Chat Commerce Breaks the Mobile Messaging Barrier for Retailers

When was the last time you were without your mobile phone? Do you remember that sense of panic when you realized your work colleagues, friends and family couldn’t contact you? As a society we're compulsively attached to our phones. Yet every day retail leaders across the U.S. continue to struggle to meet growth targets when the means to reach their target audiences quickly and effectively is being underutilized and sometimes even ignored. Poorly conceived mobile strategies that ignore the power of servicing consumers across the customer journey are cutting off retailers from future growth and leaving money on the table.

Mobile-First Shopping is Here and Growing Fast

Mobile commerce (m-commerce) sales are expected to account for 43.4 percent of total retail e-commerce sales in the U.S. this year. And while laggards in the e-commerce space remain fixated on their traditional digital channels, retail leaders have capitalized on advances in mobile messaging-based technologies. These advances deliver fresh, easy-to-use mobile experiences that entice customers, from product exploration, holding their attention and transitioning them quickly through to sales conversion, often without having to leave their original chat screen.

The benefits of mobile messaging or chat commerce (i.e., the use of mobile messaging channels to engage and transact with consumers) become abundantly clear when we drill down and see how we all prefer to engage with brands the same way we communicate with friends and family.

People Just Get it, Especially Younger Generations

Recent industry research uncovers the latest learnings about how consumers prefer to communicate and make purchases with retail companies via mobile messaging conversations.

Some of the standout findings that really highlight how today’s retail customers are already engaging with their favorite brands over chat include the following:

• 95 percent of customers are already making retail purchases on their smartphones and 78 percent of consumers want to use mobile messaging with retailers, particularly when it comes to convenience; and
• 51 percent of consumers want access to special offers via mobile messaging and 81 percent are more likely to purchase an item that's promoted through a link via a chat channel such as SMS, iMessage or WhatsApp than through an email.

More than just the speed and convenience offered by mobile-first commerce, the report also identified the ability to personalize the retail experience as a key differentiator for those making use of the technology. This is especially true when it comes to younger shoppers. Consider the following data:

• 77 percent of millennial and Gen Z consumers want to be able to track a delivery through personalized mobile messaging; and
• 86 percent of shoppers are interested in a personalized experience with a retail company, especially millennials (92 percent) and Gen Z (90 percent).

Mobile Messaging Isn’t Just a Perk Anymore

Retailers understand that customer experience (CX) is critical when it comes to cultivating a cohesive customer journey across all touchpoints. Whether it's through a blended brick-and-mortar experience or by adding mobile messaging to their existing web offering, retailers should never ignore the opportunity to create a personalized CX.

Brands that allow consumers to browse, shop, access personalized deals, and track orders through a value-rich, mobile-first commerce experience will set themselves apart in the next two years. What’s more, with mobile retail e-commerce in the U.S. set to reach half a trillion dollars this year, mobile messaging and chat commerce can no longer be seen as a customer perk, but rather a customer expectation.

Quite simply, those brands which continue to disregard the mobile opportunity won’t just miss out, they will be left behind.

Jennifer Shambroom is the chief marketing officer at Clickatell, an enterprise text messaging system.