What Is Conversational Commerce?

You’ve probably heard the term conversational commerce floating around — it’s catchy, sure, but what does it actually mean, and why is it getting so much attention? 

Here are a few conversational commerce examples in real life:

• Consumers are shopping and completing transactions within a messaging conversation.
• Brands help consumers shop by finding a store location or online promotions and deals.
• Customer experience agents interact with customers to reschedule an appointment or a delivery.

These are just a few ways messaging has greased the conversational commerce wheel, making it easier and faster for businesses to get things done. In this article, we’ll take a close look at conversational commerce and what companies need to do to fully leverage its benefits.

Conversational Commerce Definition

Conversational commerce is the use of messaging apps, AI agents, or voice assistants to facilitate online shopping experiences – allowing customers to browse, ask questions, receive personalized recommendations, and make purchases through natural, real-time conversations. Conversational commerce bridges the gap between e-commerce and direct customer interaction to create a more seamless and personalized buying journey.

How Does Conversation Commerce Work?

Consider the smartphone — the device that rarely leaves anyone’s hands — and think about how much searching, browsing, buying, and texting happens on it every single day. Even before lockdowns accelerated digital habits, consumers were already drawn to the ease, convenience, and speed of shopping right from their phones.

Recently, we’ve seen a surge in use as more consumers have looked to online shopping, delivery, and curbside pickup to get through their days. According to comScore, consumers spend 85% of their smartphone time using only 5 apps, which tend to be either social media, messenger, or other media apps. It makes sense that businesses would marry the power of messaging with consumers’ preferences.

Conversational commerce works by integrating chat, messaging, or voice technology into the shopping experience, allowing customers to interact with brands in real time. Through AI-powered agents, messaging apps, or voice assistants, users can ask questions, get personalized recommendations, and complete purchases — all within a single, natural conversation rather than navigating multiple web pages or forms.

What Are the Different Types of Conversational Commerce?

AI Agents and Agentic AI

AI agents powered by agentic AI are transforming conversational commerce by going beyond simple, rule-based chatbots. These intelligent systems can understand context, make decisions, and take autonomous actions — from recommending products and managing orders to integrating with CRM or inventory systems. Unlike static chatbots, agentic AI learns from each interaction, delivering personalized, human-like conversations that improve over time and help drive higher conversions and customer satisfaction.

Voice Assistants

Voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant have brought conversational commerce into people’s homes and daily routines. By using simple voice commands, customers can reorder products, check delivery statuses, or discover new items without ever touching a screen. For brands, this channel offers an opportunity to build more natural, hands-free shopping experiences — especially for routine purchases or multitasking consumers who value convenience.

Messaging Apps

Messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and SMS are the heart of conversational commerce. These channels allow brands to connect directly with customers through personalized messages, automated chat flows, and instant checkout options — all within the same conversation. Because customers already use these apps daily, conversational experiences here feel natural and convenient, helping businesses increase engagement, reduce friction, and boost conversion rates.

Why Invest In Conversational Commerce

Consumer expectations of speed and convenience have birthed new innovations that are opening up seamless communication between brands and customers. Gone are the days when customers were satisfied with dialing an 800 number or having to write an email to get help.

Whether it’s a chatbot on Messenger, someone managing direct messages on X, or taking orders via text message, consumers will choose brands that go that extra mile to make their experience personalized and efficient. Needless to say, businesses are investing to make that happen.

Consider these statistics by Gartner:

• At least 60% of companies will use artificial intelligence to support digital conversational commerce.
• 30% of digital commerce revenue growth will be attributable to artificial intelligence technologies, such as those that power conversational commerce.
• 5% of all digital commerce transactions will come from a bot, such as those that power conversational commerce.

All of the major trends in conversational commerce over the past couple of decades have been in moving to where customers are. Rather than forcing customers to come to you, you go to where they are. The next generation of that is conversational commerce.

The Benefits of Conversational Commerce

Investing in conversational commerce also unlocks tangible business benefits that can elevate your customer experience and bottom line:

Improved Customer Experience

With AI and data-driven insights, conversational commerce allows brands to deliver more personalized interactions. These tools can understand customer preferences and intent, allowing for real-time, contextually relevant responses that feel tailored to the individual. Whether it’s personalized product recommendations via a chat widget, a voice assistant helping narrow down options, or live customer support through messaging apps, these conversational commerce examples help deepen engagement and drive loyalty. The interactions feel more natural and human, making the customer feel seen, heard, and supported throughout the buying journey.

Customer Loyalty and Retention

24/7 Availability

Conversational commerce strengthens customer loyalty by creating more personal, responsive interactions throughout the buying journey. When customers can get quick answers, personalized recommendations, and real-time support through chat or voice, they feel valued and understood — increasing trust and satisfaction. Over time, these seamless experiences encourage repeat purchases, boost lifetime value, and turn casual buyers into loyal brand advocates who keep coming back.

AI-powered systems and AI agents enable brands to offer round-the-clock support, meeting rising expectations for always-on service. This is especially valuable for global brands, allowing them to deliver consistent, timely assistance across time zones—without the overhead of a 24-hour support team.

Cost Reduction

Conversational commerce solutions are designed not only to improve customer satisfaction but also to reduce operational costs. By automating routine tasks and frequently asked questions, businesses can scale without heavily increasing headcount. Human agents are freed up to handle higher-impact conversations, improving overall efficiency and productivity.

