As Chief Business Officer, Ivan Ostojić is responsible for strengthening Infobip’s critical future and market-shaping functions.
Recent developments in digital marketing are enabling brands to transform their commerce and customer interactions. So, what exactly has changed and what are the lessons for businesses and brands?
Let’s explore how advancements in rich media content, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital messaging platforms are reshaping the landscape.
Click-To-Chat Ads
Click-to-chat advertisements are becoming increasingly popular. Last year, WhatsApp introduced updates that included its new feature, Flows, as well as new payment features. The company is looking to help businesses create seamless, end-to-end purchase journeys within a chat thread.
For example, using click-to-chat, you can streamline processes like booking appointments and payments directly within the chat. As someone who leads a company supporting the integration of WhatsApp Payments, I’ve seen how this can enhance customer convenience and security and, as a result, increase sales and loyalty.
One of the key benefits of click-to-chat advertising is the data that can be harnessed by keeping activity within a single messaging thread. This integration can provide deeper insights into customer behavior and enables data-driven campaign improvements.
TikTok, the fastest-growing social platform in the U.S., has taken a similar approach with its messaging ads. These ads allow users to start conversations with businesses either within TikTok’s direct messaging feature or through external apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
To maximize customer engagement and conversion through click-to-chat ads, businesses should clearly define their objectives to help fine-tune their messaging. Toward this fine-tuning, it is important to capture key lead information and target customers based on their position in the sales funnel and their previous interactions with your social media. Businesses should also take the opportunity to upsell and cross-sell by recommending relevant products.
Lastly, it is crucial to always ask for opt-ins by clearly stating your intentions, setting expectations for the types of messages customers will receive and offering incentives like discounts to encourage participation.
Rich Communication Services (RCS)
As I’ve written previously, I see RCS poised for significant growth this year, with 1.5 billion Apple iPhone users gaining access to this interactive messaging format. RCS blends the reliability of SMS with the enhanced functionalities of messaging apps like iMessage and WhatsApp, offering rich, engaging content directly in SMS inboxes.
This development promises to bridge the gap between iOS and Android users and improves customer communications. It’s a major development for mobile marketers in the U.S. One study from Juniper Research predicts that by 2024, there will be 1.1 billion active RCS users worldwide.
One of the strengths of RCS business messaging is how secure it is with branded messaging, end-to-end encryption and sender verification. This helps ensure brand verification and anti-spam measures, and it helps build consumer trust.
Ways for brands to take advantage of RCS include utilizing high-resolution photos, videos, audio clips, GIFs and rich cards with actionable buttons. This can help make your marketing messages more dynamic and engaging.
Continued Developments In AI
AI continues to be top of the news agenda, offering huge promise for digital marketers. Meta’s recently launched open-source large language model, Llama 3.1, includes an AI assistant that Mark Zuckerberg argues will overtake ChatGPT in terms of usage numbers.
Meta has also unveiled new AI tools on WhatsApp aimed at better supporting businesses when it comes to selling products and services. This means that AI tools are becoming more accessible, and we will likely see more and more companies productizing Meta AI.
Moreover, at Apple’s WWDC 2024, the company introduced Apple Intelligence, a new AI and machine learning initiative aimed at embedding AI into all its products. One key feature is an AI-enhanced Siri, which was improved through a partnership with OpenAI. Siri can now answer questions about the user’s schedule, email and other personal details, making user interactions more intuitive and personal.
For businesses and brands, this means the opportunity to create personalized and intuitive user experiences, enhancing daily interactions and improving customer satisfaction. Adopting conversational AI can significantly enhance customer interactions by automating support, improving engagement and streamlining communication.
When integrating such tools, factors such as clear planning, designing conversational flows and continuous testing can make a significant difference in optimizing performance.
Enhancing Customer Experiences
So, what does this mean in practice? I think one great example of these tools in use is 1-800-Flowers, a U.S. business that transformed its marketing and sales through GWYN, a virtual shopping assistant powered by IBM’s Watson AI. GWYN helps customers find the perfect gift by offering personalized product suggestions and becoming more intuitive with use.
The flower retailer also uses a Facebook Messenger chatbot to attract new, younger customers and has integrated voice ordering with Amazon Alexa, allowing customers to order gifts via voice commands.
According to Amit Shah, CMO of 1-800-Flowers, the business’s approach was focused on three key areas: “Integrating with intelligent agents” such as Google Assistant and Facebook Messenger; “machine learning” via Gwyn; and “customer service innovation,” which included anticipating shopper questions based on their website interactions.
Many other brands are also using AI to augment their customer experience. For instance, Starbucks uses predictive analytics and machine learning to suggest different menu options depending on where and when a customer is ordering, as well as their ordering history. Retail business Sephora offers customers access to an augmented reality (AR) app that allows users to have a “virtual makeover” and try different products in the process.
A Transformative Era
As can be seen, digital marketing in the U.S. is on the cusp of transformation, driven by advancements like click-to-chat ads, RCS and AI. These innovations are reshaping customer engagement strategies, promising to help make interactions more personalized, efficient and secure.
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