How Rich Business Messaging Will Elevate Conversational Commerce?

The increased penetration of smartphones and rapid rise in technology has revolutionized all aspects of marketing. We have come a long way from brands heavily depending on outbound marketing efforts such as banners, display Ads, and email and SMS campaigns. Also, there is a shift in consumer behavior with spam-weary customers demanding prompt, 24/7, and interactive service without wasting time. In fact, with APIs and messaging apps, 80% of customers prefer reaching out to a brand on messaging apps over emailing or calling. 

Keeping this in mind, championed by the internet, marketing is about offering customers a conversational and personalized environment. With conversational commerce, brands now offer personalized one-on-one interactions to customers on their preferred messaging platform rather than traditional marketing avenues. Empowered by chatbot technology, machine learning, and Natural Language Processing, brands now use chatbots for marketing or promotional activities and query solving, offering customers an engaging and conversational experience 24/7.

As an integral part of eCommerce marketing, conversational commerce offers two-way, rich-heavy, and personalized conversations that look natural despite being automated. Moreover, it has paved the way for further innovation in customer service and marketing, helping brands elevate their customer experience with consumers getting the best in the end. While businesses still depend on A2P messaging with SMS and emails, innovations like RCS Business Messaging (RBM) can ultimately elevate P2A messaging, directly impacting conversation commerce. Read on to know how RBM can revolutionize conversational commerce.

Interesting read: Why chatbots are the answer to the telco CX problem?

The future of conversational commerce

If you look at the numbers, conversational commerce is indispensable to eCommerce marketing efforts.

• 68% of customers believe messaging will improve customer experience
• 59% of customers who message businesses expect to use messaging to make future purchases
• 77% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand that responds to messages
• By 2025, conversational commerce spending is predicted to be more than $290 billion

As we can see, customers have openly embraced conversational commerce. And it is no surprise considering the comfort, convenience, accessibility, and simplicity this marketing avenue offers. Rather than waiting on a call or visiting a physical touchpoint for a YES/NO query, customers can simply message the business and get a real-time response, helping save both time and effort even in a non-personalized interaction. Furthermore, any company can quickly deploy and maintain a chatbot irrespective of size. Thus, without a doubt, conversational commerce boosts and enriches eCommerce support, making it more efficient and customer friendly.

How can RBM be a gamechanger for conversational commerce?

With RBM’s interactive, intelligent, and automated messaging, you can deliver a seamless, contextual messaging experience, a prominent aspect of engaging conversational commerce within the user’s in-built messaging app.
Here’s how RBM can help eCommerce brands take their conversational commerce game up a notch.

A host of rich media features on the native messaging app

RBM offers you a gamut of rich features like carousels, action buttons, location sharing, and high-res images and video sharing. Leveraging these features, you can market your offerings in the most interactive and creative ways, similar to OTT messaging platforms.

Deeper metrics analysis for personalization

We know how important data is in offering a seamless and personalized experience. RBM allows you to deep-dive into analytical data and fine-tune your marketing efforts. You can know if users have opened chat via read receipts, track click-through rates, and even see if a customer is typing in the chat window. With this data, you can anticipate customer queries and product needs, offering a seamless and intuitive CX. Moreover, you can use the data to recognize gaps and pain points that your product or marketing fails to address and remedy accordingly.

Seamless chatbot integration and automation

With endless possibilities like 24/7 support, multilingual service, and in-depth information about products, AI-based chatbots will soon be the most common primary touch point in customer journeys. So, choosing a marketing channel that offers seamless chatbot support and integration is crucial. RBM is not only highly compatible with chatbots but also can host chatbot directories, using which customers can connect with your brand’s chatbot themselves, enriching their P2A experience. This will ensure that simple customer queries are always resolved quickly. However, in the case of complex queries, RBM’s automation will facilitate a smooth transition from chatbot to live agent, ensuring reduced wait times.

Better branding to nurture trust and authenticity

Unlike SMS, an RCS message includes your name, brand logo, colors, and a verified trust mark, certifying customers of the message’s authenticity and preventing fraud. Moreover, RCS offers greater security, ensuring customers can share personal details like billing info, name, and address within the chat window, increasing trustworthiness.

Also read: Customer Service: How Can Telcos do Better in The Post-pandemic World?

Why should you leverage RBM quickly?

With so much to offer, RBM certainly will help brands provide an engaging conversational experience elevating conversational commerce further. Moreover, it will help brands better understand customer behavior without creating silos and pressure to maintain a consistent customer experience across platforms. Furthermore, it will offer a seamless and uninterrupted customer experience without needing app-weary customers to download more apps or be redirected to a website.

Prominent fast food chain companies are already driving promotions and marketing offers via RBM and getting exceptionally higher conversion rates than SMS. Retailers and businesses are offering better and improved online experiences by helping consumers through various stages of the customer journey, right from browsing to after-sale services like delivery confirmation. Once the product is delivered, customers can quickly rate their experience or reach out for help, all within the message window.

RBM, in addition to chatbots, will deliver a highly personalized and engaging customer experience, allowing eCommerce companies to offer high-quality and seamless services to their SMS users. This will significantly improve customer satisfaction and directly impact revenues. So, if RBM does not feature in your marketing strategy yet, it is time to consider it and elevate your CX and brand.