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Tag: Vartika Verma

  • One click, big impact: Click-to-WhatsApp ads power India’s small business boom

    One click, big impact: Click-to-WhatsApp ads power India’s small business boom

    Mumbai: Click-to-WhatsApp Ads are reshaping India’s digital marketing landscape, offering small businesses a direct line to engage customers at scale, which has proven particularly valuable in a digitally diversified market like India. This trend has seen significant growth as WhatsApp, with over 500 million users in India, is deeply embedded in the country’s communication culture. From mom-and-pop stores to artisans and niche e-commerce brands, click-to-WhatsApp ads have become a cost-effective, accessible gateway for customer interaction, facilitating direct messages, product inquiries and conversions, making them especially effective during the festive season.

    For India’s small businesses, click-to-WhatsApp ads provide more than just visibility; they offer a real-time conversational channel to drive sales. Many small retailers and artisans operate with limited budgets, and traditional advertising channels often don’t yield the immediate, measurable responses that click-to-WhatsApp ads can generate. Through this format, businesses can engage customers quickly, answer queries, share catalogues, and even process orders within the app. This direct connection has empowered small businesses to extend their reach to new customers and engage returning ones, allowing them to scale operations without heavily investing in elaborate e-commerce setups or dedicated customer service teams.

    The feature has also fostered trust with consumers, as it enables personal, real-time conversations with brands. For businesses, this results in lower customer acquisition costs and better conversion rates, particularly during high-traffic periods like the festive season when consumers are actively seeking personalised products, services and exclusive offers.

    On the question of content that works best in the favour of Click-To-WhatsApp Ads to engage potential customers, White Rivers Media group head – media, Tejas Maha said, “Click-to-WhatsApp Ads work best with clear, personalised, and action-driven content. Messaging that quickly highlights key benefits paired with engaging visuals like images or videos grabs attention fast. Interactive elements like polls or quick-response options invite immediate interaction.”

    As for festive ad spends, he replied, “As festive ad spends increase, brands will double down on digital strategies, with Click-to-WhatsApp Ads leading direct consumer engagement. Personalisation powered by AI and automation will speed up response times, while omnichannel marketing ensures a seamless experience across platforms. This approach has the potential for higher engagement and conversion rates, setting the stage for a more dynamic and responsive digital marketing environment.”

    On the question of challenges, Gupshup senior director- marketing Vartika Verma said, “One of the biggest challenges that marketers face is the lack of or the need for more First-Party Databases. As businesses grow, marketing leaders must look to increase their customer base while also trying to increase return on ad spends. This is where Click-to-WhatsApp comes into play wherein every click on the ad can lead to a conversation on WhatsApp. The two-way conversations on WhatsApp can be automated to qualify and convert leads, with an added advantage of having a 72-hrs retargeting window for CTW Ads.

    To effectively manage the growing volume of inbound customer conversations, brands need an intelligent automation platform to effectively turn conversations into conversions. Gupshup’s Conversation Cloud has rich capabilities such as personalisation and AI-powered conversations that increase the efficiency of Ads that click to WhatsApp.

    To optimise Click-to-WhatsApp ads, we are helping brands create compelling ad campaigns with high quality visuals, concise messaging and a strong call to action. Once the customer enters the chat, brands are bringing in personalization and are leveraging automation to offer immediate responses, collect preliminary data and even guide users through a series of questions to better understand their needs. We’ve also seen brands offer value driven incentives such as exclusive discounts, special offers, which helps accelerate the lead generation process.

    Businesses are leveraging the personalise feature of our platform to tailor their campaigns and conversations based on customer history and real-time actions from their website, app, or any other owned asset. This drives more efficiency and intuitively guides marketers to identify the right audience, who has a higher propensity to respond, and above all what they would be most likely to engage with or buy.”

    For building stronger relationships with customers during major sales events like Diwali or Christmas, she replied, “According to the global “Seasonal Holidays Study” by YouGov, 61 per cent of holiday shoppers say they spend more time online during the holiday season compared to other times. The increased media consumption correlates with intensified shopping activities, such as the discovery and purchase of a wider range of categories.

    Another trend that we observed in 2023 was that holiday shoppers are open to discovering new brands and products online. They enjoy personalised shopping experiences and relevant messaging more than ever.

    Today, customers expect to reach out to brands like they reach out to their friends – on social messaging channels, via natural language input, at their convenience. Ads that Click to WhatsApp layered with automated conversational workflows have been instrumental in sparking that instant conversation that leads to more engagement and conversions.  

