Newsflash: Experience Is Everything (Surprise!)
June 3, 2022
Consumers are looking for the personal touch. For real this time. Is it because we’re getting needy or are we just wising up to marketers-&-their-tricks? Either way, anyone in marketing (present company included) is trimming their sails to ride this wave, baby!
So, what does customer experience marketing look like in 2022?
Marketing back in the day
Used to be that brands (micro, massive & everyone in between) lived in a product economy. Companies circled each other around product and price. Which begs the question: where was the consumer in all this?
Tired of being sold at, consumers want an experience that has them personally front-and-centre. Basically we’ve gone from brand-centred, We’re selling this to you. Buy now! to consumer-centred, Want to sell me something? Hmmm… let’s chat.
In other words, Conversational Commerce.
Say what?
Conversational Commerce and how it makes me feel
Conversational Commerce revolves around making the customer’s purchase journey a good-better-best experience. Here’s how:
- Guidance: ensure the customer feels assisted throughout the buying process (thanks to a live chat agent).
- Reminders: ensure the customer feels noticed and supported (with notifications via direct chat).
- Recommendations: ensure the customer feels like an individual by introducing them to curated collections or products they were otherwise unaware of.
But . . . haven’t we been doing this already?
Yes … only now it’s more, better and different.
See, we’re now waaaaay beyond the safe zone of addressing a customer by their first name in our email campaigns and thinking that’s personalisation.
What are we talking about . . . and why does it matter?
Conversational Commerce is about humanising the process by creating a positive, personally-relevant customer experience at each and every touchpoint.
Shopify says Conversational Commerce is “the intersection of messaging apps and shopping. Meaning, the trend toward interacting with businesses through messaging and chat apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Talk, and WeChat. Or through voice technology, like Amazon’s Echo product, which interfaces with companies through voice commands.”
For the consumer, it’s about receiving the same kind of attention you might get from a salesperson in a brick-and-mortar store. Only online.
For the brand, there are some big benefits. Like:
- Reduced cart abandonment. On average 77.24% of carts are abandoned across all industries (Barilliance) but, on the other hand, using abandoned cart chatbots alongside Messenger can boost eCommerce revenue by as much as 25%. (Chatbots magazine).
- The power of retarget ads that show up on any channel and bring qualified leads back to where they left off.
- Building customer loyalty. If a customer is satisfied with their interaction with your business, most of them will return. It’s no longer restricted to getting the best product at the best price. Now it’s the whole bang shoot. The Whole Experience.
How to Conversational Commerce
- Live Chat
A proactive live chat agent is in the right place at the right time to listen properly to the customer and provide what they need right then and there. Information? Sure. Product advice? No problem. Recommendations? Well, funny you should ask …
Live chat has a 73% customer satisfaction rate vs traditional channels like 61% for email and 44% for phone. (econsultancy).
For the customer, live chat is immediate, supportive, personal . . . and worth talking about to your friends. - Messaging Apps
Connecting on WhatsApp or somesuch is natural on any day of the week. The customer’s thumbs have been burning all day and they’re primed for another convo . . . but only if it is real and not a waste of their time.
Consumers love that there’s no toggling between websites and emails and text and solar flares. They can get personalised recommendations and purchase products within the app. It’s an effortless experience.
Are you buying it . . . ?
So it’s official: conversational commerce is changing the way we buy. The one-sided, talk-at conversation is best left to Shakespeare or in the principal’s office. (Yes, back there where bad experiences firmly belong.)