By Vartika Verma
Consumers have always held the steering wheel when it comes to brand to customer communication. Their choices and preferences determine how brands plan their outreach in a crowded media landscape. With a large number of consumers, particularly those in the emerging markets veering towards conversational interfaces, brands that leverage the conversational internet will be winners.
In this part of the world where messaging apps are the new browsers, and chatbots the new websites, seamless customer experience is defined by personalized, instant and effective communication. Brands need to meet this demand for convenience and relevance by integrating messaging platforms, AI and local language support into their consumer engagement strategy.
As conversations become platforms for both marketing and commerce, the trends that will most influence brand-consumer dialogues center around customization and interactivity. Chatbots within messaging apps are already proving to be highly effective, outperforming traditional email and app interactions. By streamlining the engagement process, and eliminating constant logins, these chatbots are bringing in convenience and character to the often mundane B2C interactions.
To deepen engagement, brands must harness emerging technologies like generative AI for delivering truly customized recommendations and experiences. Adopting these tools to power conversational commerce allows brands to mirror the human relationships consumers seek even at scale. Undoubtedly, the most significant influence will be felt in emerging markets where these interfaces are establishing a new manner of purchasing, paying, and seeking assistance.’
As 2024 unfolds, these trends are set to redefine global customer engagement strategies, emphasizing the power of direct and personalized connections.
1.Messaging Apps will rule the roost
With more than 3 billion users globally on messaging apps, the writing on the wall is clear- brands need to be where their customers are. Moreover, the innovative new ways of advertising, marketing, commerce and support offered by chatbots on messaging apps are a crowd-puller, given the engagement and personalization they are able to bring.
According to a Kantar study commissioned by Meta in 2022, Messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat are preferred over calls and emails. Post-COVID-19, business messaging frequency increased globally, with 66 percent of adults preferring brands accessible via messaging. Chatbots on messaging apps are central to a 360-degree customer experience, driving brands to prioritize conversational strategies for increased engagement. Interestingly, WhatsApp, with 2.24 billion users, stands out as a global messaging leader, complemented by the rapid growth of channels like RCS, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram. Finally, the expansion of RCS to Apple in 2024 further opens new avenues for diverse audience engagement.
2.The Impact of Generative AI on B2C Communication‘
One of the most transformative technologies shaping brand messaging is generative AI. Tools like ChatGPT enable brands to automate personalized, natural-sounding communication across channels to engage consumers as individuals rather than demographics. According to Gartner, 45 percent of executives increased AI investments post ChatGPT success, with 38 percent prioritizing customer experience.
Generative writing tailored to customer data and preferences humanizes branding at scale while freeing up human resources for higher value work. Brands leveraging generative AI now have significant first-mover advantage in cost-efficiency, localizability and personal relevance as demand grows globally for hyper-customized brand-to-consumer dialogue. Rather than a novelty, generative AI promises to be a baseline requirement for brands to effectively compete for consumer attention and loyalty in the years ahead.
3.Rise of unified customer experience as a service (CXaaS) platforms
The pace of business evolution has shifted, with the transition from physical stores to online platforms taking almost a century, but the move to cloud solutions happened in just a decade. The emergence of CXaaS platforms, incorporating CPaaS, CDP, CAI, analytics, and omnichannel journeys, caters to the demand for seamless conversational experiences. By leveraging CXaaS capabilities, businesses can deliver highly personalized, scalable, and efficient conversational interactions.
4.Conversational commerce is finding takers across industries
Conversational commerce is making waves globally, especially in regions with heavy WhatsApp and Instagram usage such as Asia, Europe, and North America. The promise of convenient, personalized and intuitive shopping experiences is causing brands ranging from retail to banking to entertainment to invest heavily in conversational AI and UX design. For example, beauty brands are letting customers try on virtual makeup through AR chatbots that provide consultation and upselling based on preferences and skin tone.
Food delivery services are taking orders, customizing recommendations and addressing real-time issues over interactive messaging. Financial institutions manage account openings, transactions and customer support without app downloads via messaging apps residents already use daily. Capabilities like voice search and two-way dialogue allow users to shop how they naturally engage in real life, strengthening satisfaction and loyalty. As natural language processing and speech improve with AI, conversational interfaces build relationships as much as facilitate transactions. Global spending on conversational commerce over OTT channels, including WhatsApp and WeChat, surged from $13.3 billion in 2022 to $25.1 billion in 2023.
As consumer behavior and enabling technologies continue their rapid convergence, 2024 is likely to be a definitive year for brands to adopt conversational strategies that align with customer preferences. It’s likely that the messaging users will exceed conversational commerce spends in the coming years, therefore making it incumbent on the most forward-thinking brands to focus resources on owning the consumer journey from awareness to advocacy across these personalized, AI-assisted conversational touchpoints.
Vartika Verma is the senior director of global marketing, Gupshup