    Brands can create festive-themed chatbots that not only provide instant responses but also share personalised product recommendations based on customer preferences and past behaviours. This level of customization helps brands stand out in a crowded marketplace, as customers appreciate the effort made to cater to their individual needs and interests. Moreover, by leveraging WhatsApp’s high engagement rates—where messages boast a 98 per cent open rate—brands can ensure that their festive offers are seen and acted upon promptly.

    Additionally, these Conversational ads enable brands to build anticipation for upcoming sales by sending teasers and exclusive previews of discounts directly to customers’ chats. This approach not only keeps customers informed but also creates excitement around the brand’s offerings. By blending promotional content with engaging interactions, brands can create a memorable shopping experience that goes beyond mere transactions.

    Here are some examples where brands have used Gupshup’s platform to build superior customer experience at a lower cost-

    -An IPL team was able to drive down cost per fan acquisition to 1/4th of traditional ads. They were able to generate 28 per cent more leads as compared to traditional ads.

    -An e-commerce company in India leveraged Ads that Click to WhatsApp to drive app downloads. The company saw 1/10th of the cost per install with gamification.

    -A leading wearables brand created excitement and built first party data prior to product launch and saw 1.6X sign-ups on WhatsApp compared to web forms.

    -A leading home furnishing brand saw 75 per cent reduction in cost per qualified lead compared to traditional digital ads.”

    She again emphasised a bit on challenges before concluding, “For many years, shoppers have allocated a significant portion of their Mega Sales Days budget towards Black Friday and Cyber Monday, particularly in Europe, Middle East, Africa and North America. The trend in India is not very different. Shoppers are spending more time online, discovering new brands, shopping for themselves, and purchasing gifts. Amidst all this, the biggest challenge for marketers is not to only market right but also to stand out from the other advertisers.

    Personalised offers make customers feel valued and increase the likelihood of interaction. Businesses often use Click-to-WhatsApp ads to share exclusive holiday discounts or personalised offers directly with users, addressing them by name and referencing their past interactions or purchases. This targeted approach can drive more engagement, encouraging users to initiate a conversation with the brand.

    To make the most of Ads that Click to Whatsapp, our advice for brands is to test and scale their conversational journeys. By preparing journeys in advance, brands can automate lead qualification, give AI-powered product suggestions, and automatically trigger nudges based on customer activity, such as abandoned carts and more. This not only adds to customer delight but also deflects the workload on human agents.”

    Runway Realty group marketing chief officer Rima Kirtikar said, “For the upcoming festive season, we’re focusing on curating unique experiences in terms of big spike events like Music concerts, stand-up comedy acts & food fest. To name a few – we have Biswa Kalyan Rathi performing on the 13 October, and Masters of Scene performing ABBA TRIBUTE on the 18 October. Seedhe Maut concert – India Tour is on 20th October, we have the Indian navy perform band on 24th October and we close the action-packed October with Bhukkad Flea – Food fest on 26 & 27 October. In addition to the above, we have Diwali décor coming up by mid-October which will form a lovely backdrop to all the social pictures. There will be an array of engagement options and workshops for all our visitors. Our aim is to provide a holistic shopping experience that captures the festive spirit while offering a wide range of choices.

    This year, we’ve noticed a shift in consumer behavior where shoppers are more inclined towards premium products and experiences. There’s also a growing interest in sustainable and locally-sourced products, which we are actively supporting by offering a selection of such brands in our stores.

    She further stated on how R-City supports its retail partners in maximizing sales and creating festive offers to which she said, “At R-City, we are deeply committed to supporting our retail partners in maximizing their sales, especially during the festive season. To enhance their reach, we are rolling out high-impact pan-Mumbai print advertisements along with dynamic digital campaigns that aim to drive footfall from across the city. Additionally, the exciting lineup of events we have planned will attract customers from all corners of Mumbai to the mall.

    We are actively encouraging our brands to focus on creating memorable festive experiences for customers. While they work on offering attractive discounts, promotions, and gratification, we are collaborating with them on joint marketing initiatives. These include customized promotions and prime space allocations for festive product displays, ensuring that our brands connect with the right audiences and see a significant boost in sales this festive season.”

