Conversations have evolved in this digital age. Network connectivity and messaging services have made it easy for people to stay in touch with their friends and family on the go. As companies have also gone online, there is a new way for brands to interact with customers. Businesses can now reach customers where they are and any time.

For instance, WhatsApp has a wide reach of 3 billion users (Statista), and is a powerful tool for brands by facilitating conversational commerce. It is a great way to create a two-way channel with customers that allows direct interaction between the two parties.

Let us dig deeper into WhatsApp conversational commerce and understand how it can help brands stay relevant in today's competitive landscape.

What is WhatsApp conversational commerce?

Physical stores facilitated direct interactions, allowing customers to engage with staff for immediate answers to their questions. However, as e-commerce emerged and became standard for shopping, a gap was created, limiting customers' ability to connect with brands.

Customer care representatives often struggled to provide product information and were available for contact only during certain hours of the day.

WhatsApp has bridged this gap by facilitating the intersection of e-commerce and messaging services. WhatsApp conversational commerce is a direct dialog-oriented exchange between customer and brand.

Moreover, WhatsApp conversational commerce also refers to services like ads, catalogs, broadcasts, and automated chats.

Using all these services, brands can shape a customer's journey, from engaging them for the first time to converting them to a potential lead and selling a product. WhatsApp conversational commerce goes beyond providing after-sales service to give a start-to-finish consistent brand experience.

Why WhatsApp is perfect for conversational commerce

WhatsApp is ranked as the most used mobile messenger app globally.

WhatsApp, with its several inbuilt features, allows brands to sell on the platform while using it to engage customers and offer post-sales service. It offers multiple features such as flows, AI-powered chatbot, drip marketing, broadcast, etc., all on one platform.

With its deep penetration, your customers are likely using it too. It allows you to build a direct channel with them and have personal conversations with them.

Let us dig deeper into the benefits of WhatsApp conversational commerce for your business.

Benefits of WhatsApp conversational commerce for your business

WhatsApp conversational commerce is becoming popular with brands, and more businesses are making it an essential part of their sales and marketing. We have outlined the most important ones below.

1. Better customer engagement

With 98% open rates, WhatsApp has a high customer engagement rate (Double Tick).

WhatsApp conversational commerce allows customers to make informed decisions. Your team can update them about new product launches and upcoming discounts. The staff can also resolve their queries timely by providing all the required information, increasing customer engagement.

2. Reduced churn rate

It costs five times more to get a new customer than to retain an existing one. With WhatsApp conversational commerce, you can keep a continuous and active personal messaging line. It can be effective in maintaining the loyalty of your customers.

3. Higher sales

Abandoned carts can be as high as 70.19% and directly impact your bottom line. With WhatsApp conversational commerce, you can send abandoned cart reminders to customers and remind them to buy the product.

Apart from this, you can automate conversations and provide 24/7 customer service to answer their queries. Once all their doubts are cleared, customers are more likely to buy the product.

4. Easy transactions

WhatsApp Pay allows customers to pay directly through the messaging platform. Alternatively, your team can create a payment link and share it with the customers. As customers do not have to visit another platform to buy, they will get a higher motivation to purchase, resulting in higher sales.

5. Better brand awareness

You can put up your product catalog on WhatsApp, allowing customers to flip through your offerings on the platform. Plus, you can automate conversations through an AI-powered chatbot platform that can share valuable information about your brand. You can also use WhatsApp links and QR codes to increase your business' exposure.

6. Easy post-sales support

WhatsApp conversational commerce is the most effective in delivering smooth after-sales support to customers. You can send reminders about product servicing, register their complaints, and get back to them with resolutions. Customers can check the messages at a convenient time without having to worry about making time in their busy schedules.

Use cases of WhatsApp conversational commerce

Now that we have learned about the benefits of WhatsApp conversational commerce, let us see its uses for your business.

1. Customer segmentation

WhatsApp allows you to group customers on their interests, behavior, and activity levels. With this customer segmentation, you can send relevant messages to engage them effectively. It will also help you get better results for your marketing campaigns.

2. Browse product catalog

WhatsApp conversational commerce allows you to share your product catalog along with the features and prices directly on the WhatsApp platform. It enables customers to browse the products in an organized way and place the order directly from there. It is one place where customers can see the products, select them, ask questions about them, and buy them.

3. Interactive marketing and campaigns

You can use WhatsApp to drive your marketing campaigns and introduce new product launches to your customer base. You can integrate it with your CRM and other social media platforms to build an omnichannel environment and provide a consistent experience.

