Meta’s WhatsApp is one of the largest global platforms that is using conversational commerce to drive growth for businesses. According to a Meta executive, messaging apps are the new web browser and chatbots are the new apps. “How do you stand out by not screaming too loud and what are you trying to communicate to the consumer, these are two relevant questions to ask. We work very closely with businesses to identify these use cases. Your cohort and timing need to be right and only targeting people who have opted in to receive your messages. WhatsApp is a premium channel and the ROI that you achieve after using the rich features given by WhatsApp will also be high,” Archna Chandan, associate director, Client Solutions, GupShup, Meta's official Business Service Provider, said at the Meta Marketing Summit.
She added that WhatsApp is the only platform that allows discovery till purchase. “Why we’re so bullish about the platform is because of the dramatically high conversion rates that we saw on the platform.”
JioMart, one of WhatsApp’s clients, is using the platform to get their marketing messaging out and to drive sales. “The message should land well. How can we get our offline customers to shop on our platform and the gap between the online shoppers and the WhatsApp gap that’s there? If done well, this is going to be the next wave of shopping journey when it comes to e-commerce. One is hyper personalisation and you've to be with the customer through their entire purchase journey and even after sales,” Samir Ratanjankar, Senior VP, JioMart said.
He adds that before, during and after the transaction are all important in a customer’s shopping journey. “Before shopping involves marketing, messaging plans. We’re seen great results on the marketing side and our association with Meta is also working in every stage of the shopping journey. During shopping is when the customers are sometimes stuck somewhere in deliveries, for example,” he adds.
After shopping, he says, is the most important stage where customer complaints are handled. “If calls can be converted into a chat message, it makes life easier for the companies,” he said.
Chandan said that the requirement for their conversational commerce platform that helps automate conversation with the end customer is that the messaging should be personalised. “Using that, you can drive incremental numbers for your brand. Success for any brand on WhatsApp will come from what objective they’re trying to setup. It could be to improve cash flow and collection cycle or acquire new customer, we work on that particular problem with these brands,” she said. “Messaging is personal, one-on-one and if you do it right, there will be guaranteed success.”
Ratanjankar said India has made festive as an every quarter affair. “We started making Republic day, independence day as a shopping event. Diwali is the peak, but it doesn't stand out amongst other shopping days. The challenge is: how do we stand out in our WhatsApp shopping journey,” he adds.