In year three of a global pandemic, consumers want businesses to be more empathetic. In response, brands are aligning more closely to changing consumer preferences. To deliver a superior customer experience, we see several B2C brands investing in technologies that enable personalization. But, doing this at scale, with millions of consumers, is quite a challenge. Conversational AI helps brands navigate this.

Conversational tech solutions are getting better at driving a unified omnichannel experience. Brands can design natural, human-like interaction journeys for consumers to engage anytime, anywhere. For example, brands use personalized profiles to access consumer details and monitor preferences in a quick and easy way. Micro-conversations via voice, video, or text enable tailored recommendations to consumers at every step of brand engagement.

Why bots are our new best friends

Using conversational AI-enabled virtual assistants, brands can interact with consumers and understand, as well as respond accurately, with minimal to no human dependencies. With data-driven profiles developed for each consumer, virtual assistants can efficiently identify pain points and recommend an apt solution in seconds. With continuous training, these assistants improve efficacy and get better at learning from prior consumer interactions with the brand, their past purchases, wish lists, questions, and much more.

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Conversational AI is transforming businesses across industries

Brands using conversational engagement technologies are seeing increased brand loyalty and higher sales in every industry. In BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance), a digital-first approach to conversational AI can help brands utilize the power of custom messaging to create better support experiences. From setting up accounts, upgrades, promotions, FAQs, and transactions, to recommendations on financial products best suited to the consumer’s profile – automation is the key.

In retail and ecommerce, customers seek expert guidance in product discovery and selection with smart recommendations based on preferences – across touchpoints during the shopping journey. Tata CliQ is a good example. By delivering personalized messages and offering to more customers via WhatsApp, the lifestyle digital commerce brand saw a 10x increase in ROI, clocking $500,000 in sales in just a month. With increased clickthrough and conversion rates, Tata CliQ is now looking to expand its conversational engagement play to reach and connect with more consumers. Using a combination of data science and WhatsApp, the brand could personalize customer communication and engagement for a large customer base.

In healthcare, virtual assistants can engage with customers to handle appointment bookings and rescheduling, FAQs, prescription reminders, allergy lists, and 24/7 personalized assistance. These are customized to each patient so that the messaging communication becomes targeted at solving their specific problems. Healthcare providers are utilizing platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and web chat to share critical patient updates and provide personalized care to patients via their smart devices.

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New-age businesses doubling down on Conversational AI for growth

In addition to conventional industries, we are seeing several new-age businesses from sectors like EdTech, Realty, and more turning to conversational engagement technologies for faster growth and expansion.

Take the case of Doubtnut, an EdTech platform helping students improve their knowledge of STEM subjects. Previously, students had to post pictures of their questions on Doubtnut’s website or mobile app. But Doubtnut soon realized that limited access to high-speed mobile internet connectivity in the suburbs impacted their service. Now, with an intelligent WhatsApp chatbot, students share doubts via WhatsApp and get links to videos with answers, in their preferred language, in about ten seconds. Doubtnut has seen a 95% user satisfaction rate, and daily users have risen by 224%. And Doubtnut’s tutor-student engagement rate grew by 260%.

NoBroker, an online property listing platform, is another good example. Earlier, to list their property details and add pictures, less tech-savvy customers had problems uploading photos on the NoBroker website and mobile app. This compelled the NoBroker team to reach out to customers offline, gather the photos, and upload them centrally – a cumbersome, people-intensive, and unproductive process that led to cost overheads. Now, using NoBroker’s intelligent WhatsApp chatbot, property owners can interact and upload photos directly via WhatsApp, just like sending pictures to a family member or a friend on the platform. The property listing time – especially for uploading photos – dropped from three days to around six minutes or less. NoBroker has seen 20x annualized ROI along with a 2.8x increase in property transactions.

The future of customer experience is conversational

More customers now look for direct messaging and interaction with their favorite brands for real-time problem solving and support. They want to buy from a brand that provides highly personalized recommendations and suggestions.

We see most businesses use a disparate approach to Conversational AI. They typically use one tech provider for messaging, another for voice, and perhaps one other for analytics and customer service. This results in integration, security, and performance issues. In the process, the customer ends up with an inconsistent brand experience. A holistic conversational AI strategy is the key to transformational growth.

In summary, conversational AI is helping brands democratize the experience for every consumer with hyper-personalization, richer interaction, and greater accessibility. Is your brand armed with a next-gen conversational engagement platform to succeed in the conversational economy?

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