Instagram as powerful D2C channel: Is this the next big wave in social commerce? Expert decodes

The advancements in technology have transformed “Messaging” and “eCommerce”. Messaging channels provide a massive opportunity for brands to reimage Customer Experience. Businesses of all sizes have leveraged Conversational AI to enhance customer engagement, provide customer support & sell directly to customers. Instagram has become a critical channel for many brands to connect with their customers. through multiple avenues like Feed, Stories, Mentions, and DMs.

Speaking on Is Instagram a powerful D2C channel and is this the next big wave in social commerce, Aakrit Vaish, Co-Founder and CEO, Haptik, says, “The goal is to make Instagram a key component of every businesses’ digital transformation strategy. Since the release of Instagram Messenger API for business, it has become easier for brands to connect to their customers in an engaging and fun manner. The Messenger API rollout is truly a game-changer for brands to drive a higher volume of conversations.”

Vaish decodes how an AI-powered Instagram chatbot can help your business unleash the power of Instagram:

Boost Sales

“Instagram chatbots equip brands to show their latest products, promote offers & provide upsell and cross-sell opportunities. You can think of Instagram as an advanced sales agent guiding the customers to make the right choice. This accelerates the customers' decision-making process, improves conversions, and boosts sales,” he said. 

Generate Quality Leads

He further said, “You can save time for your sales reps by nurturing and qualifying leads with AI-powered conversations. Collect basic user details such as email, phone number, and intent of reaching out and seamlessly transfer to a live sales agent when needed in real-time.”

Enhance Customer Service

“Being 24/7 present for your customer is the key to winning their hearts. 90% of customers rate an "immediate" response as necessary, and roughly 50% of them would switch to a new brand after one bad experience. So the stakes are pretty high. With AI chatbots, your brand can respond on one on one basis to thousands of DMs & comments and resolve queries more quickly and efficiently in their preferred language of communication,” he added.

“The chatbots can answer common queries like price, order statuses, cancellations, etc. If a customer query is complex, it can seamlessly escalate to a live agent based on their skill sets and current workload, resulting in faster response, shorter wait times, and higher customer satisfaction.”

Drive Deeper Engagement

Trigger keyword-based conversations

Encourage conversations based on specific keywords to generate user interest. Promote keywords within the caption of your IG post, prompting customers to use them to chat with your brand in DMs and have automated conversation flows to improve engagement & conversions.

Stories

58% of people have become more interested in a brand/product after seeing it in Instagram Stories, so it is an aspect that needs attention. You can train your chatbot to respond if a customer mentions you in their stories. The stories are active only for 24 hours; with the help of a chatbot, your digital marketing team can be responsive to these mentions by automating responses.

Icebreakers

Start a conversation with new and existing users about your products, offers, discounts, and more! Ice breakers within Instagram chatbots are great for showcasing your product catalog and providing quick replies to frequently asked questions such as 'Do you offer free shipping?'

Advertising CTA

50% are more interested in a brand when they see ads on Instagram. So ads play an important role. You can run Ads with a CTA that integrates with the chatbot and opens automated conversation flows. That will help collect the essential customer details and also assist them in getting more information about the product that interests them.

These are a few examples, but brands are exploring innovative ways to use Instagram to strengthen their engagement and increase conversions.

Cart Summary

Collect user preferences and guide users to add the right products to their cart, in the most conversational way. Power up your chat with commerce by automatically fetching order details, and equipping customers to pay using a checkout link, directly on DMs.

Quick Replies

Make it easier for customers to talk to your brand with contextual quick replies. Build powerful automated conversation flows with contextual and well-placed quick replies, ensuring easy flowing conversations and improved user engagement & conversions

Human-agent escalation

Contextual AI to Agent handoff to reduce risk scenarios. Agents get quick access to user history, purchases, loyalty, and more to deliver accurate support and accelerate ‘in-the-moment’ sales.”

Conclusion

“As 130 million Instagram users tap on shopping products every month, there’s a huge opportunity in front of every brand to make Instagram a revenue-generating machine! An Instagram chatbot can be deployed to automate customer interactions. Brands need to embrace Instagram as a key component in the Social Commerce landscape. An AI Instagram chatbot can:

-Provide on-demand support to its customers, which helps to gain customer loyalty and improve retention

-Elevate customer experience by interacting in a quick, personalized manner

-Help in growing business and clock higher sales numbers by guiding customers at each stage without having them wait or consider competition

- Manage multiple conversations without increasing support costs and much more,” he concluded.