Why conversational commerce will become a must for brands

For any customer, having the opportunity to speak face-to-face with a salesperson is tremendously motivating. Why? Because it is a direct bridge between your needs and the offer that will satisfy them.

Previously, this was reflected in the excellent skills of the customer service staff in a physical store. However, with the recent wave of digitization, which has led virtually all companies to create a virtual space, sometimes in combination with physical stores, or sometimes just online, this is done via instant messaging chat.

Through a company chat, for example WhatsApp, a customer can ask specific questions, giving the seller the opportunity to give the customer the appropriate answers using this channel.

The role of motivation in the relationship between customer and seller

Let’s think for a moment about a word we started this article with: “motivation”. It is powerful, and in this case, it has regards finding sufficient reasons to spend or buy at a specific store (virtual or physical).

Motivation is a force that every good marketer must learn to exploit in their favour. It is not about manipulation. You need to strategically focus on the steps that will ensure a good conversion rate.

The stage where the customer approaches our brand using instant messaging chats is really crucial – it is our time to motivate them to stay with us.

The tone used by the person who represents our brand, the good use of language, the right amount of prefabricated messages (templates) in combination with other tools, appropriate to the context, animate the moment. Humanizing by automating the conversation is almost an art. It is the art of knowing how to make sales by using words in a digitized conversational format.

As we said, the number of start-ups that are starting to look for a digital space is growing. As you might expect, this means that competition is also on the rise. The voice of your brand, its correct management, along with a global marketing strategy, paying particular attention to conversational commerce, are your weapons in order to win the battle.

What is conversational commerce?

As you may have guessed, it regards implementing conversation as a sales tool. In marketing jargon, this is assumed not to be a casual conversation. If not, it must be structured in a subtle way, meaning its use through an instant messaging chat.

Conversational commerce is characterized by the generation of interactive experiences. These are intended to direct communication with the customer towards a conversion point, or rather, the purchase. However, in turn, it tries to show products and services. Therefore, it opens up the possibility for the customer to make questions, ask for help and guide the customer before and after the purchase. Namely: it is a conversation for commercial purposes that consists, in itself, of a service offered by your brand.

Security and motivation that the seller conveys

What is the need that satisfies this service? As we said in the introduction, it gives motivation. For most people, shopping can become a source of stress, anxiety, or overwhelm. We want to be sure that what we are about to buy is exactly what we need, or even more: we want to be sure that product or service is truly indispensable.

The salesperson who is taking the reins in a business conversation conveys confidence to the customer. The sensation should ideally be anchored to real events and not just a performance involving a conversation with a subject matter expert.

The apparent spontaneity of a structured conversation

In times when e-commerce is increasingly popular, and when we shop through screens, conversational commerce becomes essential. That window of humanization and warmth is necessary for the public to reaffirm their decisions.

It is important to point out once again that conversational commerce, while based on a conversation, cannot be informal or impromptu. This conversation should apparently be fluid and spontaneous but, behind the scenes, it is preferable that it be well structured; to the point of regulating the use of emojis, stickers and voice notes. They are not prohibited, because they can be great resources, but with clear guidelines that your salespeople need to know and master before interacting with your customers.

Personalized shopping experiences and conversational commerce

While e-commerce is set to stay, that does not mean traditional business practices will disappear, changing and adapting to new technologies. One of the classic practices today even more relevant than ever is the personalized shopping experience.

A personalized shopping experience is one in which the buyer feels recognized and taken seriously. There is a huge positive impact to something as simple as being greeted by name, especially if you are already a loyal customer. Receiving a personalized greeting makes a huge difference.

Examples of personalized attention

How to achieve this level of personalization, having a large contact list? Well, there are many strategies. The simplest is the database: write down the names, phone numbers and the most relevant data.

Let’s see it with several examples. Imagine you have a store that sells pet supplies., You already know that José has dogs and María has cats thanks to your database. This way, if José or María write to you, you can already anticipate their requests by offering them, depending on the case, a very good and efficient brand of cat litter, or a dog snack that has been a complete success.

Now imagine that you have a sushi restaurant that offers a WhatsApp business chat. You have been able to find out if your customer prefers fresh rolls or tempura and you decide to point him or her to a perfect promotion for them. It would be a win-win situation.

