Conversational Commerce

Boost online sales by utilising the latest in conversational marketing

conversational commerce

The eCommerce Opportunity

Chatbots and voice assistants can have many roles, perhaps more commonly in customer support roles. The role of a chatbot in sales and commerce is less well-known.

If you want to give your business a sales edge, there's no denying that the role of conversational assistants in e-commerce is becoming increasingly important.

After all, chatbots have been found to increase sales by an average of 67%. Conversational commerce is here to stay.

“Conversational commerce is about delivering convenience, personalization, and decision support while people are on the go with only partial attention to spare.” -- Chris Messina, UX Expert

It's not just reaching your customers on the appropriate channels. Conversational commerce is also about providing a different sales experience. By leveraging conversational interfaces (online messaging, chatbots, voice assistants, etc.) we can deliver an enhanced shopping experience to customers.

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What is Conversational Commerce?

Conversational commerce, also known as chat commerce or conversational marketing, is a method that can be employed by online businesses to sell products and services utilising the power of conversation.

Potential customers interact with your experience through a chat app, a chatbot, a voice assistant, or a messaging platform. Customer communication meets the objective as long as it is individualised, useful, and leads the consumer farther down the sales funnel.

Conversational commerce was most likely coined a term in 2015 when it was introduced in an article by Chris Messina, an American writer and the creator of the hashtag. Messina highlighted that there was a growing trend of selling products and services through messaging apps and chat applications.

The Benefits of Conversational Commerce

24/7 Availability

Well-planned support at times that are most convenient for your customers, not you.

Delight Customers

Wow your customers with fast, efficient service and mind-blowing recommendations.

Multi-Channel Support

Help customers from your website, social media, and even Google search results.

Reduce Cart Abandonment

Follow up with distracted and indecisive customers, getting feedback along the way.

The persistent problem of cart abandonment is one of the main issues confronting businesses attempting to increase their revenue and sales.

Customers can easily become distracted before completing a purchase in today's complex digital world. Customers who frequently leave products in their baskets can be tracked and reminded not to miss out on a deal using an automated and conversational chatbot.

A chatbot can leverage historical conversations to pick up product enquiries or even learn the reasons for cart abandonment by follow-up questions.

Deliver Expert Advice

Pull on existing data to provide astoundingly detailed advice relating to products and services.

Customers frequently ask the same questions about products and want to know the facts before making a purchase. Chatbots on eCommerce websites or product pages mean customers feel comfortable reaching out to them for questions.

Instead of wasting time answering the same questions repeatedly, let a chatbot do the work for you. Although customers can search for answers, a chatbot can use Machine Learning to follow up with more relevant information using past enquiries. When done well, your chatbot will often know what your user wants before they do.

Automated Support

Automate almost anything, from product specs to delivery and refund queries.

Timely and effective post-sale customer service is critical to developing a long-term connection with a client and promoting repeat purchases.

The length of time it takes to reach a customer support agent via traditional support channels, such as phone and e-mail, has long been a major source of consumer annoyance.

eCommerce chatbots address the issue of excessive wait times. Chatbots aren't constrained by office hours and are accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week to handle consumer concerns and difficulties.

Why is Conversational Commerce Important?

The Rise of Messaging Apps

Messaging applications use has grown massively over recent years. Chances are you’ve interacted with someone on at least one of these apps: Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, WeChat, Snapchat, Telegram and Viber.

Data from Business of Apps shows that in 2022 Over three billion people actively use messaging apps around the world. That’s nearly 40% of the global population!

Because of these shifts, consumers are increasingly reliant on messaging applications for all types of communication, whether personal, professional, or commercial. Consumers are increasingly using chat to search and pick items and services, as well as to complete payment processes, all without having to phone, email, or even visit a brand's website. Everything takes place within the chat application.

Businesses have to be available to talk to their customers, no matter the channel they are using.

The Secret Sauce: Personalisation

Only 22% of consumers are satisfied with the amount of customization provided by brands. There's clearly still a bit of room for progress.

Offer excellent conversational services and you will stand out from the crowd. The more integrated your experience is, the better chance you have of finding the right product for the customer. Happy customers usually mean increased conversion rates.

There's no end to the evidence, too. The Bot Forge client, Rossano Ferretti, found that customers who engage with their chatbot and complete their chatbot hair quiz have a 3 x higher conversion rate.

