First coined by Uber’s director of experience Chris Messina, the term describes the utilisation of “chat, messaging, or other natural language interfaces (i.e. voice) to interact with people, brands, or services and bots that heretofore have had no real place in the bidirectional, asynchronous messaging context”.

Put simply: we all text more than ever before so why not expand texting capabilities to sending payments, buying products, ordering on-demand services, paying bills, and more?

What are the benefits of conversational commerce?

• Companies can use natural language to manage and respond to customer queries.
• Messaging services have been around for years, so it is likely that most people know how to use a messaging platform. This, in turn, makes for a better user experience.
• Conversational commerce takes place on digital channels (texting, web chat, messaging apps) which results in more accessible, editable transcripts of the conversations had.
• Rather than having to switch to a web page to complete a transaction, conversational commerce will let you transact right inside the messaging interface. This allows for a smoother, more effortless customer experience.
• Alongside texting, mobile apps, web chat and voice, you can also have artificial intelligence-powered interactions like with IBM Watson.

Having established the reasons why companies are harnessing the capabilities of conversational commerce. Here are 7 Shopify apps that you can implement today to get you started.

1. WhatShare

WhatShare is the simplest way to include a WhatsApp share button in your storefront. Customisation is easy and can be done through the theme editor, so no coding skills are needed.

WhatsApp has been cited as the the most popular global mobile messenger app as of January 2016. Unlike public social channels such as Facebook, the private nature of WhatsApp makes it easier to create personal product or content recommendations to its recipient.

It is unsurprising that big players like Buzzfeed are getting onboard, having recently introduced the ability to share their articles direct to WhatsApp. WhatShare allows your visitors to do exactly the same with your products and content.

Price: Free

What are the benefits?

• The sharing tool that has the highest conversion rate.
• Easily customisable and no coding skills are needed.
• You can track the products or pages that are getting the most shares.

2. Quick Facebook Live Chat

Quick Facebook Live Chat allows you to power your stores live chat through Facebook Messenger. You are able to answer customer questions and consolidate your conversations through your Facebook Business Page.

Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms with over 73% of shoppers frequently active on the site. Quick Facebook Live Chat now gives businesses the opportunity to leverage their own Facebook account and make a better, more personable customer support channel.

Price: Free

What are the benefits?

• On-site customer support.
• Very easy to install with no coding required.
• Your Facebook inbox will record all conversations so you can follow up anytime and anywhere.
• View customers’ Facebook profiles and personalise your messages to them.
• Chat is easily accessible on mobile.

3. Zendesk

Zendesk is one of the most popular customer service platforms. It is one of a few that allows you to fire through customer support tickets on the go with the help of a mobile app.

Not only can you support customers via multiple channels (email, phone, chat, Twitter, Facebook) but you can also solve their tickets faster with the help of Shopify data, which you can access straight from a Zendesk ticket.

Price: $5 per month

What are the benefits?

• Solve customer service tickets faster by having access to relevant customer data, such as billing, shipping, and order information direct from Shopify.
• Compatible with a variety of devices.
• Enables your customers to get in touch with your support team quickly.
• Consolidates tickets from a variety of channels.

4. Shopkey

Shopkey by Shopify can put your entire product catalogue directly in to your keyboard. It is currently only available on iOS but with the same ease as adding an emoji to your keyboard you can add product links. Great for when you're having direct conversations with your customers.

With Shopkey you can easily access your Shopify store across all of your favorite social media and messaging platforms. Share popular product links and images on the go, or search your store to find the exact products your customers are looking for.

Price: Free

What are the benefits?

• Quickly send links for any product in your store.
• Paste product images into any conversation.
• Search your entire catalog directly from your keyboard.
• Talk and sell to customers in all of your favorite messaging and social apps.

5. Kit

Sales and customer service aren't the only parts of business you can streamline by embracing messenger apps. Similar to Siri and Google Now, Kit is a service that offers assistance around your digital marketing activities from email marketing to Facebook advertising, all through the use of SMS.

Kit is extremely innovative and keeps up to date with the latest Facebook marketing strategies so you don't have to. It will take care of your advertising needs and allows you to reinvest that time in to other parts of your business.

Price: $10 per month

What are the benefits?

• Gives you the freedom to focus on other aspects of your business.
• Automatically imports customer data and sales history to create targeted and retargeted Facebook ads.
• Handles all of your marketing needs with a simple text message.
• Integrates with other marketing apps.

6. Tidio

If you've previously implemented live chat on your store and have found customers just aren't using it, Tidio is option to help you change that.

Tidio's technology emulates the experience of physically walking into a bricks and mortar store. From that first point of contact, an entire sales conversation opens up where you can handle objections, recommend products and make the sale.

Price: Free - $12 per month

What are the benefits?

• Easily integrate chat with your website and no registration is necessary.
• The mobile app ensure you stay connected to your customers at all times.
• Increase sales with improved communication with your clients.
• Multi-language support ensures the chat is displayed in the language of your users.

7. Zopim

Companies that interact with customers online are better placed to build better relationships and increase their revenues. The Zopim live chat app will let you answer your customer’s questions in real time and ease them into a purchase.

With Zopim Live Chat, those who visit your website will be able to chat directly with you through a widget and you can manage multiple conversations through an online dashboard.

Price: Free - $20 per month

What are the benefits?

• Increase sales conversions and customer satisfaction.
• Fast and easy setup.
• Chat with customers from any browser.
• A user friendly dashboard lets you monitor visitor activity and manage chats.
• Customers can chat with you from any device using the mobile optimized chat widget.

A forward-thinking business must try to establish a presence wherever their customers congregate, and in this day and age that's messaging apps.

Unlike social networks, messaging apps are a place for people to engage with their closest connections. Therefore, the natural next step for companies is to engage with their audience in the same environment their personal conversations take place. Ultimately, allowing customers to make their decision without leaving the context they are made in.