Beyond the purchase: Is conversational marketing the CX kingpin?

Customer Experience, or CX for those who love a good business acronym, is the ultimate make-or-break playground for modern brands. In summary—it's the entire customer journey from the first moment they hear about your product to long after they've made a purchase. Every touchpoint matters—from your website's loading speed to the tone of your customer support, the packaging of your product and the follow-up message the buyers receive.

The world has evolved, and so have customers. They no longer just want a product; they want an experience, a conversation, a relationship. Enter conversational marketing: a customer engagement approach that uses interactive, two-way communication technologies to connect with customers across various digital channels. It involves tools like AI-powered chatbots on websites, personalised WhatsApp messaging, push notifications that offer tailored recommendations, in-app messaging, and interactive customer support systems.

As per industry experts, conversational marketing isn’t just a staple tool for brands to retain customers, but also a formidable way to repeat purchases. 

Vartika Verma, senior director of global marketing at Gupshup, a conversational marketing platform, explains just how crucial this approach is: "One thing that's emerged very clearly is that customers increasingly prefer two-way conversations over one-way bursts. Any form of communication, and in particular messaging, has to be meaningful, respect the user, and add value to them. Conversational marketing, or conversational commerce for that matter, by the virtue of being two-way allows for more customer participation.”

The technological evolution of customer engagement

The current CX landscape is a sophisticated fusion of advanced technologies and nuanced consumer expectations. Santosh Gannavarapu, chief growth officer at CXM India (Dentsu Aegis Network), offers his perspective on the technological progression: "Conversational marketing is a recent jargon to the most crucial element of customer relationship management—engaging with customers. The onus to deliver long-term customer relationships was bestowed to those who could remember business-critical attributes of a customer and engage at the most appropriate juncture. Scaling such a system using humans is error-prone and inconsistent.” 

Thus, Customer data platforms were created to store multiple customer attributes, and effective communication methods like email, WhatsApp, SMS, and customer ads were used to send interventions based on behavioural attributes and timed to the customer's journey, Gannavarapu points out.

Jacob Joseph, VP of data science at CleverTap, a California-based SaaS company that sells customer lifecycle management and mobile marketing services, elaborates on this transformation: "Conversational marketing has transformed dramatically over the last few years, driven by advancements in AI and omnichannel integration. What began as basic chatbot interactions has evolved into sophisticated, real-time conversations powered by AI-driven tools that largely understand customer intent, context, and sentiment."

This has enabled brands to provide hyper-personalised engagement at scale, solving customer problems, offering tailored recommendations, and nurturing loyalty like never before. And, the statistics are compelling: McKinsey research from last year indicates that personalised interactions can reduce acquisition costs by up to 50% and lift revenues by 5-15%—a testament to the strategic importance of conversational marketing.

Personalisation at scale: The new competitive advantage

Modern brands are leveraging AI and machine learning to create hyper-personalised experiences. Shan Jain, an independent brand strategist and a marketing transformation advisor, articulates this approach with depth.

"Conversational marketing isn't just important—it's transformative. It blends efficiency (bots) with empathy (humans) to create a seamless experience. Take Amazon: their AI predicts when you'll need essentials, while their human agents resolve issues with a personal touch. By combining technology's speed with humanity's warmth, brands foster loyalty. Retention is the new acquisition. It is analytically proven that engaging customers post-purchase costs less and delivers more ROI."

The modern customer journey is complex, with individuals interacting across an average of 29 touchpoints before making a purchase, as per Gannavarapu. This complexity demands a sophisticated, integrated approach.

 “Companies are now using platforms from Adobe, Salesforce, and Moengage to create centralised decision-making systems that provide consistent experiences across multiple channels,” he says.

Real-world success stories

Practical implementations demonstrate the efficacy of conversational marketing. Wow! Momo, for example, leveraged personalised engagement strategies that contributed to an impressive 40% of their business coming from repeat orders. By using WhatsApp for targeted communication and personalised recommendations, they transformed post-purchase interactions into loyalty-building opportunities, as revealed by Gupshup’s Vartika Verma.

“Our experience has shown that brands can drive 24% higher upsell and cross-sell revenue with Conversational commerce. Similarly, brands that use Conversational Support (AI+Humans) take 60% less time to resolve complex queries,” she highlights. 

Future trends: What's next in conversational CX

Looking ahead, several innovative trends are poised to redefine customer experience:

1. Predictive analytics: Brands will proactively address customer concerns before they escalate.

2. Immersive technologies: Augmented and virtual reality will create more interactive engagement touchpoints.

3. Multilingual support: AI-powered solutions are breaking down language barriers, enabling broader audience connections.

Conversational marketing has transcended its initial technological novelty to become a strategic imperative. By prioritising meaningful, contextualised interactions, brands can transform fleeting transactions into enduring relationships.