Product recommendation conversations can also tempt customers with tailored special offers and discount codes. Customers love the special feeling they get when receiving them during a logical product enquiry conversation.

How Can We Help?

At The Bot Forge, we can help build, improve or maintain your entire conversational commerce experience. We're experienced in using the latest in chatbot technology, across the most important customer channels & apps.

Contact us today if you'd like to know how conversational commerce can help you:

  • Automate your sales process
  • Convert engagements into sales
  • Improve sales using personalisation
  • Answer product FAQs and upsell
  • Develop & maintain customer relationships

Happy Clients

Jamie (Help For Heroes)

"I’m really pleased with the bot and services we’re getting from The Bot Forge. Since we started working with Adrian, he completely lived up to his promises. The end-to-end process has been very slick.

The team was very straightforward to deal with. It was very much about them looking at how they could deliver in the quickest amount of time, with the least amount of investment required.

The Bot Forge understood our pain as a charity with a small team, and they took away a lot of the mystery and fluff from the process."

Chris (Director, Model Office)

"The Bot Forge provides custom software development services for a RegTech company. The team developed a compliance chatbot for the client's platform to provide guidance to their customers.

Excellent, very happy with the personalised services, accommodation of our specific needs within financial services. Their personable and innovative approach was impressive."

Emily (Xe.com)

"We came to The Bot Forge to gain an insight into Chatbot technology, its capabilities and its applications. We found them to be knowledgeable and insightful when discussing bots and AI.

We were particularly interested in how chatbots could help us save on customer service costs and provide a new channel for us to connect with new and existing customers.

The information which we obtained from speaking to The Bot Forge will be invaluable in making more informed decisions in the future about using this technology and we hope to work with them again."

Scott (CEO, Skin Check Champions)

"SPOT BOT has generated a few thousand unique users since its launch without any paid advertising or promotion. Every user is completely organic, spread (as designed) through shares and word of mouth, leading to thousands of skin checks booked and tens if not hundreds of skin cancers found.

A great first dip into the Messenger Bot pool which we're really excited to build on with Bot Forge as a vital partner... It's really lovely to work with them. Very clear communicators. Quick and efficient responses. Strong experience - well applied. Adrian was a really great partner, setting us up for success at all turns. Can't recommend him and his team enough."

Katie (Human Race Events)

"The Bot Forge offered a great service to us for the Saddleback Fred Whitton Challenge, which was really helpful for our customers and customer service team alike! They created a Facebook Chatbot based on the FAQs on the event website, which developed over time as more questions came up. Not only did this take some weight off our team and enhance customer experience, but it has also allowed us to better understand what information our riders are seeking, so that we can better answer their questions proactively through the website and social media. Adrian is always available at the drop of a hat, and eager to provide helpful solutions and developments."

Paul (Stitch)

"They’re responsive and organized, providing all the necessary information to track project progress.

The team is incredibly easy to work with. They took our idea and made it into reality."

Carolyn (Fred Whitton Challenge)

"I’m impressed with the chatbot it seemed to work well.

I think it is a good source of help and with it learning as it goes along it would answer lots of questions going forward.

If it cannot help it still contacts the organisers where we can answer."

Jack (Clifford Chance)

"The CIPS Professional Services Group (Procurement) approached The Bot Forge regarding consultancy and the creation of a demonstration Chatbot to support a conference presentation regarding industry 4.0 Technology. This was shown in front of ~100 Procurement professionals on December 2018 at Clifford Chance (London).

The Demonstration Chatbot built by Adrian at The BotForge was brilliant and we received really good feedback on the idea and execution. The Bot Forge perfectly met our requirements.

The team at Botforge will do everything they can to ensure your project is a success at the right price to suit budget! Would fully recommend!"

Reliable Expertise

Google Cloud Partner

The Bot Forge an approved Google Cloud Partner.

We are also recognised, by Google, for Cloud Contact Centre AI expertise.

Highly Rated

The Bot Forge has been consistently chosen as one of the UK's top-ranked AI companies.

Our company is not only 5-star rated, but listed among the best on Clutch.

ManyChat Partner

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As a ManyChat Agency Partner, The Bot Forge are recognised experts when it comes to building on top of the #1 chat marketing platform for Facebook Messenger.

Need Help With Your Project?

If you'd like help achieving your chatbot, voice assistant or AI project objectives, please schedule a free consultation with one of our experts.