One of the reasons that there has been an explosion in tech for AI, marketing personalization tools, and other applications is that customers want to feel valued. Businesses are working hard to improve the customer experience, one valuable approach that achieves this is conversational commerce. 

How Does Conversational Commerce Work?

Conversational commerce is used in communication channels, like text messaging, and web chat. It’s straightforward, the customer is able to send a brand their message asking a question, and the virtual shopping assistant, whether it's on a messaging app, SMS, or on your website can answer quickly and accurately. 

In addition, businesses can use conversational commerce to sell items. For example, you can leverage the data from your customers' purchase history to tailor products they are most likely interested in purchasing. You can segment your top customers and send exclusive offers that the customer can interact with and make a purchase without the distractions of a busy or non-mobile friendly site.

Another popular way brands are using SMS is by sending offers to in-market customers and giving them the option of buying right within the message. Customers can reply “Buy” to start the process and within seconds an automatic link will take them to make the purchase. If you have their information on file, they will get a message back with a summary and ask you to confirm your order. Once the customer confirms the purchase, the order is placed and you receive a receipt, and order details. See example below.

This offers frictionless commerce and eliminates the need to fill out multiple forms with redundant information. Customers feel positive about the experience. 


Customers can ask about products, how to use them, hours of operation, locations, orders, and other business information. 

This type of experience is automated but humanized. The customers feel satisfied with the information they received, and they are confident returning to your business in the future. 


What Are Customers Looking for in a Business?


Studies have shown that customers are specifically looking for an improved customer experience. They base their assessments on trust, simplicity, quick response, self-service, and evidence that companies are working hard to improve the experience for them. Conversational commerce achieves all of these customer goals.


How Conversational Commerce Improves SMS Marketing


When companies started using SMS messaging for marketing, they would blast out information about new products, sales, and other promotions. The standard approach was to send out blasts and build brand recognition. However, customers often unsubscribe from these impersonal attempts to reach them. Customers have shown that they are receptive to marketing as long as they connect with the message. 


Conversational commerce can leverage AI to connect with the customer and provide them with the information that they are looking for. It's an experience that mimics an in-person experience through recommendations, product information, personalization, and more. It has the added benefit of using AI with access to a huge amount of data.

Benefits of Conversational Commerce

1. You Can Use It Across Platforms

Your customers use different communication channels, and you can reach all of them with conversational commerce. The dominant communication channels are still messaging apps, including Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, SMS, and others. 

You can also use conversational commerce on your web chat interfaces, customers can initiate a chat and ask questions that your virtual shopping assistant can answer. This is less ideal because chat’s are not always mobile friendly, however, with the right messaging platform, it could serve as a powerful way to have meaningful engagement with customers when they need it. 

2. It Adapts to Your Customers


In the past, SMS marketing was about the company. You would share the products or services that you wanted your customers to buy. With conversational commerce, you are serving your customers. They are telling you their needs and learning which products and services best fulfill them.

When you leverage their purchase history and other data to send them offers that are relevant, it builds customer confidence by improving relationships and showing customers that your company is there to serve their needs.

3. It Mimics the In-Person Shopping Experience


When you use conversational commerce, your customers have an experience similar to what they have in a store. They ask for help, and you provide solutions and answers. They can seek recommendations, guidance, information, and other details about your products and services in real-time.


4. It Offers Personalized Purchase Assistance

Customers are often looking for assistance when they make a purchase. They may have an idea of what they are looking for, but they have questions about the products. Conversational commerce offers a personalized experience because the virtual shopping assistant has access to a great deal of data. 44% of customers have questions before making a purchase online. By combining agent assistance with automated interactions and checkout for messaging, you can detect when a customer needs help and offer assistance. This can reduce abandoned cart rates and boost conversions up to 20% and order value up to 60%. 

5. It Offers Automatic and Quick Customer Support


With conversational commerce, customers can get valuable, personalized responses right away. They can choose when to interact and ask questions when they have them, and there is no delay. This drastically improves customer satisfaction because you are able to quickly answer their questions with relevant and meaningful information. Platforms like Radiance Commerce can go a step further and handover to a live agent handling all bot-to-agent and agent-to-bot handover protocols, creating an intuitive and seamless experience for both the user and the agent. 

Final Words

Conversational commerce is essential to SMS marketing. It represents a change in marketing that is designed to improve the customer experience. As customers evolve and are looking for more relationship oriented shopping experiences, businesses need to adapt and build trust and confidence around a positive customer experience. Conversational commerce leverages vast amounts of data and AI to create a personal experience that leaves customers feeling valued and satisfied.