How Conversational Commerce is Changing the World of Marketing
With the rise of Messenger, Wechat, and Whatsapp, Millennials are moving from social media to social messaging.
by Ariana Rizzato
Imagine a world where every discussion can easily become reality. Where each mention or idea of a plan can be executed at your fingertips. You are messaging a friend and you want to meet for a movie, and before you are able to say “see you there” a car is queued up to take you. This is no longer just a fantasy. Robots assisting you is no longer the Jetson’s idea of reality, it is ours as well.
As the world becomes more interconnected everyday, our ability to speak across countries, whether face to face or as translated text, has brought us closer. But now the world is moving toward those conversations becoming the new form of commerce. In a world where the Chinese are buying New York homes via WeChat, Uber is picking you up at the mention of a meet up on Facebook Messenger and some of the biggest credit card companies are pouring money into bots for conversational commerce, it’s becoming obvious that messenger apps are becoming the new platforms to watch.
Though the U.S. is just beginning to catch on to this trend with social media platforms, such as Facebook, creating and taking over messaging media, they are still far behind. APAC has been dominating the field of conversational commerce for years. China’s Wechat has become the app of all apps. Your day can begin and end with WeChat, from chatting, to viewing the posts of friends or businesses, hailing a cab, paying your bills, sending a friend money, having your groceries delivered to finding a date, the list goes on. The upwards of $64 million exchanged via WeChat on one day for 2015’s Chinese New Year is a large indication of how lucrative conversational commerce has become.
With the trend moving closer and closer to digital payment, with Square, Apple Pay and e-banking becoming the norm, companies are moving quickly toward frictionless transactions. Major institutions such as MasterCard and Microsoft are looking to get in on the action alongside multiple start-ups.
As the world moves closer to digitization and conversations take form as the new mode of doing business, we can anticipate the rise of bots changing predictive text to predictive need.
Recently, Facebook announced their reach to 2 Billion people around the world. With the inundation of ads and social media marketing becoming the new norm, the industry needs an innovative opportunity.
So, with all the money being exchanged, why not become a part of the conversation?
With 3.3 Billion users active on Social Messaging every month, the scope of business marketing needs to utilize this virtually untapped resource.
New platforms create a need for new marketing methods. With Facebook, content creates engagement, for Instagram and Youtube, it’s influencers that are driving products. For Messenger, partnerships are being established to integrate usability. Companies like Uber and Spotify are beginning to tap into the potential of functionality for messaging.
For messaging apps such as Wechat and Whatsapp, the value lies in group chats and the ability to connect internationally. Creating communities for users, adding value to their experiences, and integrating your language into theirs will innately encourage organic response.
Companies can stand out by providing their users with a global community. By utilizing group chats and meet-ups, conversations can be had not only via text but also in person.