    On leveraging technology and digital platforms to enhance the festive shopping experience, she concluded by saying, “At R-City, we recognize the importance of technology in enhancing the customer experience, especially during the festive season. While our primary focus remains on creating vibrant, on-ground experiences at the mall, we are also leveraging digital platforms to keep our customers informed and engaged. Through targeted digital campaigns, social media interactions, and online festive offers, we are connecting with our audience to ensure they stay updated about the exciting promotions and events happening at the mall. This approach keeps the focus on your existing efforts while acknowledging the role of digital platforms.”

  • Gupshup is a strategic partner for Meta and works together on a host of joint GTM programs: Vartika Verma

    Gupshup is a strategic partner for Meta and works together on a host of joint GTM programs: Vartika Verma

    Mumbai: Gupshup has launched its first brand film, Do More with Conversations as part of its #EveryConversationMatters Campaign. The film was conceptualized by Gupshup and produced in collaboration with Meta and SisterWolf Studios.

    The campaign features a brand film and a multi-city customer event series titled “Gupshup Conversations,” spanning Jakarta, Dubai, New Delhi, Brazil, and Mexico. The film, set against diverse global landscapes, features individuals from various walks of life interacting, showcasing the universal language of conversations. The film will be available for viewing on Gupshup’s YouTube channel, with its reach extended through social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X.

    With an orchestral soundtrack, the film captures heartfelt conversations between friends, families, and colleagues, and pans to inspirational speeches that move humankind forward. The visuals gradually transition into featuring more business-to-consumer interactions. A powerful voice-over emphasizes the pivotal role of conversations in sparking innovation and driving business growth. The film creatively juxtaposes in-person interactions with brands engaging customers via chatbots, demonstrating how Gupshup’s Conversation Cloud facilitates human-like interactions across the customer lifecycle.

    Earlier this year, Gusphup made a splash with its Conversation Cloud launch featured on the NASDAQ tower. This was followed by a revamped website design and a new brand messaging that reinforced the importance of two-way communication for brands.

    Indiantelevision.com caught up with Vartika Verma, Senior Director, Global Marketing, Gupshup senior director, global marketing, Vartika Verma, where she gave deeper insights on the campaign and many moree…

    Edited excerpts

    On the collaboration with Meta and SisterWolf Studios

    Gupshup is a strategic partner for Meta and works together on a host of joint GTM programs. The collaboration on the film is one of the many initiatives that Meta and Gupshup drive jointly. While the script was built by Gupshup, the production was done hand-in-hand with Meta and their preferred film-partner, SisterWolf Studios in LA, USA.

    On the campaign catering to different cultural contexts in diverse markets like Jakarta, Dubai, New Delhi, Brazil, and Mexico

    Gupshup’s customer base spans India, APAC, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, China, Europe, and the USA. The film endeavors to capture the diverse demographics of both our customers and their end users. Centered around the theme “Every Conversation Matters,” the film illustrates how conversations drive growth across various use cases—acquisition, engagement, conversion, and customer care—across different regions. Additionally, the film will be translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and Bahasa to reach a broader audience.

    On the decision to use various social media platforms (YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X) for the campaign’s distribution

    Gupshup, as a digital-first enterprise, empowers businesses to embrace conversational digital strategies to drive growth. Given that a significant portion of our audience engages with us frequently on social media and through byte-sized WhatsApp newsletters, it was only natural for us to leverage digital platforms for the distribution of our film.

    On the modules—Converse, Advertise, and Communicate—working together to enhance customer interactions and business outcomes

    Converse, Advertise, and Communicate are three key modules of Gupshup’s Conversation Cloud which enable brands to capture the entire customer journey right from awareness to support on messaging channels.

    Communicate is our high-scale smart CPaaS solution which is leveraged by brands to send personalized messages – at scale, across multiple channels such as WhatsApp, RCS, SMS, and more. And every message sent is an opportunity to weave a conversation to engage with the customers deeper. That’s where our suite of modules under the Converse product comes to life. With intuitive Journey Builder, Campaign Manager, Agent Assist, and Catalogs and Payments, Converse allows brands to build immersive two-way conversational experiences for several use cases across marketing, commerce, and support.

    The Advertise module supports brands by helping them build their first-party database of consented users via Click to WhatsApp and Click to Instagram ads. The modules leverage advanced no-code tools, conversational customer data platforms, and AI-powered automation to build engaging two-way conversational journeys, to acquire, qualify and sell to prospects.

    On Gupshup making  a significant branding effort with the NASDAQ tower feature and website revamp earlier this year.

    The launch of Gupshup Conversation Cloud is a part of our effort to stake our leadership position in Conversational CX, on a global scale.

