Industry snapshot

Conversational retail

Conversational retail is growing fast. Brands are using chatbots and voice assistants to make shopping faster, easier, and more personalized. Customers can even complete an entire end-to-end transaction without leaving the chat window on their phone.

With Brazil being one of the countries where Meta is trialing WhatsApp Payments, we are seeing huge interest from our customers in the region. We already have two customers live, and several more who are well advanced in their deployments, including one of the most recognizable fast-food brands in the world. Watch this space.

In our analysis of 2024’s sale season messaging interactions, we saw two major trends gain momentum.

• Firstly, many brands with both physical and online presence are focusing more on online sales. This makes their supply chain more efficient and avoids overcrowding and chaos in store. And it seems that shoppers are more than happy to bag a bargain from the comfort of their homes.
• We are seeing both an Eastward and Westward migration of retail trends. Concepts like Black Friday and Cyber Monday that started in the United States are gaining popularity in APAC and other Eastern markets with local retailers putting a local spin on the event. At the same time, huge retail brands from the East like Temu are grabbing market share in Western countries, bringing with them retail practices like app-purchase coupons and gamification that are common in the East.    

The fashion and accessory sector is leading the way in designing customer experiences that satisfy younger generations’ need for speed.

These include:

• Making it simple and quick for people to find the products they are looking for.
• Using data to make personalized suggestions and offer alternatives.
  Ensuring that the checkout process is as fast and frictionless as possible.
• Next day or even same day delivery is becoming the norm, with hyper accurate notifications to keep excited shoppers informed.

Telcos becoming tech enablers

Telcos are no longer just connectivity providers – they are evolving into CPaaS and SaaS enablers, offering messaging APIs, authentication, security solutions, and advanced monetization models. We have been hearing the phrase ‘from telco to techco’ more and more, and it rings true.

We are seeing Telcos starting to leverage one of their most potent assets – Network APIs. These can support an array of revenue generating use cases from authentication to number checks and location verification.

One of the most interesting areas of expansion for network APIs is to bundle with RCS to enable silent user verification or SIM swap checks using RCS as an additional security layer.

The shift towards rich, interactive messaging is accelerating – with RCS now available on iOS, and enterprises investing in verified, branded customer interactions.

This trend gives telcos a generational opportunity to diversify their offerings and open up extensive new revenue generating opportunities.

As a telco-native channel, by supporting RCS telcos can benefit their own messaging and sell to their enterprise clients.

Conversational banking gains acceptance

If you want to check your bank account balance or pay a bill, what could be simpler than simply asking a chatbot on your phone to do it for you.

For customers used to extensive login processes and security questions on the web, it almost seems too good to be true. That slight mistrust has held back the expansion of conversational banking for generations above Gen Z – with younger people far more comfortable banking on their phones.

We are seeing this change as people gain a better understanding of how mobile phones and chat apps can actually improve the security of financial transactions by leaning on the native security features of every smart phone and the built-in encryption of chat apps like WhatsApp.

We are seeing banks and financial institutions making significant progress in adopting chat apps for their customer communication and leveraging AI to improve customer experience and improve the efficiency of their workflows.

In the AI Hub section, we talk about how it is the Finance and Insurance sectors that are rolling out the most sophisticated use cases and generating the highest volume of transactions.

We are also seeing a trend for banks to adopt the digital messaging channels that are popular in their region so that customers can communicate on the channels that they feel most comfortable with.

Neobanks and mobile finance apps have continued to grow their customer bases exponentially and have gained further acceptance in the industry as viable and dependable options – both for people unable to reach physical branches and those that prefer to do their banking in the safe and familiar surroundings of home.

By operating entirely online, they allow customers to open accounts, make transactions, and access customer service all through a mobile app or website.

These institutions can more easily benefit from AI to enhance their services and are leading the industry in exploring more advanced use cases.  

Preventative health campaigns

Promotion of healthy lifestyles and the prevention of illness is a fundamental principle of effective public health strategies.

We are seeing chatbots increasingly being used in preventative health to educate and enhance patient engagement and access to care.

For example:

• Education: Chatbots can provide information about preventive health measures, such as the importance of vaccinations, regular screenings, and healthy lifestyle choices.
• Appointment management: Chatbots can help patients schedule appointments for check-ups, immunizations, and screenings. They can also send reminders to ensure patients don’t miss their appointments.
• Risk assessments: By asking patients a series of questions, chatbots can assess their risk of certain conditions and recommend appropriate preventive measures. This can include lifestyle changes or scheduling specific screenings.
• Monitoring and follow-up: After a preventive service, chatbots can follow up with patients to monitor their health and ensure they are adhering to recommended guidelines. This helps in maintaining long-term health and preventing complications.   

Securing guest connections

When people are away from the familiar surroundings of home, they should still feel safe and secure, and this should also apply to their communication.

The travel and hospitality industry needs to provide a convenient 24/7 service but must also guarantee the privacy and security of guests and customers at all times.

One common frustration for travelers is the difficulty of getting in touch with travel or accommodation providers when their plans are disrupted. Waiting for an extended period on hold to talk to a remote call center agent when they are already running late is frustrating – even more so if they are in a noisy airport terminal or have patchy mobile signal.

A far better customer experience would be to send a message from their phone and then get automatically authenticated and connected to someone that can help.

One of our customers, Vecindapp, who specialize in digitizing communication within residential communities to enhance the safety and connectivity of residents has solved this problem in a creative and effective way.

If a resident wants to get in touch, they simply send a WhatsApp or SMS messages to the digital concierge. Through an integration with our Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) solution they are sent a link in return which they can use to initiate a voice call directly with front desk staff over a secure and private connection.

When staff need to communicate with a resident they can connect with them via a secure app, without the person’s number, or any other private information being exposed.

Solutions like this are now easily accessible to the travel and hospitality industry and have the potential to make travel a far more secure and convenient experience.

Read the full customer story below:

Hospitality provides ideal use cases for AI

We are seeing the travel and hospitality industry leading the way in rolling out chatbots and agentic AI that really helps to make the travel experience easier and more convenient. Use cases include:

• Booking assistance: Helping guests make room reservations, check availability, and provide information about rates and promotions.
• Answering common questions: Providing details about hotel amenities, policies, local attractions, dining options, and other relevant information.
• Room and concierge services: Facilitating requests for room service, housekeeping, transportation arrangements, restaurant reservations, and other guest services.
• Check-in and check-out procedures: Assisting guests with online check-in, providing digital room keys, and facilitating the check-out process.

Rich messaging becoming a key differentiator for airlines

Anyone who travels regularly will know that good and accurate communication is one of the reasons that they choose one airline over another. From having a choice of options for receiving tickets, to hyper accurate service updates, and even a handy message to remind you of your gate number when its time to board.

For example, we have worked with our long-standing customer AirAsia to transition from basic text SMS and email notifications to more sophisticated rich media messages, including hyperlinked SMS alerts that connect to chatbots and interactive HTML emails.

These enable a two-way dialogue between the airline and customers from the first moment when a discounted flight offer lands in their inbox to when they are at the departure gate ready to leave on the trip of a lifetime.