts, authentication, and provide real-time support. These types of discussions lead to improved loyalty and satisfaction, as customers feel like the business listens and understands their needs.

The Difference Between Conversational and Chat Commerce

Conversational and chat commerce refer to ways of conducting business or interacting with customers using either voice or text-based conversations. The primary difference between the two is the medium used.

Chat usually involves a text-based conversation, typically through an instant messaging platform. This type of communication is becoming more popular as customers increasingly rely on digital technologies to make business decisions.

Conversational commerce, on the other hand, is typically done through voice-based conversations. This could involve using voice commands to interact with an AI-based agent or speaking with a human representative on a conversational commerce platform. It can be used to provide personalized customer service, generate leads, and even take payments.

Both serve as powerful tools for any business since they offer customers a convenient and personal way to interact with businesses. But, what’s best for your company will depend on your unique needs and goals.