Conversational AI start-ups such as Haptik, Yellow.ai, Verloop.io, among others have recorded low cart abandonments and faster conversions, with the use of conversational commerce channels like WhatsApp commerce.

Raghu Ravinutala, Co-founder and CEO, Yellow.ai told BusinessLine that the conversational AI company has recorded around 25 per cent decrease in cart abandonments with faster conversions and higher customer satisfaction (CSAT).

Adding to this, Pratyush Kukreja, VP and GM, India and Africa, Haptik, noted that conversational commerce helps in higher conversion rates by impacting specific metrics during the conversion funnel.

“It improves product discovery by asking users for preferences. It helps in the traffic conversion of TOFU (top of the funnel) to BOFU (bottom of the funnel), improves form fill rates and leads generation funnel, acts as a re-engagement and remarketing tool to reduce drop offs and brings back users who have abandoned their website sessions and higher checkout percentage,” Kukreja said.

Haptik has done the large-scale commerce deployment on WhatsApp for e-commerce service JioMart, and claims to have recorded over 300K non-transactional messages sent, 80 per cent payments completed through WhatsApp and 95 per cent repeat users.

D2C brands

With the announcement of JioMart’s integration with WhatsApp commerce, more and more brands have taken to conversational commerce, especially D2C brands. According to Gaurav Singh, CEO and Founder, Verloop.io, the biggest difference between a large e-commerce marketplace and a D2C brand is the product SKUs (stock keeping units).

“If the SKU is lower, it is much easier to have conversations and complete the purchase. I don’t believe that large e-commerce brands are a great example for conversational commerce, the reason being, their SKUs might be running in millions. But if the SKUs are limited, the customer experience is a lot better,” said Singh.

He added that D2C brands have been benefiting a lot from conversational commerce, because they are able to run their entire shops on WhatsApp. In the case of large brands, conversational commerce has become a channel for sending personalised notifications and enabling repeat purchases.

Haptik’s Kukreja also believes that WhatsApp commerce will fundamentally change how consumer brands plan their direct-to-consumer strategy, so much so that brands would first launch on WhatsApp before they launch a website or app of their own. “Conversational commerce will be the main trend that drives Indian e-commerce over the next few years. WhatsApp is actually on route to replicating the scale and success of Wechat in India,” he added.

Tier 2 and beyond customers

Further, conversational commerce has also seen success in fostering brands’ connection with customer Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, where access and brand awareness could still be a challenge. For instance, Haptik claims to have seen great success with Tata Cliq, Whirlpool, CEAT for building trust as a part of conversation design and increasing their market share in Tier 2 markets and beyond.

Yellow.ai’s Ravinutala also noted that there has been an uptick in lead-generating conversations through WhatsApp and other channels. In the case of WhatsApp, it is opening up a big market for a lot of brands, wherein a significant portion of the traffic is coming in from Tier-II cities. Adding to this, Singh said that when it comes to new internet users, conversational commerce is a lot more about these users not being forced to learn a new app and instead just using WhatsApp in the language of their choice.

“Consumers from Tier 2 and beyond have a unique behavior - they prefer native language, want a consultative buying experience, look for trust based on user reviews and ratings, seek better deals, and then make a purchase decision. Conversational commerce powered by WhatsApp and voice can help deliver a powerful and intuitive experience that aligns with the above,” said Kukreja.

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