Moreover, you can send special offers and time-sensitive offers to customers to encourage them to take action. The platform can also segregate customers who have engaged with you on WhatsApp in the last 24 hours and send them a special discount.

4. Order confirmation and updates

You can use WhatsApp conversational commerce to send order confirmation updates to the customer once the payment has been made.

Moreover, you can share the real-time order tracking details with the customers so they can track the delivery. It will help the customer feel valued.

Collect feedback

Around 85% of customers provide feedback when they have had a good experience and 81% of them provide it for a bad experience.

Once the product reaches the customer, you can use WhatsApp conversational commerce to send personalized messages to customers and ask them for their feedback. You can send a link to collect their review or create an interactive survey on the platform.

It is an effortless way to collect feedback, as customers only have to tap to register their responses. Since it is personal, customers are more inclined to give honest feedback and help you improve your product and services.

Best practices for WhatsApp conversational commerce

With these best practices, you can make your brand stand out on WhatsApp and convert leads to potential customers.

1. Include a name

With the rising concern for digital security, it is essential to add credibility to your WhatsApp business account.

You can do this by using your brand's name and getting the green tick verification. In addition, add information about your brand so new customers can understand what your business is about. Include your website link, store locations, and timings.

A good profile can help you make a good first impression on customers. It will prevent the customers from opting out of your WhatsApp-based services.

2. Customize conversations

By integrating WhatsApp conversational commerce with your CRM, you can collect and store customer information. WhatsApp chatbot is specifically more useful in collecting this information and qualifying customers as leads. It also addresses specific concerns by adding clear workflows.

All this helps make the conversations personal. Moreover, your human staff will have the relevant information and chat history so they can enter the conversation well-informed in advance. It will help make the customers feel valued by the company.

3. Personalize your campaigns

Sending personal messages to your customers by addressing them with their first names may seem challenging. However, it will help you build deeper bonds with your customers.

Wish them on birthdays and send recommendations based on their history and profile information. Whatsapp conversational commerce can customize all this for you to customize your campaigns.

4. Use conversational language

Even if your bot is communicating with the customers, try not to make the language very formal.

Keep it light and conversational so the customers feel comfortable responding on WhatsApp. Pepper the conversation with humor, and do not shy away from using appropriate emojis and multimedia to keep the interaction human-like.

5. Add a compelling CTA

Adding a CTA in your marketing messages is essential to provide a clear course of action to the customers. Apart from the buttons, provide a clear path for the action you want the customers to take.

It will help deliver the desired result. Instead of sending customers to your website, add a CTA with a catalog button so the customers can shop while they are on WhatsApp.

The future of WhatsApp conversational commerce

WhatsApp conversational commerce offers an end-to-end customer journey on the platform. Brands prefer it because it allows them to meet the customers where they always are - online. Moreover, it lets them identify leads and nurture them to convert them into customers.

Customers like it as WhatsApp conversational commerce as it provides a direct connection with the brand. As brands explore more ways to attract customers in the digital space, WhatsApp, with its several benefits, is here to stay.

Enhance your WhatsApp conversational commerce campaign with Gallabox!

We live in a hyper-competitive age where brands are continuously exploring new ways to connect with customers. Today's customer base is not loyal and is ready to jump to the next brand if they do not get what they want or do not feel valued.

With Gallabox, you can implement WhatsApp conversational commerce to build a better rapport with your customers and become their preferred brand. Use the platform's different features, such as WhatsApp chatbot, WhatsApp Business API, Shared team inbox, and WhatsApp Broadcast, to enhance your campaigns and get more sales!

Download WhatsApp Business API now to streamline your sales and marketing strategies.

FAQs about WhatsApp conversational commerce

1. Can WhatsApp conversational commerce be used for customer support?

WhatsApp conversational commerce can be a significant addition to your customer service operations. You can use a chatbot to automate replies to the common problems that customers face. An AI-powered chatbot is intelligent enough to simulate human conversation and can pass complex queries to human agents and provide assistance.

2. Do customers need to download a special app to use WhatsApp for conversational commerce?

Customers do not use any other app to use WhatsApp conversational commerce. They can use their regular WhatsApp to interact with businesses.

3. What kind of products or services are ideal for WhatsApp conversational commerce?

WhatsApp conversational commerce is versatile and can be useful across most industries, such as education, retail, travel, e-commerce, healthcare, finance, real estate, etc.