Chat Drives Higher Revenue, Better Retention, Aberdeen Finds

Companies that deploy chat in commerce see higher revenue growth, stronger customer retention, reduced service costs, and increased marketing effectiveness, a survey by Aberdeen Research found.

Chat commerce, enabling customers to interact and transact with companies via chat apps, is being adopted globally, led by Asia, Europe, and Africa, and quickly followed by North America, the research showed.

In the global survey, Aberdeen found that at least two-thirds of firms use chat and that those that do achieve superior financial results, including the following:

• 75 percent improvement in annual revenue growth;
• 48 percent bump in customer retention rates;
• 27 percent reduction in service costs; and
• 21 times improvement in marketing ROI.
• 84 percent more positive social media mentions.

Chat also enables companies to more quickly gather and respond to more data and insight into the customer experience. Lack of visibility into customer data was cited by eight in 10 companies as a key challenge, the research shows.

"Chat enables customer-friendly digital transformation, and best practices are applicable in all industries," said Omer Minkara, an Aberdeen vice president and principal analyst, in a statement. "By making digital transformation efforts customer-first not business-first and focused on internal needs, companies will see greater success in satisfying and delighting their customers."

The research also shows that many forms of chat, including WhatsApp, live chat, and mobile in-app messaging, rank high in planned adoption. Forty six percent of businesses have implemented messaging apps or plan to do so in the next 12 months.

The research also found that chat is used daily by eight in 10 adults and became especially critical in the wake of COVID-19, which hastened digital commerce around the world.

For companies looking to use chat, the report outlines the following key first steps:

• Focusing on frequent customer issues;
• Devising metrics to measure success;
• Iterating and improving chat initiatives as you go; and
• Expanding use cases over time.