What is Conversational Commerce?
Conversational Commerce refers to all conversations between customers and companies. Companies that place great value on conversational commerce want to make their exchanges with customers particularly dialogue-oriented. But why should companies invest so much in exchanges with their own customers? Essentially, the following three goals of conversational commerce are particularly important:
- Personalised customer advice: Offering relevant products and building trust, with customers receiving targeted recommendations based on their preferences or behaviour.
- Seamless purchasing process / increased sales: Avoid breaks in communication and sales so that customers can buy directly during the conversation without changing platforms, thereby increasing conversion rates.
- Improved customer experience and customer loyalty: Increased customer satisfaction contributes significantly to long-term loyalty; quick answers to questions and services should be provided directly in the chat.
In the past, customers had to go to the market or a shop to buy products. There, they received direct advice from sales assistants. The major disadvantage was that customers had to make the trip, and opening hours limited their shopping options. Since the advent of the internet and the growing number of online shops, customers have been able to shop around the clock from the comfort of their own homes. However, they inform themselves and receive little advice. The customer journey is shortened accordingly.
The decisive factor for a purchase is therefore often only the price, which leads to price wars and high competition between online shops. So it's important to stand out from the crowd.With modern online shops, it's about more than just the product range. Real-time advice is essential for getting to know customers, advising them, and satisfying them. As this usually involves a lot of effort for service teams, many companies use conversational commerce in the form of chatbots. These also offer e-commerce companies 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, but one of the most important is chatbots. The aim is to make the entire customer interaction as smooth as possible through automated and personalised conversations. Companies have two different types at their disposal, depending on the form of conversation they want.
On the one hand, there are rule-based chatbots. These only have fixed click structures. Customers cannot enter free text, but instead click their way through the conversation using buttons. Rule-based chatbots are therefore suitable for very simple processes and entertaining or spontaneous marketing campaigns, but they do not offer a personalised experience as they cannot remember characteristics such as names, for example.
AI chatbots therefore play a central role in customer communication, as they offer a higher degree of flexibility. They allow free text input and develop independently. AI chatbots can recognise complicated and long sentences from customers and generate responses tailored to the individual customer.
Fressnapf is already using a self-learning AI chatbot to automate digital customer communication. In our free webinar, Sascha Klein (Fressnapf), Milad Samei (Fressnapf) and Johannes Hehr (moinAI) explain why conversational commerce is so important and use a use case to show how moinAI's AI chatbot is used as a practical example of conversational commerce.
What Are the Benefits of Conversational Commerce For Companies?
Conversational commerce improves the digital customer journey through personalized and rapid dialogue, both in sales and consulting, thereby strengthening customer loyalty. The use of AI and automated processes allows companies to increase efficiency in handling customer concerns and inquiries, which ultimately results in higher sales figures. The integration of dialogue-oriented interfaces such as chatbots, messaging apps, and voice assistants is particularly important here.
Benefit 1: Relief for service teams
The larger an online shop is, the more customer inquiries companies have to deal with. It is often the case that service teams quickly reach their limits. AI chatbots enable companies to respond to the majority of inquiries automatically, freeing up more time in customer service for complex or emotionally charged cases. The company's accessibility is perceived as increased while at the same time reducing the workload on employees.
Many companies combine chatbots with live chat, i.e., real employees: the chatbot handles standard questions and sales processes, while a human agent in live chat steps in for complex inquiries. AI agents go one step further by providing intelligent analysis and proactive offers in real time. Together, these tools enable a seamless and personalized shopping experience.
Before implementing a chatbot, companies should specify exactly what the appropriate use cases and topics are for which support is needed. The chatbot is then trained accordingly to handle these potential customer inquiries.
Benefit 2: Advice at any time
Conversational commerce in the form of a chatbot allows customers to seek advice before making a purchase. During the conversation, the chatbot recognizes what type of product the customer is looking for and makes appropriate suggestions. This is quick, can take place at any time, and automatically improves the customer journey. In addition to the actual product, the bot can also recommend other suitable products to the customer and contribute to cross-selling.
Benefit 3: Get to know customers better
What is going on in customers' minds? This question is one of the most difficult for companies to answer, but AI chatbots are making it easier than ever before. AI chatbots are able to get to know individual customers by analyzing and evaluating conversations and behavior. The insights gathered enable companies to determine, for example, whether a particular product repeatedly causes problems or which products are most frequently discussed in which season. Advanced AI features are also able to automatically cluster and evaluate customer insights so that the chatbot can continuously adapt to users and their requirements.
Conclusion: Conversational Commerce improves the Customer Journey
AI chatbots improve the customer journey while reducing the workload for the company. Service teams are relieved, and companies have the opportunity to get in touch with their customers quickly and easily. At the same time, they gain valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences, which helps them to better understand and identify problems and optimize the customer experience. This lays an important foundation for long-term relationships in direct communication, leading to trust and satisfaction on the part of the customer. Decision-making is made easier for the customer, resulting in increased conversion rates.