Set Your Business Apart

Conversational commerce gives your brand a competitive edge by delivering personalized, real-time interactions that traditional e-commerce can’t match. By meeting customers where they already are — in chat apps, messaging platforms, or through voice assistants — your business creates a more seamless, human buying experience. This not only enhances convenience but also helps your brand stand out as innovative, approachable, and customer-first in a crowded digital marketplace.

Pitfalls of Conversational Commerce and Strategies to Avoid Them

Conversational commerce has the power to transform customer engagement by making shopping more seamless, personalized, and efficient. However, if implemented carelessly, it can lead to frustration, lost sales, and diminished trust. Below are some common pitfalls and practical strategies to avoid them.

1. Too much automation, not enough empathy

While automation saves time, relying solely on AI agents can make conversations feel robotic or impersonal. Customers expect understanding, not canned responses.

Strategy: Blend automation with a human touch and Agentic AI. Use AI to manage simple requests, but make it easy for users to connect with a live representative when situations become complex or emotional. This balance maintains efficiency while preserving empathy.

2. Disconnected systems and inconsistent experiences

An AI agent that isn’t connected to tools like CRM, order tracking, or inventory systems can’t deliver accurate or helpful responses.

Strategy: Integrate your conversational tools with backend systems. This ensures every interaction reflects real-time data from order status to personalized recommendations, for a consistent and satisfying experience.

3. Data privacy and security gaps

Because conversational platforms handle sensitive information, even small lapses in data security can damage brand credibility.

Strategy: Clearly communicate data usage policies, use encryption, and stay compliant with regulations like GDPR and CCPA. Transparency builds trust.

4. Lack of continuous optimization

Launching an AI agent is just the beginning. Without regular updates, responses can become outdated or inaccurate.

Strategy: Continuously analyze conversations, review customer feedback, and retrain AI models to keep the experience relevant and effective.

When executed thoughtfully, conversational commerce becomes more than a convenience — it’s a long-term strategy that deepens trust, strengthens relationships, and drives sustainable growth.

How Does Agentic AI Fit Into Conversational Commerce?

Agentic AImarks the next evolution of conversational commerce — shifting from simple, rule-based chatbots to intelligent systems that can reason, act, and learn autonomously. Instead of relying on preprogrammed responses, agentic AI understands context, intent, and customer goals, enabling it to manage more complex interactions from start to finish.

From reactive to proactive interactions

In practice, this means agentic AI can do much more than answer questions. It can anticipate customer needs, recommend relevant products, manage returns, or adjust an order before it ships. These systems continuously learn from each interaction, refining their understanding to deliver more natural, human-like conversations over time.

Deep integration across business systems

Agentic AI also connects seamlessly with backend platforms like CRM, inventory, and marketing automation tools. This allows it to pull real-time data into every conversation, letting customers know when an item will restock, applying loyalty rewards automatically, or sending follow-up care tips after a purchase.

Smarter, more personal commerce

By combining natural conversation with autonomous decision-making, agentic AI transforms everyday interactions into personalized, value-driven experiences. It helps brands scale customer engagement without losing the human touch — improving satisfaction, efficiency, and ultimately revenue.

The bridge between automation and empathy

In short, agentic AI is what makes conversational commerce truly intelligent. It closes the gap between automation and emotional connection, helping businesses move from reactive service to proactive engagement. For brands competing on experience, it’s not just a technological upgrade — it’s the foundation of the next generation of smarter, more human commerce.

How to Measure Success With Conversational Commerce

Measuring the success of conversational commerce means understanding how well your interactions drive both customer satisfaction and business results. The right mix of quantitative and qualitative metrics will give you a complete picture.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) to track include:

• Conversion rate: How often conversations lead to a sale or completed action.
• Average order value (AOV): Whether personalized recommendations increase purchase amounts.
• Customer satisfaction (CSAT): How happy customers are with their conversational experience.

Engagement metrics that matter:

• Response time: How quickly customers receive helpful answers.
• Session length and repeat interactions: Indicators of meaningful engagement and ongoing value.
• Retention and re-engagement rates: Show how conversations help build long-term loyalty.

Don’t forget qualitative insights:

• Analyze customer feedback and sentiment to identify patterns in tone, helpfulness, and personalization.

Create A More Natural Brand-Consumer Relationship With Conversational Commerce

Conversational commerce, much like regular conversations, is meant to build relationships. Conversational commerce is an opportunity to move beyond email blasts, promotional posts on social media, and other communication methods that provide just one-way communication. SMS and other messaging apps enable you to keep your customers informed with updates, and allow them to respond on the same message thread. A real-time exchange of information? Now that’s a conversation.

Creating engaging experiences on these channels is better and easier if your agents have a single view of your customers. Quiq makes it easy for companies to manage conversations with an intuitive agent desktop and native integrations with Salesforce.com, Zendesk, Shopify, and Oracle Service Cloud.

Quiq is architected with an “API First” strategy, which means we seek to work in harmony with your existing systems. With Quiq’s integration frameworks, you can customize our UI to include data from your internal operations systems or synchronize conversation data into your reporting, customer, and other backend systems.

Get Started with Conversational Commerce

Getting started with conversational commerce isn’t complicated. Start with one new channel that customers visit every day, such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. Better still, start with text messaging (SMS), a universally accepted way to engage with consumers.

If you’re ready to put a conversational commerce platform to work so that your business can thrive, get a demo today to see our Agentic AI solution in action.

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