45 Ecommerce Chat Marketing Statistics That Matter In 2021
6 min read

45 Ecommerce Chat Marketing Statistics That Matter In 2021

Here's a roundup of 45 chat marketing and other related statistics essential to setting up a sustainable ecommerce messaging strategy in 2021.
45 Ecommerce Chat Marketing Statistics That Matter In 2021

The ecommerce messaging space is evolving fast. Instant messaging, email marketing, push notifications, and SMS can all help you grow your business.

But which channels should you invest in? We dove into some ecommerce chat marketing statistics to help you make an informed decision.

What we found? Well, the numbers don’t lie...

Here are 45 chat marketing and other related statistics essential to setting up a sustainable ecommerce messaging strategy in 2021 👇

Table of contents

Chat marketing statistics
Messaging app usage
Omnichannel marketing and CX statistics
Email vs. instant messaging statistics
SMS marketing statistics
Push notification statistics
Back in stock notification statistics
Cart recovery statistics

Chat marketing statistics

Chat marketing means using messaging apps to engage your customers directly and build your brand. Also sometimes referred to as conversational marketing, it’s using chat conversations for brand-customer interaction to create personalized, one-on-one experiences.

What-is-chat-marketing-visualx2
Example of chat marketing

Here’s why you should be marketing to your ecommerce customers using messaging and chat apps:

  • 65% of people surveyed globally say they are more likely to shop with a business they can contact via a chat app
  • 61% of people say messaging is the easiest, most convenient way to contact a business
  • 63% of people across generations prefer to message than call or email
  • More than 1 in 2 people say messaging a business makes them feel more personally connected to a brand
  • Chat marketing gets you 5x more clicks than email
  • Customers who chat with a brand convert 3 times more often
  • Customers who chat with a brand have a 10-15% higher average cart value (AVC)

Messaging app usage

When it comes to messaging apps, which app is preferred varies strongly per region. This means it’s very important you know who your customers are. Even different age groups prefer different messaging apps, so check your audience thoroughly before deciding on a messaging strategy.

This goes for any of your marketing campaigns, of course. So keep your CRM up to date and draw your conclusions accordingly. Here’s some information on usage of the world’s three most popular messaging apps:

  • WhatsApp is most commonly used in most Western & Central Europe, Russia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central & South America, Canada, India & Saudi Arabia.
  • Facebook Messenger is the most popular in the US, North Africa, Greenland, and Australia.
  • WeChat dominates China.

Monthly active users in millions (top 3 global)

  • WhatsApp: 2000
  • Messenger: 1300
  • WeChat: 1098

Makes sense to consider setting up WhatsApp marketing campaigns for your business, right?

Top-Messenger-Apps-Around-The-World
Source: We Are Social


Omnichannel marketing and customer experience (CX) statistics

Optimizing your customer experience (CX) should be one of your main ecommerce business goals. CX is quickly becoming one of the main brand differentiators, even more important than price and product quality.

Basically, a bad CX is going to make you lose both customers and revenue. Make sure your messaging is timely, relevant and delivered through the right channel at the right. A solid omnichannel approach to marketing will keep your customers happy and coming back for more.

Consider the following the omnichannel and CX statistics:

  • Purchase rate of using 3+ channels is 287% higher than single-channel campaigns
  • 73% of customers point to customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions, behind price and product quality

Single_vs_Several_channels
Source: Omnisend


Email vs. instant messaging statistics

Email marketing is far from dead, and essential to driving revenue for ecommerce businesses. However, open rates have been on the decline for a while. And a lot of your emails end up in promotions or spam folders.

Instant messaging outperforms email at every benchmark. Which is not to say you should stop sending emails altogether. In 2021, you’re best off combining email and chat marketing. As long as the two don’t conflict, of course. That would lead to a poor customer experience, and hurt your business in the long run.

Here are some comparative statistics for email and instant messaging:

  • Average email open rate: 21.8% meaning almost 78% of people are not interested in opening emails by brands
  • The average office worker receives 121 emails per day
  • 49.7% of all email is spam
  • The average response time for email is 90 minutes
  • The average response time for instant messages is 90 seconds
  • Case study: same campaign sent on email vs. Messenger: Messenger had 12x CTR and nearly 98% open rate
  • 80% of entrepreneurs use messaging for business purposes

SMS marketing statistics

Another direct channel you should consider adding to your messaging stack is text or SMS. Text messaging is specifically well-suited to transactional messages like shipment updates and payment reminders.

However, the demographics of your audience play a large role in whether or not SMS marketing works for your ecommerce business. Local governments and telecom providers operate according to varied regulations.

If the US is your target market, for instance, you’re only dealing with one set of rules and regulations. In the EU, on the other hand, a variety of country codes and regulations makes matters somewhat more complicated.

Nevertheless, the numbers don’t lie, and SMS marketing can be hugely beneficial to your business:

  • Gartner: SMS open and respond rates: 98% and 45%
  • Versus email open and respond rates: 21.8% and 6%
  • SMS marketing coupons are 10 times more likely to be redeemed and shared than mail and newspaper coupons
  • 75% of millennials say the most helpful messages they receive are appointments, delivery, payment reminders, surveys & promotions.

Push notification statistics

Another messaging channel worth exploring is push notifications. If done right, this can be a great way to contact your customers about things like price drops, sale alerts, and other timely notifications.

Be careful though! Push notifications can easily be seen as disruptive and annoying. Frequency and segmentation are essential to a good push notification strategy. Opt-in rates are quite high, just try not to alienate your customers with a bunch of push notification spam.

Here’s the rundown on statistics for push notification marketing:  

  • Ecommerce push notification opt-in rates: 68%
  • Average ecommerce push notification reaction rate: 7.9%
  • 25% ecommerce push notifications are used for price drops
  • 83.3% of ecommerce push notifications are used for new offers or discounts
  • 31.37% of users do NOT like getting updates through push notifications
  • 50.42% of users DO like getting updates through push notifications IF they get to choose which app or website can send them

Back in stock notification statistics

Especially during seasonal online shopping sprees like BFCM, you run the risk of running out of stock. This can be detrimental to your business, as shoppers might look elsewhere to buy the product they’re looking for.

Back-in-stock-notifications-visual

Letting customers sign up for back in stock notifications lets you drive them back to your store the moment you restock. Recovering those otherwise lost sales are a great way to increase your revenue and build brand loyalty.

Here’s why that’s important for your business:  

  • Average sale losses globally due to products out of stock: 4%
  • 37% of consumers are ready to buy from another brand
  • Back in stock notifications drive over 50% of customers back to your store
  • Back in stock notifications triple your sales

Cart recovery statistics

Cart abandonment is still a very real issue for a lot of online stores. These customers are on the verge of making a purchase, and the order value of abandoned carts is higher than average. Recover this otherwise lost revenue with abandoned cart recovery messages.

You’re going to want to send these messages in the first 24 hours of cart abandonment. Remind potential customers while your products are still top of mind. This increases conversion rates considerably.

Here’s how much you stand to gain from cart recovery messages on email or chat apps:

  • Average cart abandonment rate: 88.05%
  • The average order value (AOV) of purchases from cart abandonment emails is 14.2% higher than typical purchases
  • 54% of shoppers will purchase products left in their cart, if those products are offered at a lower price
  • Email open rate (cart recovery): 40%
  • Messenger open rate: over 85% (+45%)
  • Click rate email: 8%
  • Click rate Messenger: 56% (+48%)
  • 1/10 abandoned cart emails lead to a purchase
  • Abandoned cart reminders on Messenger convert 33% more often
Email-vs-instant-messaging-open-rates

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