How to get started with conversational commerce

If you're interested in implementing conversational commerce for your online business, or you have already started, here are some ideas and guidelines to follow for best possible outcome.

At this point your online store is probably doing well and you are looking for way to improve. When implementing the conversational commerce as a part of your daily operations I consider it’s important that you are reflecting on the company strategy and following the brand book on what is says in tone of voice, values and mission.

Here are the best performers check list:

Define your goals and strategy

Before you choose a conversational commerce platform or tool, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with it, who your target audience is, and how you will measure your success. For example, do you want to increase conversions, reduce cart abandonment, generate leads, or improve customer service?

Choose the right channels and tools

Depending on your goals and audience, you need to select the most appropriate channels and tools for your conversational commerce strategy. For example, if you want to reach a large and diverse customer base, you might want to use popular messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Instagram. If you want to provide more personalized and complex assistance, you might want to use a live chat solution or a chatbot with artificial intelligence capabilities. You also need to consider the features, integrations, security, and scalability of the tools you choose.

Design and optimize your conversations

Once you have your channels and tools in place, you need to design and optimize your conversations to provide the best possible experience for your customers. This means you need to use a friendly and consistent tone of voice, personalize your messages, provide value and relevance, and avoid being too salesy or pushy. You also need to test and monitor your conversations regularly to identify areas for improvement and ensure that you meet your customers' expectations and needs.

Follow up and measure your results

Finally, you need to follow up with your customers and measure your results to evaluate the effectiveness of your conversational commerce strategy. You can use various metrics, such as chat conversion rates, customer satisfaction scores, average response time, average purchase value, and goal completion rates, to track your performance and identify opportunities for growth and optimization.

In conversational commerce, the most effective sales strategies involve creating a genuine connection with customers through conversation.

Here are some key points to consider:

1. Understand your customers

It’s important when you are engaging and interacting with customer that you have clear vision and reason where and why to interact with certain way.

2. Friendly and respectful tone

Communication should be respectful and friendly, which helps in building a rapport and trust with customers. Be bold and use your brands own tone of voice in the chat bots and chat communication and automated messages so that it will fit perfectly in the experience.*

3. Use reliable tools

Implement tools that facilitate conversational sales, such as live chat or chatbots, to provide timely and efficient customer service. In best cases there are combined bots and humans. Use human where it adds more value and bots are the best where they can tackle repeated questions.*

4. Initiate conversations

Don’t wait for customers to reach out. Be proactive and leverage automations. Be proactive and use automated messages to gain valuable conversations. E.g. In automated messages you can refer to the product or category that the visitor is looking at the moment.

5. Continuous improvement

Keep refining your communication skills and sales strategies to stay effective and relevant. At starting point be aware what is the status on; conversation rates, average deal size and what are your goals Do A/B testing and be active on monitoring your results and ask feedback from customers.

6. HUMAN touch

In online customer experience people values real human interactions and assistance. And it is at it best when done in real-time.

Conclusion

Conversational commerce is a powerful way to boost your online sales, improve your customer experience, and gain a competitive edge in the digital marketplace. By using messaging apps, live chat, chatbots, and voice technology, you can connect with your customers in a more natural, convenient, and personalized way, and guide them through the buying journey more effectively. To get started with conversational commerce, you need to define your goals and strategy, choose the right channels and tools, design and optimize your conversations, and follow up and measure your results. You can also learn from the examples of other brands and industries that are using conversational commerce successfully.

What next?

If you want to get started with conversational commerce, contact our Advisory Services team. We can help you create a seamless and effective conversational commerce experience for your customers.

*Sources:

Smartsupp: A Guide to Conversational Sales: Tips and Tricks for Closing Sales

Forbes: What Is Conversational Commerce?