What Is Conversational Commerce?

Many customers need an extra push to complete a transaction. Personalized experiences and real-time interactions with businesses make shoppers happy about how they’re spending their money, and can make a difference when competing for business. That’s where conversational commerce comes in—a growing trend that's changing how businesses connect with customers, estimated to generate $290 billion USD in global spending in 2025. But what exactly is conversational commerce, and how can your business benefit from implementing it?

Understanding conversational commerce

Imagine walking into a store where someone greets you with a smile, happily answers your questions, and helps you find exactly what you're looking for. Conversational commerce is an ecommerce strategy that brings this personalized shopping experience online, allowing businesses to interact with customers through messaging apps, chatbots, voice assistants, and other modes of communication.

While social commerce focuses on selling products directly through social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, conversational commerce takes the process one step further by focusing on two-way communication between businesses and their customers. Depending on where customers are finding your products and the maturity of your business, you can add a chatbot to your website or work with customers directly via messaging or email.

Types of conversational commerce

There are a few common ways to introduce conversational commerce into a business, depending on where and how a customer is shopping. It’s best to tailor your approach to your customer base.

Live chat and messaging apps

The most accessible entry point for small businesses is direct messaging customers through platforms that they’re already accustomed to using. Some of these popular channels include direct messages (DMs) on Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp Business, and traditional text messages. 

For example, a local bakery might take custom cake orders through Instagram DMs, using the messaging feature on the social media platform to share inspiration photos and discuss specific details directly with customers.

Chatbots

While larger companies often use AI-powered chatbots, small businesses can benefit from using more simple chatbot solutions that answer frequently asked questions, guide customers through product selections, collect contact information, and help schedule appointments. These tools can also handle basic inquiries during off-hours, which frees up time for you to address more complex customer interactions.

Voice commerce

Voice assistants are becoming increasingly popular when it comes to product searches. They can help customers reorder commonly ordered items, check their order status, and find local businesses in their area. 

This technology might seem advanced for small businesses, but it's worth considering as voice search continues to grow in popularity. There are ways to optimize your website and products for voice search results that also help your overall visibility, like encouraging customer reviews and updating your local SEO.

Benefits of conversational commerce

Conversational commerce can require more hands-on work from you or an investment in a live chat or chatbot service. Consider whether the benefits make it a worthwhile pursuit for your growth.

• Personal connection: You can build stronger relationships with your customers through direct communication.

• Immediate response: Customer questions and concerns are answered in real time, increasing their satisfaction.

• Increased sales: Browsers are more likely to become buyers if they get personalized assistance or recommendations.

• Customer insights: Direct conversations can help you gather valuable data from customer feedback and preferences. 

• Optimizing efficiency: With a chat tool, you can be more efficient by handling multiple customer interactions at the same time.

Getting started with conversational commerce

Follow the steps below to try conversational commerce for your business. Remember that you can start small and slowly, like managing orders via DM a few times per week or running a weekly Q&A for customer questions.

1. Choose your channels

Start by meeting your customers where they are. If you're a visual business, like a fashion company or an artist who takes commissions, focus on visual-forward platforms like Instagram or TikTok. Service providers, like coaches or massage therapists, on the other hand, might be better suited for Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. And local businesses could benefit from straightforward text messaging.

When in doubt, think about where new customers or clients usually discover you or where they tend to reach out to you. Consider starting there.

2. Set up basic tools

When you’re setting up your basic tools for conversational commerce, start with simple and effective solutions that can make an immediate impact. Add a live chat widget to your website to enable real-time customer interactions or turn to social media accounts where your customers are already active and ready to connect. You might also want to consider implementing a simple chatbot for after-hours support to maintain communication even when you're not available.

Conversational commerce tools for small businesses

When it comes to choosing tools for your conversational commerce strategy, focus on solutions that seamlessly integrate with the systems you already have in place. 

• Website chat solutions, like LiveChat, can provide immediate communication capabilities directly on your website. 

• Messaging platforms like WhatsApp Business and Facebook Messenger offer specialized features that are designed for business users. 

• SMS marketing services, like EZ Texting, can help you manage text message communications effectively. 

• Email integration tools like Squarespace Email Campaigns can connect your conversations to your broader email marketing efforts. 

To keep everything organized, consider using customer service software to help streamline and manage all your customer communications in one place.

3. Develop your strategy

Developing a clear strategy is crucial for success when it comes to conversational commerce. You can start by defining and communicating your availability and response times so customers know when they can expect to hear from you. It also helps to create guidelines for your communication style so you can maintain a consistent brand voice across all channels. 

Once you’ve done this, focus on mapping out how you'll handle different types of inquiries. Finally, make sure you have a system for tracking conversations and following up with customers, so no conversations get dropped.

4. Create templates for common conversations

Take time to create structure with templates for common customer interactions, which will help you with consistent and prompt responses. Start by thinking through the types of messages or requests you get most often. Create a spreadsheet listing the message type and your standard reply.

You can adapt and add to this sheet as time goes on. If there are product links, forms, or information requests you often send customers or clients, this will also keep you organized by keeping important documents and links in one, accessible place.

5. Test and adapt your strategy

Regularly review your conversations and whether they were successful in accomplishing a sale or other goal to understand which approaches resonate best. If you’re not seeing the results you want, consider updating your language, recommendations, or platform.

As you become more comfortable with the basics, you can gradually expand by adding new channels and features. This measured approach will help you lock in sustainable growth and consistent quality for your customers.

The future of conversational commerce

The future of conversational commerce is rapidly evolving, driven by advances in AI. More sophisticated AI chatbots that feel increasingly natural and human-like are emerging, and meanwhile, platform integration is improving, which makes it easier to manage communications across multiple channels. 

Personalization capabilities are also becoming more refined, which allows businesses to provide more tailored experiences and recommendations. And voice commerce is seeing significant improvements in functionality, while augmented reality could open new possibilities for interactive virtual shopping experiences.

It’s helpful to keep informed about new tools and trends, but aim to find the right balance between automation and a personal touch. While larger businesses might rely heavily on AI and chatbots, small businesses often benefit most from a hybrid approach that combines simple automation tools with real personal interaction. This allows you to scale your customer communication while maintaining the authentic connections that make small businesses like yours stand out.