July 2019 | Ahead of What’s Next |^ Progressive Grocer |^73
The last thing
you want is to
give consumers
an experience
that they’re
going to walk
away from
because it’s
just a broken
experience.
— Mariam Reza
LivePerson
Messaging Bots
According to LivePerson, there are more than
100 billion messages sent every day, with nearly
13 million texts sent every minute. Th ese large
numbers show the possibilities for brands to reach
people through messaging.
“We tend to do a lot of our interactions day to
day over our phones,” Reza says. “If you think about
that now in the retail world, that’s where consumers
are; that’s where they’re buying.
“A few years ago we could say that this is
something that will change the world and people
are going to head toward conversational commerce,”
she continues. “Today, what I’m going to tell you is
that consumers are already demanding it, and will
continue to do so even more.”
Whether through SMS, iMessage, WhatsApp,
Facebook Messenger or a number of other
messaging apps, brands can communicate with
consumers, answer their questions, help them locate
a product and complete the transaction.
Th e success of these messaging bots relies on
conversational design, the ability to create an entire
shopping experience similar to one that customers
can receive in a store with an employee, but instead
at their fi ngertips.
“If you’re going to have automation in the
conversation, you’re also going to have humans,
and that experience has to be really well designed,”
Reza notes. “You must design a full journey and
not just part of it. Th e last thing you want is to give
consumers an experience that they’re going to walk
away from because it’s just a broken experience.”
Customers need to be able not only to buy, but also
to come back and check on the delivery status and
inquire about other items, all within the same message.
Social Media
Nearly 60 percent of consumers are engaging in
contextual commerce, and 81 percent of these
consumers do so through social media, according
to research from PYMNTS, in conjunction with
Samsung Pay.
On social media, many of these transactions
can be done quite simply, providing the same
frictionless buying experience as seen with voice-
enabled shopping.
“I’ve seen customers start to purchase items
through one- or two-click clothing links on social
media, which is becoming a great online advertising
method,” Caprio says. “I think contextual commerce
is a huge opportunity for all sellers with both online
and physical stores.”
Th e image-heavy nature of social media, as well
as its continuity across devices, provides advantages
for retailers and consumers alike.
Social media sites continue to expand their
partnerships with mobile payment options, such as
Facebook’s relationship with PayPal, to make the
process smoother and give consumers confi dence
that the sites are secure.
According to Reza: “Consumers are even more
and more concerned about what happens to their
information and if it is safe or not, but we’re not
seeing people turn away from it because of concerns
around the platform. More and more people are
buying online through something such as Apple
Pay and making convenient payments.”
She’s quick to note that all purchasing through
messaging bot conversations, such as those designed
by LivePerson, is fully encrypted and highly secure,
so any concern should be minimal.
“Th e best thing we can do is look to China,
where this is natural for them: Th ey kind of skipped
over the ecommerce part and went straight to
conversational commerce,” says Hollie Ellison,
senior director of marketing communications at
LivePerson. “Over there, 90 percent of a billion
users have actually bought something on WeChat
[a Chinese multipurpose messaging, social media
and mobile payment app].
“We would expect as this becomes more
mainstream, commonplace and expected that we’ll
follow suit,” Ellison adds.
Continued Expansion
Th e connected world is only growing more
connected, with the number of what PYMNTS
refers to as “Super Connected” users continuing
to grow. Th ese users have six or more connected
devices, from smartphones and tablets to computers
and appliances.
Further, more than 470 million new users are
coming onto or using a messaging platform in the
next couple of years, according to LivePerson.
As for voice-enabled ecommerce, Amazon and
Google lead the pack, but other companies, such as
Apple and Samsung, have gotten into the space.
“I would advise brands to adopt this technology
as fast as they can right when it comes out,” Caprio
says. “Th is will allow them to get the advantages of
fi rst adoption as well as allow them to test and pick
the types of contextual commerce that make the
most sense for their brand.”
Her message is clear: Brands must meet
consumers where they are, on every device,
seamlessly integrating ecommerce into their
everyday activities. PG