• by Adam Broitman , Op-Ed Contributor, April 6, 2016

The Cluetrain Manifesto changed the way many media and marketing professionals thought about their role; both theoretically and tactically.

In the early days of social media, “markets are conversations” was the rallying cry for those who believed that new ways of creating and sharing information would both democratize and reshape the way commerce occurred within society—and in many ways it did.

But change is a constant.

As the economic realities of running a business caught up with early blogging platforms and social networks, the “open” nature that was once a cornerstone of these platforms began to close.

Like early Web properties before them, walls went up around social platforms, and today they are largely “pay to play.” As we continue into a new era of the social web, the much lauded Cluetrain notion of markets as conversations is taking on new meaning.

Whereas brands once held public forums on social networks, today's marketing conversation must follow the undeniable consumer trend to the various messaging platforms that have usurped a large percent of our attention.

Some brands have begun to make the shift to operating in this new age of conversation, yet as always, there will be those that wait until their competition gets the leg up.

Conversational Commerce

Many phrases created to capture the essence of consumer tech trends are highly sensational or outright annoying (does anyone remember MoSoSo) The godfather of the hashtag, Chris Messina penned the seminal post, which outlines the tenets for one of today's hottest trends in commerce and coined the surprisingly functional phrase, conversation commerce.

Messina outlines the notion of conversational commerce in a succinct and prescient manner. It is a must read to better understand how the tech landscape will move from a state bloated with questionably useful apps, to one where embedded command lines flow conversations and commerce through existing platforms with mass adoption.

Marketing within Messengers

"Fish where the fishes are" has become a marketing cliché that regains its relevance every few years as platforms change or evolve—still it takes time for many marketers to learn to fish in new waters.

Facebook is one of the major platforms to make conversational commerce a scalable reality with relative ease. Within the walls of its messenger product, Facebook has begun providing businesses with the tools needed to conduct business with customers while they message with friends and family.

Facebook opened Messenger for business over a year ago and a handful of companies have taken advantage of the unprecedented potential therein—namely; the potential of having a one on one conversation with a customer at any time, anywhere. Startup Everlane is notorious for their messenger-centric approach to commerce and it seems to be paying off.

 

With WeChat, Facebook Messenger and Snapchat capturing 4.2 billion users, marketers not seriously considering leveraging messaging platforms for commerce or customer support risk falling behind the competition.  

While a “messenger approach” to customer service and sales may appear more complicated than a traditional call center, the benefits of added consumer data, scale and automation make the promise of commerce within messengers an attractive and lucrative proposition.

Getting Started With Conversational Commerce

There are numerous ways in which conversational commerce is being manifest across a variety of software and hardware platforms. The most obvious places to start looking for opportunities are with the big players (e.g. Facebook, WeChat), but other companies are creating opportunities as well. Here are a few companies to take a look at:

1. Operator: recommendation platform that leverages messaging with a platform of experts to help consumers find things they want to buy
2. Rhombus: enables payments within messaging environments
3. Msg.ai:  cross platform messaging support for commerce

4. Intercom: customer communication platform that enable communication with customers on your website, inside your web and mobile apps, and by email.

The Browser Will Never Die, But It Will Change

If you listen to some messaging app enthusiasts, you may be led to believe that a messenger marketing strategy is of equal importance to a Web site strategy—some have gone as far as to say that messengers are replacing browsers.

We have heard this before and it has simply not come to pass. You may need to rethink the role of your site in relation to growth of messengers, as many popular platforms are baking in full HTML browsers into the messenger.

Despite the change in how your site will be discovered and accessed, it will play a critical role in your overarching communications plan for the foreseeable future.

The idea of using chat as customer support is not new. Many of us have implemented or used services such as LivePerson for years.

One of the more compelling aspects of the conversational commerce movement is the manner in which it enables consumers to make purchases across a variety of channels without the explicit need for a unique app download or Web site visit.

It allows a variety of commercial elements to easily take place within media environments they are already using. From payments to customer support, all areas of commerce can occur on a simple command line found within a messenger.