I had the great pleasure working with Smoope, a messaging as a service vendor recently. The segment is super relevant in these days selling to millennials. In these days every smart company is trying to find their strategy for turning conversations into transactions.
What I learned from a research in an analyst conversation with Lefti Co-Founder of Smoope and Forrester Analyst Laura Naparstek was, that 36% of conversations in chats are centered around “products & services”. That emphasizes the need for rich and fast product master data to power the conversational commerce channel with the right and relevant data so that the customer can take a purchasing decision.
I my opinion the omnichannel term continues to expand adding new interaction channels, such as messaging. This brings the need to integrate data and connect master data to new apps like messaging platforms. Clearly this is tied to the AI and chatbot discussion and blog, I published this summer. Wether you are talking to a human being or the AI-driven bot, answers can only be as good as the data foundation to offer the right product at the right moment. This promise and challenge, has just become more complex.
There is an appetite talking to brands through messaging, but the brands need to be clear on expectation setting and their processes. Many brands seem not to do well and are not able to go beyond the welcome message. Many are not set for taking the conversation to the next level and advancing the conversation, which will turn customers away easily.
The future vision in this segment is clearly impacted by the Zeitgeist of Alexa and Siri where customers are getting used to the most simplest way of formulating their need. Like texting or saying “please transfer 20 Euro to Ben”, or “please send me the shirt which was delivered today in size M” without filling out a complex form.
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