    We have an expanding global customer base, and some of the biggest brands are starting to adopt Gupshup as their global platform for conversational CX.

    Some of our key customers leveraging Gupshup Conversation Cloud in India include IDFC Bank, Canara Bank, Tata Capital, MPL, Flipkart, Cars24, and global brands such as Loreal, ADCB, Carso, Carrefour and more.

    On ensuring the human-like quality of chatbot interactions

    The great thing about Gupshup’s AI chatbots (built through our ACE LLM), which are based on the most advanced Generative AI LLMs, is that they are contextually aware and capable of engaging in human-like conversations. This capability gets further enhanced with fine-tuning which is retraining the foundational LLM on domain-specific knowledge, vocabulary, and insights. Our deep domain expertise from years of experience working with companies in numerous verticals such as banking, insurance, e-commerce, retail, gaming, and healthcare means that we already have a huge repository of conversational datasets to train these models. Apart from learning from the past customer interactions, the model is well-equipped to learn on the go from customer responses and adapt itself accordingly.

    On your personal goals for Gupshup’s brand and marketing initiatives over the coming years

    My objectives are centered on advancing both the brand and demand for Gupshup on a global scale.

    From a branding perspective, our name, “Gupshup,” translates to “Conversations” in Hindi. My vision is to establish Gupshup as synonymous with Conversations on the Internet, akin to how certain companies have become synonymous with Search, Payments, and Photocopying.

    On the demand side, there is a growing momentum driving brands towards conversational interactions. The shift from humans adapting to machine behavior to machines learning to emulate human interaction marks an irreversible trend. Increasingly, people prefer to accomplish tasks through conversation. We foresee a future where brands operate their core workflows via conversational interfaces at the front end, powered by AI at the back end.

    With the proliferation of internet-enabled smartphones and messaging apps, brands are finding it more efficient to acquire, engage, and support customers on platforms like WhatsApp, RCS, and Instagram. My goal is to cultivate and nurture such Conversational Brands worldwide, supported by an integrated demand generation engine.

  • Gupshup launches debut brand film as part of #EveryConversationMatters campaign

    Gupshup launches debut brand film as part of #EveryConversationMatters campaign

    Mumbai: Gupshup, the leading Conversation Cloud platform, today launched its first brand film, Do More with Conversations as part of its #EveryConversationMatters Campaign. Celebrating the profound impact of conversations in all aspects of life, the film reaffirms Gupshup’s mission to revolutionize how brands engage with their customers. The film was conceptualized by Gupshup and produced in collaboration with Meta and SisterWolf Studios.

    The campaign features a compelling brand film and a multi-city customer event series titled “Gupshup Conversations,” spanning Jakarta, Dubai, New Delhi, Brazil, and Mexico. The film, set against diverse global landscapes, features individuals from various walks of life interacting, showcasing the universal language of conversations. The film will be available for viewing on Gupshup’s YouTube channel, with its reach extended through social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X.

    With a stirring orchestral soundtrack, the film captures heartfelt conversations between friends, families, and colleagues, and pans to inspirational speeches that move humankind forward. The visuals gradually transition into featuring more business-to-consumer interactions. A powerful voice-over emphasizes the pivotal role of conversations in sparking innovation and driving business growth. The film creatively juxtaposes in-person interactions with brands engaging customers via chatbots, demonstrating how Gupshup’s Conversation Cloud facilitates human-like interactions across the customer lifecycle.

    “We are excited to share our campaign and the film with the world, highlighting the essence of conversations. As portrayed in the brand film, conversations build trust, break barriers, spark ideas, and drive innovation. And every conversation matters! This central theme resonates with our unwavering commitment to revolutionizing customer experiences through meaningful conversations. With Gupshup’s Conversation Cloud, we empower brands to craft rich, personalized interactions that not only enhance customer experience but also deliver substantial ROI at reduced costs.” said Gupshup senior director of marketing Vartika Verma.

    Earlier this year, Gusphup made a branding splash with its Conversation Cloud launch featured on the NASDAQ tower. This was followed by a revamped website design and a new brand messaging that reinforced the importance of two-way communication for brands.

    Gupshup’s Conversation Cloud is a suite of AI-powered SaaS tools that empower businesses to create powerful chatbots that boost customer acquisition and engagement and offer intelligent support. With three key modules—Converse, Advertise, and Communicate—it revolutionizes business-to-customer engagement, driving substantial ROI improvements across channels like WhatsApp, RCS, and Instagram to name a few.