Messaging makes brands friends
The online consumer wants more than shopping on a sterile website. He wants direct contact and answers to questions, everywhere, and preferably in real time. Not only via chatbots, but also via text messages. Because why should contacts with your favorite brands be different from those with your friends, family and colleagues? Email is passé. With the ever-increasing flight of mobile shopping, Messaging the new standard in Ecommerce.
Crazy about numbers? Here are a few that impress. According to the German data agency Statista, which specializes in market and consumer data, in 2019 there were more than 3.5 billion smartphones in use. That number is increasing every day and will reach 3.8 billion by 2021. In the US, adult consumers spent an average of 3 hours and 43 minutes on their smartphones. This has surpassed the average time spent watching TV for the first time. And the end is not yet in sight. Far from.
Smartphone surpasses TV
In short, the smartphone beats television. But what are we all doing on that small screen? Seven in ten US consumers say they spend a large part of their smartphone time comparing products and reading reviews. Of these, half indicate that they actually use the smartphone to make purchases. And it will come as no surprise to anyone that the younger generation (20 to 45) dominates this.
Finally, the figures from Statista indicate that six out of ten consumers use the mobile customer experience considers a factor of decisive importance to choose a webshop, platform or brand. So everyone understands that that experience must be optimal to continue to distinguish yourself in the highly competitive Ecommerce forest. The necessity of this is now self-evident. Not only in the US, also in Europe and the Netherlands, because the patterns there will not be much different.
Messaging boosts conversion scores
Optimizing the mobile customer experience goes beyond speed, an optimal display of content and user-friendly buttons. At least as important is that contact procedures correspond to smartphone usage patterns. And that still doesn't seem obvious. Because while mobile shopping is booming, the eventual conversion figures lag somewhat behind.
Where is it going wrong? When it comes down to it, online shoppers seem to have just that little bit more confidence in their laptop or desktop. Another obstacle that stands in the way of conversion is that the interaction does not go as expected. One factor is dominant in mobile: it has to be fast, faster and preferably even faster. This also applies to contact with your shop or brand.
That's why conversational commerce so important in the evolution of Ecommerce. And that boils down to a new way of doing business that emphasises direct communication between online platforms and brands on the one hand and customers on the other. That communication is through digital messages shared via platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat and Alexa (Amazon).
Future Ecommerce can't do without messaging
In short, messaging in Ecommerce is the future. In the contact sphere, it is one of the most effective channels. The smartphone person is no different. The average open rate of emails is 20%, that of text messages is 98%! As a Ecommerce entrepreneur, you better respond to that. Messaging offers unique opportunities to communicate directly and personally with the target group as a brand.
The interactive use of text messages helps you to improve the mobile customer experience. On the one hand, this results in a better conversion score. On the other hand, just as important, you increase the bond with your customers. After all, as a brand you 'talk' to your customers through the same channel and in the same tone as friends, relatives and colleagues talk to each other. And you do that quickly and in real time.
Corona pushes the number of B2C text messages to unprecedented heights
If we are to believe the opinion makers in online marketing and Ecommerce, messaging play an essential role in Ecommerce. Zendesk Support, a specialist in digital support for customer service activities, recently announced via Frankwatching that their benchmark report shows that many Ecommerce companies are committed to a significant expansion of their messagingoptions. Very wise, Zendesk thinks, because during the first corona outbreak, the number of direct text messages via Facebook and Twitter alone increased by almost 550%. Conclusion: 'You don't need a crystal ball to see that messaging is the future' .
Conversational commerce or messaging is in line with the changing communication needs of customers who increasingly shop online with their smartphone. As a Ecommerce entrepreneur, there is an opportunity to take the customer journey to a much higher level, also in terms of payment options. The trick is to link and streamline contact moments and forms of communication. In the ideal situation, all contacts and actions take place via one channel – the channel for which your customer expresses his preference. And chances are, that's one of the messaging channels.
Larger companies and brands have been making good use of the opportunities offered by messaging for a long time. Progressive AI technology and automation play an important role in this. After all, text messages don't have to be so personal to be, as long as they are personal appear and seamlessly match the wishes, questions and expectations of the customer. By intelligently automating your customer service processes that run through messaging channels, you are available to your customers day and night. In every place and through that small, flat miracle that everyone cherishes, the smartphone.
Want to know what your chances are? make a appointment.
