The recent years have witnessed a great shift in the marketing paradigm as everything is going customer-centric. ‘Chat Marketing’ surpassing all other marketing tools and strategies has proven its worth in nearly doubling the Client Conversion Rate and growing the businesses exponentially. The new initiative ‘WhatsApp for Business’ that was officially launched in January 2018 has kicked off with the rolling out of WhatsApp business API from 1st August 2018. The meteoric rise of messaging apps and the expansion of social media platforms has boosted the implementation of ‘Chat Marketing’ for better customer experience and higher sales.

The sun that dawned in the 90s and brought the internet along changed the course of the business world. E-commerce is roaring loud and claiming the industries across various domains, in fact, the retail e-commerce is projected to cross the 4.5 trillion USD mark by 2021. Customer Interaction and the Customer Relationship Management have been the key driving factors in the success of e-commerce.

What is the reason behind the phenomenal success of the online business?

The answer lies in the ‘Customer-centric’ marketing approach that keeps the focus on the customers and their requirements.

Beginning as Web Assistants and reaching the Smartphone Apps

Chat Marketing evolved when there was need of keeping the customers interested in the communication with the company and existing methods of Emails, SMS, Phone calls and newsletters were failing. A small window that waits at the corner of the website page, aiming to interact and understand the requirements and accept queries, soon started functioning on multiple grounds and became the first choice of contact from customer’s end. In a recent survey it was found that over 60% of customers return to the websites with live chat option, and in fact, Live Chat has become the most preferred communication channel for customers across all industries.

Today, Marketing with Chat has spread its arms and grasped the social media platforms as well. Messaging application from Facebook and other platforms are greatly used by Companies to interact with their potential clientele. The widespread of Smartphones also facilitated the way for Live Chat implications and now people can interact with the companies through Chat while using their mobile applications. Features like real-time response and 24/7 live assistance with Chatbots, interactive conversations with Customer Service Reps, quality Customer Experience, Newsletter and easy Feedbacks make Live Chat the best marketing tool for sure growth of the business.

Approaching Customers where they really hang out

WhatsApp has acknowledged the outright success of Chat Marketing and foreseen the glorious future of Customer Servicing with Messaging apps. That has been the reason that the messaging app with over 1.5 Billion user base worldwide has decided to monetize the business potential that Chat Marketing proposes through WhatsApp.

The golden rule of success that business oracles speak of is to approach the potential customer in their comfort zone where they really hang out. The records of past 5 years have shown that Messaging Apps are growing their user base even faster than the Social Network Apps; this, in turn, makes WhatsApp, the biggest platform for utmost utilization of Chat Marketing.

WhatsApp for Business with over 3 million users was initiated with the intent to allow businesses to interact on a streamlined platform. Now, the recent global launch of the Business API will soon be exhibit great changes in the sales, marketing and customer service domain of companies across the world. The benefits that Chat Marketing encashes are its multi-functionality and multi-usability, as companies can incorporate CTA icons, GIFs, Images, documents, hyperlinks and much more with an interactive and easy look for their customers.

The scope of Expansion of Chat Marketing and Use of Messaging Platforms

Chat Marketing has overcome all the drawbacks that earlier customer interaction tools had. Whether it was undefined response time, or long hold periods on call, or time-consuming boring mail letter, Live Chat has not just changed the face of CRM but has made the interactions, purchase, queries, and feedbacks a cakewalk for the customers. Be it websites, mobile applications, and the messaging apps, businesses focused on their growth and expansion are seriously diving deep into the tech-ocean to find out the best Chatbot automation and teams of Chat reps for an excellent customer experience.

Although WhatsApp hasn’t opened all the cards on the table, yet the prospect of Chat Marketing through the world’s biggest messaging app will open new horizons of business growth and success for companies across the globe. Let us wait for the future to show what advance technology, AI, machine learning, human intelligence, marketing tactics and exceptional business innovations can get out of ‘Chat Marketing’.

The article is authored by Mr. Vipul Garg, Co-Founder and Head of Marketing, Morph.ai

Vipul Garg is the Co-founder and Head of Marketing & Design at Morph.ai, a leading marketing automation tool to create chatbots and boost lead generation campaigns for Brands. He Co-founded Morph.ai in 2016 and today it’s India’s best Chat Marketing platform used by brands around the world.