What is conversational commerce?
Conversational commerce is the term used to describe all conversations between customers and companies. Companies that attach great importance to conversational commerce want to make the exchange with their customers particularly dialogue-oriented.
But why should companies invest so much in communication with their own customers? In the past, customers had to go to the market or to a store to buy products. There, they were advised directly by the sellers. The big disadvantage: Customers have to make their way and opening hours restrict shopping. Since the Internet and the growing number of online shops, customers have the opportunity to buy around the clock and from the comfort of their own home. But: They inform themselves and receive hardly any advice anymore. The customer journey is shortened accordingly. The only decisive factor for a purchase is therefore often the price, which leads to a price battle and high competition between online shops. It is therefore important to stand out here.
Modern online shops depend on more than just what's on offer. In order to get to know, advise and satisfy customers, real-time advice is essential. Since this usually involves a great deal of effort for service teams, many companies use conversational commerce in the form of chatbots. These offer ecommerce-Companies also have the advantage that customers can communicate with the online shop 24/7, even on public holidays and Sundays.
What does conversational commerce look like in practice?
Conversational commerce can be used in various forms. One of the most important are chatbots. There are two different types of conversation available to companies, depending on the type of conversation they want.
On the one hand, the rule-based chatbots. There are only defined click structures here. Customers have no option to enter free text, but they click through the conversation with buttons. Rule-based chatbots are therefore suitable for very simple processes and entertaining or spontaneous marketing campaigns.
On the other hand, there are AI chatbots. They enable free text entry and develop independently. AI chatbots can also recognize complicated and long customer sentences.
What are the benefits of conversational commerce for companies?
Conversational commerce in the form of chatsbots has several direct benefits for companies. Not only advice, but also getting to know customers helps to improve the customer journey.
Benefit 1: Relief for service teams
The bigger an online shop, the more customer inquiries companies have to reckon with. It is often the case that service teams quickly reach their limits. Using AI chatbots, companies can answer a majority of inquiries automatically — and thus the customer service Create more time for complex or emotionally charged cases.
Before implementing a chatbot, companies should name exactly what is appropriate Use Cases & are topics where support is needed. The chatbot is then trained accordingly to respond to these possible customer inquiries.
Advantage 2: Advice at any time
With conversational commerce in the form of a chatbot, it is possible for customers to seek advice before making a purchase. During a conversation, the chatbot recognizes, for example, what type of product the customer is looking for and makes suggestions accordingly. It's fast, can take place at any time and automatically improves the Customer journey.
Benefit 3: Get to know customers better
What goes on in the minds of customers? This question is one of the hardest for companies. AI chatbots are able to get to know their own customers better by analyzing and evaluating conversations. Through the collected insights, companies can determine, for example, whether a particular product repeatedly causes problems or which products are the most discussed at which season. AI features such as Dreaming also ensure that customer insights are automatically clustered and that the chatbot constantly adapts to users and their questions.
Conclusion: Use conversational commerce and improve the customer journey
Chatbots improve the customer journey and at the same time simplify companies' work. Service teams are relieved and companies have the opportunity to get in touch with their customers easily and quickly. At the same time, they receive valuable insights and customer wishes, which helps them to better understand and identify problems, optimize the customer journey and ultimately increase the conversion rate.
The company Velux is showing how to successfully improve the customer journey in e-commerce with the integration of moinAI's chatbot. You can find all insights and tips on this topic in our case study. 👇
