According to the figures, the top four messaging apps in the world now claim more active users than the top four social networks. But how are brands using messaging in c-commerce, as the term has been coined, and what do consumers want and expect from this?

It’s a pretty big question. Thankfully, though, boffins at Facebook have commissioned boffins at Boston Consulting Group to do some research. Here’s what they found.

The North America lags behind messaging for c-commerce trends

During the run up to Christmas 2018, two in three people surveyed messaged a business. But that activity isn’t equal across the world. Here’s how different global regions stack up in terms of percentages of messaging app users communicating with brands:

*Asia-Pacific — 63%

*Latin America — 58%

*Europe & Middle East — 42%

*North America — 35%

People primarily want pricing and basic product information

There are numerous reasons consumers are turning to messaging for their e-commerce needs. All boil down to ease of access, but here’s what people involved in the survey were specifically looking for:

45% — Product or pricing information

35% — Instant responses at any time

33% — Ease of shopping

31% — Personalised advice

30% — Bartering and negotiation

Most shoppers plan to increase their spend through messaging

More than 2/3 of those in the survey said they intended to buy and spend more through messaging in the future. To be precise, 67%.

How much they plan to increase that spending by differs from region to region. In India, it’s 84%, Indonesia, meanwhile, sits at 53%.

90% of activity takes place on a Facebook-owned platform

Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram.

The age of C-Commerce has arrived

Facebook’s research has cemented the term ‘c-commerce’ in our minds, for good. This refers to ‘conversational commerce’, named so because it involves online conversations as a means to buy and sell.

According to the study, shoppers buying in this way are reporting increasing levels of satisfaction from their purchasing journey. As a result, they are spending an average of 60% more than those using traditional e-commerce to buy products and services.

Facebook’s advice to brands looking at messaging and c-commerce

Unsurprisingly, Facebook finishes its report with a few handy pointers for brands in terms of messaging and c-commerce.

These include:

*Strategic planning
It’s important to understand how c-commerce can work within the online community already surrounding your brand. Not all consumer demographics are the same, obviously.

*Understand what makes the experience great
We’ve outline some of the perceived benefits of c-commerce in this post, but it’s all about the context of the experiences you offer. By looking at that you can anticipate what will work for your customers, where their demand will be and how to best meet it.

*Build the brand’s messaging experience incrementally
Don’t dive in and try to do everything at once. More than likely you’ll mess some or all of it up. Instead, prioritise functions and the problems you want to answer through messaging apps and get these sorted first. Then move to other ideas that can create a comprehensive brand messaging experience for consumers.

Read the full report here.

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