This is all about the personalized shopping experience – it regards conversational commerce. The only way to get to know your customers better is to dialogue with them in depth: systematize all the information you can get.

The key is to systematize information

It is advisable to systematize information by using databases. This will help you be stable as a business, allowing your suppliers and customers to appreciate your efforts. Each of your employees must be able to offer an excellent experience to each of your customers. To the extent that they leave nothing to chance, they will achieve an increasingly professional and efficient working environment. Consider enhancing your business stability and fostering a professional working environment by incorporating employee appreciation gifts, recognizing and rewarding your team’s efforts in providing excellent customer experiences, ultimately contributing to a culture of excellence and efficiency within your organization.

But also: you will be able to capitalize longer on one of the goals obtained thanks to the good service experience that your customers have achieved by chatting on WhatsApp with your sellers. The result we are talking about is complete brand loyalty.

It is important that your suppliers are clear that the goal must be about making the customer feel important, to the extent that the salesperson is depersonalized. The seller represents your brand, and that is the humanization you want to convey.

How WhatsApp Business can boost your brand’s conversational commerce

As we have already seen in this article, we know that consumers are constantly looking for opportunities to interact with brands. The space provided by a chat, such as WhatsApp, becomes the means through which it is possible to offer the same experience to the consumer.

First of all, when you invite your potential customers into your business’s WhatsApp chat, you will have access to their phone number. How do you do it? For example, you can leave them the link that will automatically take them to the chat in your Instagram bio. The important thing is to design a strategy in order to redirect your customers to your WhatsApp business chat.

Accessing your customers’ phone numbers is a huge step towards finding out more about their identity. It is an opportunity to be closer to them. Please note that emails can be deleted or that social networks are not necessarily used all the time; on the contrary, smartphones are practically used at any time of the day.

WhatsApp Business features that you can take advantage of

WhatsApp has a simple and intuitive usability that we are all aware of. However, not everyone knows the benefits of the business option offered by this app. In order to close this article, we will describe its characteristics and how strongly they are connected to the goal of obtaining an excellent conversational commerce experience.

a) WhatsApp Business is available for Desktop, Android and IOS. They have designed it to be used primarily by small and medium-sized businesses. You can configure profiles with a suitable image, add your company description, physical location, your URL, as well as a simple gallery in which you can insert informative flyers or a menu with your services.

b) You can create your account using a landline phone for business use. In other words, you do not need to use the number you use for your personal WhatsApp chat. You will have both accounts on the same device.

c) It has automatable tools and functions, such as greetings or absence messages. You can also create a quick answer menu for frequently asked questions. But be careful! Always remember to keep the characteristic of personalized treatment, by combining the messages and making them appropriate for each context. Avoid as much as possible that your client feels like he is talking to a robot when he wants to be served by a human operator.

d) It offers analysis tools, which for now are quite basic, but allow you to count the number of messages sent, delivered and read. Considering that WhatsApp belongs to Meta and looking at the segmentation features offered by Facebook, it is logical to imagine that WhatsApp business analytics will improve significantly in the future.

e) WhatsApp Business allows you to send broadcast messages, very useful when you need to notify your contacts of an important update. You also have the option to create predefined labels to organize your customers, by ranking them among potential customers or loyal customers, as well as track payment.

As we have already mentioned, the ultimate feature of WhatsApp is about always being available for your customers. Being a communication channel that all customers carry with them on a daily basis and that they tend to watch and use frequently, there is no closer way to communicate with them. However, this solution, while advantageous, lacks specialized sales or support features.

Callbell, the best tool to sell and support WhatsApp and social networks

Callbell allows you to serve your customers efficiently and effectively, above all, it allows you to connect the most relevant communication channels and obtain information about your customers. It also helps you improve your company’s conversational commerce by providing a platform developed just for this type of strategy.

In addition, it provides specialized metrics on the performance of your business, information on your customers and suppliers. Callbell is a very complete tool that will help you apply inbound marketing efficiently, thus obtaining the greatest number of potential customers. In addition to this, Callbell offers a multi-agent WhatsApp.

If you are interested in trying this great tool, you just have to click here.