How Conversational Commerce Reduces Friction & Increases Conversions

A version of this blog post was originally published in Mobile Marketing Magazine.

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Digital channels and automation have transformed how brands engage with customers. But let’s face it, there are times when a one-to-one conversation would make all the difference. Like when a customer is having a tough time checking out. Or when they need a little advice on the freshest jeans to go with that new jacket. The solution: conversational commerce! With truly interactive digital channels like live chat, brands can turn the purchasing journey into a two-way conversation that reduces friction and increases loyalty. 

Let’s take a look at this opportunity for brands and marketers to get more personal with customers. 

Conversational Commerce Takes on Friction

It’s no secret that reducing friction is key to creating better customer experiences. Customers love shopping online because there are no lines, no store hours to contend with, no crowds and other great benefits. But even with all that convenience, a whopping 70% of digital shopping carts are still abandoned before checkout.

That’s because there are a lot of potential frustration points in the purchasing journey, and customers lose patience if the process is interrupted, or unclear, or simply takes too long. But what if you could be there at that moment to help? That’s the power of live chat as a conversational commerce solution. It’s a real-time conversation with an actual human that helps your customers reach their (and your) goals, rather than a canned set of responses from an AI chatbot.

Not sure where to start? As you’re thinking about where two-way conversations could reduce friction, look at the customer journey to identify where customers consistently have questions.

• Do you have any customer support metrics that indicate where customers encounter issues?  
• Do you have bounce data from your site to show where customers abandon the purchase process? 

Two-Way Conversation Drives Conversions

How do two-way conversations drive conversions? To answer that question, we need to think like pirates. “AAARRR” is today’s pirate word and in this case, it stands for awareness, acquisition, activation, revenue, retention and referral—aka the pirate metrics. Conversational commerce drives progression through these metrics, from awareness through revenue and referrals.

Here are a few use cases along the AAARRR metric stages: 

Awareness

• New product offering 
• Sale notification
• Upcoming events

Acquisition

• Onboarding
• Promotional 
• Appointments available 

Activation

• Account Setup
• Subscription 

Retention

• Transactions
• Abandoned Cart
• Concierge Experience
• Loyalty Program 

Revenue

• Promotional
• In Store Pickup
• Upsell / Cross Sell 

Referral

• Customer Feedback

Conversational Commerce Responds to Rising Expectations

We know from the past year that customer expectations are high, evolving at an unprecedented pace, and customers are far more likely to brand hop than they were pre-pandemic. Plus, as customers increasingly expect real-time engagement from their brands, they’re also primed to expect that level of immediacy when it comes to service and support. 

Add to that the human need for interaction that we’re all experiencing, and you can see that conversational commerce is a natural fit for this moment, and why we recently launched Airship Live SMS Chat and Live In-App Chat.

Conversational commerce opens up a world of opportunities for creating better customer experiences, reducing friction and driving toward your goals. Airship’s Live Chat solutions enable brands to create live conversations with customers and build relationships at scale through personalized and real-time customer conversations.

Want to learn more, get in touch!