Conversational Commerce: AI Gets Talkative

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Changing consumer attitudes. Traditional e-commerce is evolving towards conversational commerce.
The impact of artificial intelligence. Generative AI in e-commerce will transform the way consumers shop and brands interact.

KPI tracking. Monitoring AI-powered shopping experiences is critical to growth.

Do you remember the first thing you bought online? If you’re like me, you probably didn’t. But I do remember the awe and wonder of being able to enter my credit card details on a website and then have my order delivered to me a few days (or maybe weeks) later. This early form of digital shopping paved the way for what we now call conversational commerce.

Let’s look at the history of e-commerce and the future of generative AI in e-commerce.

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Will Generative AI in e-commerce change shopping forever?

What a crazy idea!

Well, that crazy concept doesn’t seem so crazy anymore. Over the past 25 years, ordering products online and having them delivered has become second nature. Everything from visiting the product homepage, to the product landing page, to the product detail page, to the shopping cart and checkout has remained pretty much the same.

Well, I’m here to tell you that all of that is about to change thanks to our favorite two-letter buzzword — AI.

Historically, AI has been around in e-commerce for a long time—just not in the way we’ve seen it used recently. Google, for example, built its business on search algorithms, which are essentially AI. When you shop online, that storefront personalizes products and recommendations based on who you are, what you like, and what you’ve previously purchased.

Yes, AI in e-commerce is nothing new in the world of online shopping, but the way it is used in the future will fundamentally change the way you and I shop — forever.

Here’s how.

Related Article: Time to Redefine Conversational Commerce

E-commerce: Moving to Conversational Commerce

The days of the traditional e-commerce experience—where you land on a homepage, browse product catalogs, click around a bunch of times, enter your credit card information, and make a purchase—are starting to change. They’re going to shift to what I call “conversational commerce.” (See where I’m going with this?)

We, as humans, crave communication and conversation. A 2023 study detailed how “having one conversation a day with other people increases happiness and reduces stress.” I’m always up for more happiness and less stress, right?

Conversational commerce is a concept where consumers can talk, converse, and describe to a brand what they want, what they’re trying to do, or what’s important to them in order to make a product or service selection that’s specifically tailored to their persona. Similar to some guided sales workflows, like Ikea’s Comfort Guide or MAC’s Lipstick Finder, conversational commerce takes digital guided sales workflows and supercharges them with the introduction of generative AI and decision modeling into the conversational flow.

Conversational commerce is a concept in which consumers can talk, dialogue, and describe to a brand what they want, what they are trying to do, or what is important to them in order to make a product or service selection tailored to their individual preferences.uggguggu on Adobe Stock Photos

Austin AI tech startup Logictry is taking this mindset and implementing it on its platform. Its mission is simple: scaling the world’s wisdom to give everyone the power to choose. Logictry focuses on delivering a guided ordering workflow that takes what Ikea and MAC do to another level. Rather than offering a handful of options to choose from, Logictry aims to make commerce conversational. It focuses on giving consumers the ability to “talk” and “chat” with a brand in human form.

Wait what?

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Generative AI: Redefining Decision-Making in E-Commerce

Logictry has developed a consumer-facing interface where you can ask literally anything. Instead of generative AI simply spitting out an answer, its platform displays various related questions around the initial query to better help you use logic to make a decision.

For example, I asked Logictry what pair of pants would be best for giving a speech. Rather than providing a direct answer, the platform presented a set of questions to help me decide: What is the setting of the speech? What is the vibe? Are there any colors to avoid? How important is it to you that your pants make a fashion statement?

My conversation with Logictry resulted in a selection of recommendations for pant styles and fabrics that would likely work best for my event—one that was unique to me and my question.

What exactly does this mean for the e-commerce world? How will generative AI take over? Are e-commerce sites dead and gone? How can I use generative AI to drive greater brand connection and revenue growth?

Let me answer these questions:

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What does this mean for the world of e-commerce?

This means a lot is going to change. Traditional pages like homepages, product listing pages, and product detail pages will adopt new flows. In the future, the emphasis on natural language and conversational search on e-commerce sites will take center stage. You’ll be able to land on your favorite brand’s pages and “talk” to the brand as you would to a salesperson in a store, using dynamic questions and queries. This means that the way consumers want to shop online will start to change to fit the mold where generative AI works best—conversationally.

You will be able to visit the websites of your favorite brands and “chat” with them as you would with a salesperson in a store, using dynamic questions and queries.Vivid Pixels on Adobe Stock Photos

Related Article: The Importance of Conversational Intelligence for Customer Experience

How will generative AI take over e-commerce?

Look, I’m not here to say that generative AI in e-commerce is going to make us fight the Matrix anytime soon, but I do predict that within the next five years, most of our favorite brands will adopt generative AI in e-commerce as the primary way consumers shop digitally. This will be especially true for products we don’t know much about or items that require a higher level of decision-making. Sure, laundry detergent and toilet paper don’t need generative AI conversations to make purchases, but generative AI in e-commerce can proactively remind you to buy or order for you based on your previous shopping habits.

Related Article: 5 Ways AI Is Changing E-Commerce

Are e-commerce sites dead and gone?

Yes… and no. They will disappear in terms of how consumers navigate them and what they expect from a digital shopping experience. But they won’t disappear. Instead, they will simply evolve into what consumers expect.

Ecommerce sites will always need product detail pages, but how customers find that product detail page will change. Remember, more conversations = more conversions.

How can I use generative AI to increase brand affinity and revenue?

I get asked this question a lot, and my answer is, “It really depends.” It really depends on a lot of things. It depends on how solid your product data and product information is. It depends on how much information and data you have about your customers and their buying journeys. It depends on your current tech stack and marketing roadmap.

But most importantly, it depends on what your consumers want—what problem do you want your brand to solve for them? If you start answering these questions, you’ll start to see the impact it can have on your bottom line and brand connection.

The bottom line is this: When you start incorporating generative AI into your shopping experience, you need to track how customers are responding. Are they buying more or less? Are they coming back more or less? Are they spending more or less? Are they buying new product categories that they haven’t bought before?

Continuously monitoring the key performance indicators (KPIs) for this new form of conversational commerce will help you change direction and course as you get to know your customers and their expectations.

Generative AI: The Deep Dive Begins

The last two years have been filled with a ton of concepts, ideas, and strategies around AI in e-commerce, and while I’ve mostly resisted the urge to write about this space, it’s now become irresistible. Not only will generative AI change the way consumers talk, chat, and convert, but I also believe that brands that use generative AI well will develop a higher level of anthropomorphism between consumer and brand. Ultimately, this will strengthen the bond between the two parties in a humanistic way that we’ve never seen before.

So you have to ask yourself, do you… “take the blue pill, and the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I’ll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

This generative AI rabbit hole is going to go very, very deep, and with that great power comes great responsibility and great opportunity—and as Neo once said, “I don’t know the future. I didn’t come here to tell you how it ends. I came here to tell you how it begins.”

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