Many brands in Việt Nam invest to develop commercial conversation to better serve their customers. — Photo courtesy of Infobip

HCM CITY — Brands in Việt Nam and the Asia Pacific region are strongly investing in commercial conversation to improve the customer experience, experts said.

About 77.9 million Vietnamese residents use the Internet out of a total population of 98.5 million as of January 2023, which contributes to the popularity of social networking platforms.

Therefore, the potential for conversational commerce in Việt Nam is incredibly wide.

Telecommunications service providers in the country have used conversational commerce platforms for account notifications and to offer hyper-personalised promotions and discounts to customers.

In addition to Facebook and Instagram, Vietnamese are very active in using communication apps such as Zalo and Viber.

Furthermore, e-commerce is one of the fastest-growing business segments in the country.

Many online retailers in Việt Nam are using conversational AI and chatbots to address customer queries in real time and keep customers apprised of order updates.

For instant messaging, brands use communication platforms as a service (CPaaS) and software as service-based (SaaS) solutions as crucial tools, empowering organisations to seamlessly integrate real-time communication features such as voice, text, video, instant messaging, and social media into their internal and external applications.

Nikhil Batra, Research Director, Telecommunication, IDC Asia/Pacific, stated that contextualised customer interactions boost profitability and foster emotionally fulfilling engagements. The rapidly increasing use of social networks in Việt Nam further fuels businesses' desire to improve customer experience. Investing in conversational commerce will thus help brands grow more quickly.

According to Infobip’s research Revolutionising Customer Experience through the Power of Conversational Commerce, a majority of organisations in the region, about 70 per cent, plan to increase communication platform spending over 2023-24 in order to provide unique, unparalleled customer experiences for the region’s growing social media users, who are mostly young, active, and aware of the power of their own influence.

The research revealed that Asia Pacific companies including those from Việt Nam are increasing investments in cloud-based solutions for enhanced customer experiences and operational efficiencies.

As businesses embrace the potential of conversational commerce, they leverage AI technology to create meaningful connections and unlock new growth opportunities.

"Organisations need an actionable, customer-centric strategy and the ability to invest in the right set of tools to grow their business and keep customers happy, which will empower organisations to stay ahead in a dynamic marketplace,” said Velid Begovic, vice president of Revenue at Infobip.

According to the report, customers born and raised in the digital age have high expectations and carefully evaluate their interactions with brands throughout the buying journey.

This has resulted in brands moving away from traditional transaction-level experiences to relationship-based ones.

Capitalising on the advancements in Artificial Intelligence, conversational commerce has gained significant traction among businesses in the Asia Pacific region.

According to the study, at 74 per cent, the banking, finance and insurance sector leads the industry in increased CpaaS investments in 2023-2024. Retail and government/healthcare come in second and third, at 72 per cent and 66 per cent, respectively. — VNS