In fact, a simple, safe payment link within a WhatsApp message could hold the key for many companies.

This is especially for those in financial services struggling with customer conversion, acquisition and even cart abandonment.

According to the report, Chat Commerce is taking the lead when it comes to helping brands convince users to complete customer journeys. In fact, a simple, safe payment link within a WhatsApp message could hold the key for many companies, especially those in financial services, struggling with customer conversion, acquisition and even cart abandonment.

However, the teams responsible for designing and managing those digital channels are feeling the pressure.

"When we surveyed more than 340 senior customer service leaders, it was clear that while the revenue-generating responsibilities of customer service departments have significantly increased, many of their technical capabilities have remained the same," says Werner Lindemann, Clickatell's commercial senior vice president for Growth Markets.

"We believe in-chat payments will give brands the tools they need to address breaks in the customer journey, boosting digital performance as well as topline revenue," Lindemann adds. 

Not all digital channels are created equal

Breaks in the customer journey pose a real challenge for CMOs across all their channels. According to Baymard Institute, nearly 70% of online digital shopping carts are abandoned, adding considerable pressure to organisations relying on their digital platforms to convert leads into sales.

When it comes to other marketing efforts across the customer journey, just 21.5% of email messages sent from brands are opened. However, customers are showing a clear preference to communicate via chat platforms, with research showing that the open rate for SMS messages sits at a significant 98%.

Similarly, while just 3.3% of marketing emails are responded to, 45% of SMS messages receive a response.

"Most consumers quickly lose patience when it comes to call centres and even traditional web interactions and will either hang up or click away when they get frustrated with the process. However, we are all very comfortable with chat as a medium, since we use it many times a day to communicate with family and friends," adds Lindemann.

"Including chat into your customer journey makes great sense — especially when it comes to channels like WhatsApp, used by 95% of local social media users," Lindemann says.

Offering chat payments is the next logical step

Many companies have been successfully using chat as part of their omnichannel offering, and by adding the ability for customers to make payments via chat, they are enabling the last and logical part of a complete customer journey in chat.

Lindeman says, "User behaviour has evolved over the last two years with even inexperienced online shoppers now familiar with new digital payment methods. Taking the next step and allowing your customers to make a payment in a channel they already know and trust makes a huge amount of sense."

"What's more, call centre agents would previously have to hang up and send an email with billing details, leaving it up to the customer to initiate a payment. This clumsy method would often result in customers losing interest, destroying all the marketing efforts that had gone before," Lindeman adds.

Lindemann says that the solution lies in designing and maintaining strong customer journey momentum. He adds that offering a pay-by-link option is proving to be a big success, referencing India's Mswipe, which reported 6 times the growth in pay by link transactions between 2020 and 2021.

Use cases across all verticals

"The use cases for in-chat payments for South African businesses are endless. Utilities could send a WhatsApp message with the details as well as a payment link and customers could safely and quickly make the payment there and then. Professionals requiring a deposit before work commences can now send a WhatsApp with appointment details along with a payment link. As soon as payment is received the appointment is confirmed," adds Lindeman.

Lindemann says that he believes that any retail B2C industry (e.g., retail banking, insurance, retail, telco retail and hospitality and airline retail) in particular has much to gain by making use of Chat Commerce.

When it comes to digital commerce, Lindemann says the immediacy of pay-by-link within chat means brands can capture sales at the moment.

Lindemann adds, "Brands can send a text to customers offering a discount on products they may have left in their carts. And, by including a payment link in the text, customers can immediately take advantage of the deal, making a significant dent in their cart abandonment rate."

"Really, the lists of use cases are endless and given that South Africans already feel safe communicating on WhatsApp, when they see that green tick next to the business account profile, they are sure that it is a verified account and can safely transact," Lindemann concludes.

For more information, visit www.clickatell.com. You can also follow Clickatell on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.