How Leading Businesses are Using Natural Conversations to Improve CX & Boost Revenue
What is Conversational Commerce?
Imagine being able to have a personal dialogue with every customer (or potential customer) as they interact with your brand and try to achieve their goals. This is already a reality.
Conversational commerce refers to personalized, natural conversations between the customer and the business while the customer is trying to achieve something. The conversation takes place through instant messaging platforms and is an effective way to get customer service, personalized recommendations, answers to questions, helpful resources, and ultimately convert. Conversational commerce, or ‘chat commerce’, is all about improving the customer experience and adding value at every step of the customer journey. As a channel, AI-driven conversations are an affordable and efficient way of communicating seamlessly with customers, wherever they are. The growth of this domain has been fueled by various changes in the market and customer behavior.
Change as a catalyst
The shift has already happened. Usage of chat apps has surpassed that of social networks, and users are younger and an important demographic to brands. Adoption has also been made possible by falling data prices, cheaper devices and improved features. It’s become far richer than simple text messages, and businesses and ecommerce websites alike are lining up to build services that can tap into this growing audience. These messaging apps offer familiarity and higher levels of engagement. Modern digital commerce is consumer-led and mobile-first, allowing consumers to use their preferred channels for live chat when they need to.
This is where WhatsApp has really succeeded. The popular chat app, now an essential element of today’s CX toolkit, is the most popular app globally, and customer-centric businesses are adopting the channel to ensure value delivery at every step of the customer journey. It’s being effectively implemented by SMEs with great results, and presents an opportunity for larger enterprises that need to catch up. The current reach of the channel is undeniable.
But, what are the real benefits?
Customer benefits, business benefits
From a customer perspective, 71% say they’d prefer the convenience and personalization that’s possible with AI-driven instant messaging. Stronger customer relationships are built, loyalty is strengthened and customers spend more when engagement is effective. What’s more, data shows that 86% of customers are willing to pay more for a better experience, and this can be achieved by simply starting a friendly conversation.
From a business perspective, conversational commerce is an inexpensive way of interacting with customers in their normal context. Whether it’s service providers or online retailers, businesses that have implemented it are seeing reduced drop-off and better conversion for their products and services. Brands are also seeing higher open rates and spend rates. Businesses can easily collect and synthesize customer data from various sources and use this context to inform the next step of the conversation.
Active, personalized guidance at every step promotes a seamless experience, customer satisfaction, and encourages progress towards goals (and further down the funnel). Familiarity and convenience support decision making, and therefore customer conversion. Conversational commerce has become a competitive advantage.
The following are some of the areas where we’ve seen the effectiveness of conversational commerce.
SUCCESS STORIES
1. Servicing / Self-Help (ICT)
This established ISP was suffering from outages that were affecting some residential customers. Brenda, an affected customer, received a proactive WhatsApp message from the business with an apology, and an acknowledgement that she was being affected by broad outages. Once resolved, the telco sent a follow-up message confirming that the ticket was closed and asked whether Brenda needed any support. Brenda replied saying that she needed help resetting her router. The provider replied with an AI-informed step-by-step guide to help Brenda reset her particular router.
A day later, Brenda was asked for her satisfaction with the process and she indicated that her speeds seemed a bit slow. A ticket was automatically logged and Brenda was contacted by an agent who had Brenda’s full context available.
1. Servicing / Self-Help (ICT) 
This established ISP was suffering from outages that were affecting some residential customers. Brenda, an affected customer, received a proactive WhatsApp message from the business with an apology, and an acknowledgement that she was being affected by broad outages. Once resolved, the telco sent a follow-up message confirming that the ticket was closed and asked whether Brenda needed any support. Brenda replied saying that she needed help resetting her router. The provider replied with an AI-informed step-by-step guide to help Brenda reset her particular router.
A day later, Brenda was asked for her satisfaction with the process and she indicated that her speeds seemed a bit slow. A ticket was automatically logged and Brenda was contacted by an agent who had Brenda’s full context available.
2. Member Withdrawals & Employee Benefits (Financial Services)
This progressive insurer and corporate investment provider did not have an efficient, investor-centric mechanism in place to deal with withdrawals when members were leaving their employers. Employee experiences were poor, the process was slow, and the information needed by members was difficult to get. A WhatsApp chat solution was implemented to ensure a seamless dialogue and experience for members on this journey.
The implemented solution is initiated when the employer contacts the investment provider informing them of an employee leaving. The business then reaches out to the departing employee by SMS, then extending the discussion to WhatsApp. A dialogue begins where the employee is asked for ID and email details which is passed back to the investment provider for verification. The employee is then provided with helpful information on their options and the financial implications of each. Once the employee makes a selection they are provided with personal documentation based upon their selection. They may also be asked for bank and tax details if required. Each customer is helped personally and efficiently on their journeys based upon their specific context and real-time information provided.
3. Customer Acquisition (Telco)
This growing telecommunications provider was provided by a retail business that needed a reliable fibre network for 10 branches, including 24/7 customer support. Sam, the retail executive tasked with the project, was lead to the telco’s site by search results and resultant ads. While on the site, Sam read all applicable information and then submitted a form requesting a call. Using the information submitted and site browsing data, the business engaged Sam with a personalized, AI-informed engagement through WhatsApp. Sam responded and asked for a quote with additional detail. The business responded with a personal quote, and an agent made contact with Sam a day later to answer any questions he had.
Sam’s full journey, from ad to quote acceptance, was captured and visualized as a step-by-step path within the inQuba Journey platform. Sam’s profile was automatically augmented with this journey information and business preferences, making it available as important context for future engagements.
inQuba WhatsApp
inQuba has become the first company to offer a fully integrated WhatsApp (link to Whatsapp press release) and SMS omni-channel journey solution, ensuring seamless and positive customer experiences. The solution offers natural dialogue between customers and brands by allowing engagement through everyone’s favorite chat app. The integrated channel makes acquisition simpler, it streamlines authentication and empowers customers to lead the process on their preferred chat apps. The solution is AI-powered which supports scale. All dialogues are captured against individual customer profiles, making context available to engage customers for offers and cross selling in the future.
inQuba’s Customer Journey Management platform enables businesses to understand the journeys customers take and allows brands to initiate dialogue wherever they are on their journeys.
Isn’t it time to discover how conversational commerce can transform your CX and your business? Book a demo now.
