Conversational commerce strategies have increased as businesses use emerging e-commerce platforms to increase sales. As powerful and intuitive as conversational commerce tools like chatbots and live chat apps might be, there’s more to it than meets the eye.
In this article, we look under the hood and beyond the bots and broadcasts. Hopefully, this full guide will help you understand everything you need about conversational commerce strategies for e-commerce. So let’s get started.
What is Conversational Commerce?
It’s best to start by understanding what conversational commerce is (and what it isn’t). Conversational commerce is the bigger umbrella that covers messaging apps, chatbots, voice assistants, and other forms of conversational AI with top e-commerce websites.
Customers interact with businesses through chat interfaces like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Some use voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, or Apple’s Siri. Many times, these systems now depend on artificial intelligence to personalize interactions and understand customer preferences. These same AI capabilities can study a customer’s purchase history and context to make relevant suggestions.
Another area that conversational commerce has greatly influenced is customer service. Conversational commerce tools can reduce customer service costs by up to 30%. These tools allow customers to shop, order, and get product recommendations.
You can often do all this without leaving the chat interface or voice interaction. Many conversational commerce platforms utilize chatbots and AI algorithms to automate responses and handle simple transactions, making them scalable and efficient.
Common Conversational Commerce Strategies
So what are the most common conversational commerce strategies or tools? Let’s take a look at the three primary ones:
1) Messaging and Live Chat Applications
Many e-commerce businesses leverage messaging and live chat applications to answer customer questions and support smooth transactions within a single chat. Unlike phone calls, one representative can handle several chats simultaneously. This can make your customer support process more efficient. You don’t need as many chat agents, especially if you’re a small e-commerce business.
Chat applications can also initiate conversations with visitors on an e-commerce website. In these cases, users might not actively seek interaction. However, this application opens additional avenues for engagement and leads to more sales opportunities.
2) Voice-Powered Assistants
There has been an increasing improvement in voice-powered assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri. A few years ago, they were not as usable. Today, they have become essential in daily consumer life.
People use voice assistants to facilitate purchasing goods, acquiring product details, and utilizing services. All these happen simply via voice commands. Integrating conversational commerce in these assistants provides a hands-free and natural interaction experience.
3) Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence
Chatbots and AI, equipped with sophisticated natural language processing and machine learning technologies, emulate human-like dialogues, address common queries, and aid in transaction processes. Usage rates have skyrocketed, as over 88% of people have interacted with a chatbot in the past year or so.
AI-powered chatbots help businesses provide cost-efficient, round-the-clock customer assistance while optimizing operational workflows. They can recognize consumer preferences, track past purchases, and make tailored recommendations, contributing to a smooth and personalized customer experience.
To ensure the development and management of advanced conversational commerce tools, it’s crucial to have a team equipped with the latest in computer science knowledge and skills.
Best Practices for Better Conversational Commerce in E-commerce
When using conversational commerce strategies, you want to ensure you’re making the most of your tools. Here are some best practices that will help you do that:
1) Personalize the Interaction
When choosing from an e-commerce platforms list that connects with conversational commerce tools, you need the option to personalize. This way, you can tailor the conversation to the individual customer by using data-driven insights.
Analyze previous interactions, purchase history, and customer preferences to offer personalized recommendations and solutions. This approach enhances the customer experience and increases the likelihood of conversion.
2) Ensure Seamless Integration Across Channels
Provide a consistent experience across all channels. Whether the customer interacts through a chatbot, live chat, or voice assistant doesn’t matter. You need to synchronize data and conversation history across platforms so the customer doesn’t have to repeat information. Integrating CRM tools in this process can play a significant role in managing customer data and interactions effectively.
3) Focus on Natural and Engaging Conversations
While people are fine talking to robots, it helps to make it seem like they’re talking to real people. You’ll need something called natural language processing to make conversations with chatbots and voice assistants as human-like as possible. The dialogue should be engaging, easy to understand, and free from technical jargon. This helps in building a rapport with customers and improves their overall experience.
4) Provide Timely and Efficient Support
Remember, speed and efficiency are key aspects of conversational commerce. Customers expect quick responses and solutions, so you must equip your chatbots and live chat agents to provide prompt replies. Additionally, have a system to escalate complex queries to human agents. This can help maintain efficiency and customer satisfaction.
5) Incorporate Feedback Loops
Implement feedback loops to improve your conversational commerce tools. Encourage customers to provide feedback about their experience and use this data to refine chatbot responses, update FAQs, and improve overall conversation quality.
Keeping the Automated Human
We live in an age of robots, but people will still want a human touch. As you implement conversational commerce strategies, optimize your systems to be as natural-sounding as possible. If you do that, your business could enter a new frontier of customer interaction.