Today’s Customers Expect Relevance  and Innovation in Retail Experiences 

Remember when online shopping just meant using a search box, a few filters, and maybe getting free shipping on orders over $50? That’s not enough to entice today’s customers, who expect retail experiences that blend ease of purchase with connection, education and entertainment.

Over the past ten years, marketers have led the charge in the evolution of retail. To build more connection with customers, for example, many successful brands have a social media strategy focused on reposting user content, helping create a cult of personality around their brand’s ethos. For the individuals who enjoy browsing, social media efforts around community building offer an endless scroll of content. Unlike traditional search-based online shopping, the feed serves as entertainment, even for users who aren’t planning to make a purchase right away.

Effective Retail Marketing Requires a Layered Strategy

Both direct to consumer and larger retail organizations have integrated values like sustainability into their offerings, allowing customers a way to match their identity with their consumption and further deepen relationships.  Marketers have created content to serve individuals interested in learning more about these values. Brands that have started as online-only have expanded into physical stores and ensure that their in-store environments match their online aesthetics, creating one more way to distinguish their brand. 

The brick and mortar storefront also must give shoppers a reason to visit in order to succeed. For example, prospects  can touch and feel products, they can photograph themselves with the store’s decor, and they can get tips and opinions from the experts on the floor. In addition, sales associates use mobile devices to help customers complete purchases, eliminating traditional cashier areas and bridging the online and offline shopping experiences—compelling, cutting-edge retail. 

The  goal of these new initiatives is to provide opportunities for deeper interactions and points of connections with customers. Each activation, new channel, and event is a way to create conversation.

 In this post, we will introduce conversational marketing as the central pillar of supporting a truly innovative retail marketing strategy. By blending elements of relationship building online and in person, entertainment, and thought leadership—conversational marketing powers customer conversion, customer satisfaction, and other retail KPIs. 

Conversational Channels Power Conversion

When someone enters a website or store with the intention to buy, they expect an individualized experience, not an endless one. In physical retail stores, a knowledgeable sales associate plays a crucial role. For example, let’s say you’re looking for a gift for your daughter’s 16th birthday. You want to give her a keepsake, but also want to ensure it’s something that speaks to her interests. A sales associate can ask the right questions, bring in their experience around what’s popular, and find an item in store that you may have overlooked on the website. The conversation powers the conversion. 

Just as the online aesthetic influences the in-store experience, the in-store human touch must be infused back into the online experience. How can marketers create this symbiotic relationship at scale? 

Conversational marketing enables businesses to engage customers on their terms through tailored interactions across various channels. The ease of back and forth customer and brand interaction builds trust and loyalty by emulating in-store experiences with the best sales associates. Conversational marketing also can ensure that transactional email marketing messages aren’t lost in an inbox. Messaging around abandoned carts or targetted upsell based on previous purchases, for example, can be moved to a conversational channel and drive immediate next steps.  A recent study by Juniper Research predicts that spending on conversational campaigns will soar to $290 billion globally by 2025, a staggering 590% increase over the next four years.

Tildei’s Conversational Marketing changes the way marketers build campaigns

Traditionally, building a truly personalized experience across channels means marketers spend hours creating flowcharts for each persona’s potential actions. They set up triggers, craft responses, and then QA the entire experience. This process is often limited by time, competing priorities, and the complexity of the build.

Tildei’s Conversational Marketing platform changes this by leveraging AI to streamline campaign creation. Marketers simply describe the strategy and experience they want, and the AI generates the campaign. Marketers can then refine or modify the copy as needed.

We’re excited to give marketers the ability to scale their direct connections with customers and further integrate the online and in-store experience.

Here’s an example of how conversational marketing can work for retail brands. An interaction with the QR code in store or a chat option on the website starts a conversation with a brand on WhatsApp. The WhatsApp for business conversation is verified and reflects the brand’s style. In this example, the brand starts with an invitation to ask a question. 

In this example, conversational marketing strategy combines product discovery with entertainment, as the end user can see how items pair together or brainstorm outfit ideas for an event. Additionally, the conversational campaign allows the brand to better understand the customer's shopping habits. The conversational data can be stored, shared with other brand channels, and used to influence communication with this customer in the future. 

Conversational marketing is cutting edge retail

• Conversation is the central aspect of all retail innovation
• Conversational marketing makes product discovery easier for customers and prospects. 
• Conversational marketing allows brands to educate customers about their values and mission. Customers know where to find this information instead of looking through multiple pages, as everything lives within the chat.
• Conversational marketing also provides options for entertainment through gamification. 

In our next post, we will explore some examples of integrating conversation into your retail marketing strategy. 

Want to talk to the Tildei team about conversational campaign strategy and the future of retail? Reach out to us here.