Conversational commerce is selling to customers and serving them inside a chat conversation, on WhatsApp, SMS, Instagram messages or a website's chat window. The customer asks a question in a message, and a bot or a person answers, recommends a product and takes the order, all in the same chat. In India, it happens mostly on WhatsApp, because that is where most customers already spend their time on the phone.
Here is how it works in general. A company connects its own software to the messaging app. For WhatsApp, this is done through the WhatsApp Business Platform, an API that Meta, the owner of WhatsApp, offers to companies. An API is a set of commands through which one program can ask another to send or receive data. The customer first agrees to receive messages from the company. This agreement is called opting in. The customer then writes a message, or replies to an offer. A chatbot reads the message and answers. Companies build these bots on a conversational AI platform. Modern bots use AI models, so they can understand a question typed in Hindi, English or a mix of both. The bot shows products as pictures in the chat, adds them to a basket and sends a payment link, which the customer can pay by UPI. When the bot cannot help, it passes the chat to a person in the company's shared inbox.
Why do companies sell this way? A customer who is chatting is already interested, and does not have to download an app or fill in a long form. The chat also keeps the whole history, so the next conversation can start where the last one ended. Meta charges the company for many of the messages it sends, so each conversation has a cost.
Take, for example, a brand of home-made snacks. Its WhatsApp marketing platform sends a Diwali offer to customers who opted in, and a bot takes the orders that come back.
Consider a warehouse that needs 300 loaders before a festival sale. Blue-collar recruitment apps screen and hire workers over WhatsApp, because many of these workers do not use email.
Say a child in a government school is stuck on a fractions problem. With WhatsApp-based learning, the child asks an AI tutor in the same chat app that the family already uses.
How is conversational commerce different from agentic commerce? In conversational commerce, the bot acts on behalf of the seller: it answers the customer and sells to them. In agentic commerce, an AI agent acts on behalf of the buyer: it searches, compares and buys. Conversational commerce is also one channel among several in omnichannel customer service.
Appears in
- Candidate experience platform↗ HR technologyA candidate experience platform's chatbot answers a job seeker's questions and books the interview inside the chat.
- Blue-collar recruitment↗ HR technologyBlue-collar recruitment apps let a delivery rider apply, upload documents and get an interview slot over WhatsApp.
- WhatsApp marketing platform↗ Marketing technology (martech)A WhatsApp marketing platform lets a brand's bot show products, take the order and collect UPI payment inside WhatsApp.
- AI lead qualification↗ B2B salesAn AI lead qualification agent chats with a website visitor, asks about budget and needs, and books a sales call.
- Conversational AI platform↗ Customer serviceA conversational AI platform builds the WhatsApp bot through which a customer browses, orders and pays in Hindi or English.
- Social commerce↗ E-commerce marketplacesOn a social commerce app, a reseller shares product photos on WhatsApp and takes the buyer's order in that chat.
- AI shopping assistant↗ E-commerce marketplacesAn AI shopping assistant lets a shopper type what they want in a chat, then shows options and places the order.
- WhatsApp-based learning↗ K-12 edtechA WhatsApp-based learning service sends lessons and tests inside the chat, and parents can pay for extra courses there.