Brand Development Strategies with Conversational Commerce Applications

Businesses are observing a paradigm shift in their customer interactions with Artificial Intelligence (AI). The emerging technology is fast disrupting traditional marketing practices for brands and eCommerce businesses. From personalized offers to automated lead generation, leading providers of AI development services are accelerating brand development across digital channels. The new wave of generating business through AI-enabled chatbots is referred to as conversational commerce. In today’s article, we are exploring how brands and eCommerce portals can deploy conversational commerce applications for maximum customer engagement and retention.

What is Conversational Commerce?

Conversational commerce is an AI-powered automation technology that enables retailers and eCommerce businesses to connect with customers through chatbots or voice-enables mechanisms.

Businesses can deploy conversational commerce in the form of dedicated chat interfaces. Also, it can be integrated across messaging and voice channels such as FB Messenger, Amazon Alexa, WeChat, Telegram, Skype, etc. Therefore, chatbot development services are gaining momentum among brands to achieve maximum customer loyalty.

By 2020, chatbots and virtual customer assistants (VCA) are expected to coup 25% of customer service and support operations as reported by Gartner.

Conversational commerce opens new opportunities for brands and eCommerce businesses to engage with their customers for-

a) Handling customer requests

b) Assisting customers with online shopping

c) Enriching customer experience across websites, mobile apps, and social media

d) Processing transactions with minimum steps and pain points

An FB-messenger based conversational commerce channel built by Oodles AI in action.

The exponential projection of conversational commerce is backed by advancements in machine learning technologies, natural language processing (NLP), and intent-matching capabilities. Let’s explore how brands and eCommerce platforms can deploy conversational commerce applications for maximum customer engagement and ROI.

Conversational Commerce Applications and Strategies

1) Improvement in Lead Generation and Sales

Acquiring quality leads is the core objective of every trade organization. However, the paradigm shift in the demographics and preferences of end-users is challenging brands to evolve their customer outreach efforts.

Conversational commerce for brands can be an antidote for operational challenges and advancement. AI-powered chatbots and voice assistants enable brands to automate activities like lead generation, lead scoring, upselling, and cross-selling.

In addition, conversational commerce can boost brand development through the strategies-

a) Replacing lengthy lead generation forms with automated interactions via chatbots or voice assistants

b) Identifying potential leads and automating client follow-ups and lead scoring by recognizing purchasing patterns with in-built ML algorithms.

c) Analyzing client requests in real-time to provide accurate responses and scheduling customer executives for more complex queries.

Brands that are beginning to invest in conversational commerce are witnessing a notable upward trajectory in conversion and sales.

Also read- Social Media Chatbot Development & Integration: Enhancing Customer Relations

2) Reduction in Cart Abandonment

Abandoned carts become a major roadblock in online sales for brands and eCommerce portals. According to one research, as many as 70% of online shopping carts never make it to successful checkouts. While changing customer preferences is one factor for unattended carts, lack of instant support and shipping challenges also contribute to cart abandonment.

Conversational commerce can significantly reduce cart abandonment rates by providing immediate assistance to customers facing difficulty in completing transactions.

eCommerce giant Flipkart shoots instant cart recovery messages and notifications to customers.

Here’s how businesses can deploy conversational commerce agents for recovering abandoned carts-

a) Providing instant assistance

Chatbots are considered effective when placed at checkout pages. They can resolve common customer queries regarding product quality and shipment details and other relevant information.

b) Encouraging window shoppers

More than often, the eCommerce audience is “just looking around” for a brand’s products and services. With carefully crafted scripts, conversational chatbots can build an engaging conversation to convert window shoppers into leads and sales.

Also read- Conversational AI Trends 2020: Roadmap and Strategy

3) Personalized Shopping Experience

Recommendations and personalized offers have been the most significant AI contributions to digital businesses. However, until some time, these AI-powered personalized notifications were limited to interfaces and SMS. With chatbots, brands can take a leap forward and reach out to their loyal customers with conversational and personalized offers.

The 24/7 availability of chatbot and voice assistants has led brands to pitch offers in a more efficient manner. To integrate conversational chatbots in eCommerce portals is to enhance customers’ shopping experience through-

a) Automated notifications about new arrivals

b) Personalized suggestions based on customer’s purchase history

c) Real-time alerts about discounts or seasonal sales

Also read- Accelerating Sales Growth with Artificial Intelligence

Explore AI-driven Conversational Commerce Applications with Oodles AI

The eCommerce sphere has always stayed a step ahead in adopting emerging technologies. At Oodles, we have witnessed a constant growth in eCommerce adoption of AI technologies to improve the customer journey and experience.

With expertise in chatbot development and integration services, Oodles AI provides dynamic branding solutions through chatbots and voice assistants. Our conversational commerce solutions include the following-

a) Chatbot integration across a brand’s social media channels including FB, Instagram, skype, twitter, etc.

b) Personalized offers and recommendations via voice-enabled devices

c) Automated lead generation and lead scoring systems

d) Multi-lingual customer support services via chatbots and voice assistants

To know more about our scope of chatbot development services, reach out to our AI development team.