Rethinking Conversational Commerce: Removing the Obstacles

My brother in law lives on a lake. He told me a story where one summer the residents who lived on the lake were concerned about the low level of water. They knew this would impact their ability to boat and fish on the lake so they decided to go upstream to see what was happening.

Along the way, they found fallen trees and debris creating small dams and pools, thus blocking the water from coming downstream. They found this multiple times and then worked to remove them and the problem with the water level resolved itself over time.

This brought up conversations with the PCG Digital team and some of our clients. Marketing is upstream from the dealers CRMs where customers look to connect with the staff. The website is one of the main ways customers flow through to the staff, but also it can contain many obstacles creating customer defection or frustration.

I have written and spoken about this topic over the last 5-6 years, yet we still find dealers frustrated at the lack of opportunities generated by my marketing efforts.

For years, the success of many marketing campaigns has been measured by the number of “leads” a company received. A “lead” is typically generated when a consumer fills out a website form online to connect with the dealership, creating opportunities for sales teams to follow up and engage the consumer

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However, despite their significance, many dealerships or businesses overlook the potential revenue and sales opportunities lost due to obstacles consumers encounter on these forms. Abandoned forms, caused by user frustration, technical glitches, or an over-complicated process, lead to significant missed opportunities. Customers often leave without submitting their information, and businesses often fail to effectively re-engage these potential buyers.

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One of the most common examples to show this type of? abandonment is Dealership websites frequently use phrases like "Check Availability" or "Get E-Price," on website buttons, leading consumers to believe they will receive immediate answers. When faced with a form instead, many users abandon the process entirely.

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The key question is how the dealership and their marketing partners are using data from GA4 analytics to see this potential obstacle. For example, a company may receive 100 leads from a form, which may be viewed as a positive outcome. However, event analytics might show that another 600-700 consumers clicked the button but didn’t complete the form—revealing a significant "delta" of lost opportunities.

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According to industry data, 81% of people have abandoned a form after starting to fill it out, and 67% of site visitors will abandon a form forever if they encounter any complications (The Manifest).

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This highlights the importance of making sure your website is properly tagged to track these event interactions through analytics to uncover why customers are leaving. By setting up analytics events to track website activity—such as form button clicks, form abandonment, and specific actions customers take—you can pinpoint where and why customers are defecting.

My brother Brian Pasch has led the charge to simplify tracking through the Automotive Standards Council with the help of many vendor partners who are looking to share this type of information so dealers can make better decisions.

Another common reason for form abandonment still is the complexity of the forms themselves. Forms that require too much information or have too many fields can quickly overwhelm users, leading to frustration and drop-off. I am happy to see many trade tools have moved to asking for license plate instead of just the VIN (vehicle identification number) but still requiring both phone and email may push individuals away.

Another example is when the button says "Get Trade Value" but the form asks multiple questions about future purchase intentions before giving the trade value, customers often quit. To reduce this drop-off, forms should be kept as simple and concise as possible, asking only for the most essential information.

Back to our example above, if 600 potential customers clicked a call-to-action button but did not fill out the form, this is a strong indicator that something in the process—whether it's the complexity of the form, unclear messaging, or technical issues—needs attention. Armed with this data, businesses can make strategic improvements, such as optimizing button text, simplifying the form, or adding more engaging content to keep users interested.

By leveraging analytics, businesses can gain deeper insights into where and why customers are dropping off before reaching the form submission stage. It’s not just about the number of leads received but also about identifying the customers who attempted to engage but were discouraged by unnecessary friction in the experience.?

Real-time engagement is the area where businesses can minimize drop-offs. I have helped stores implement conversational commerce, or chat commerce, so they can interact with customers in real time. This approach uses messaging apps, chatbots, and live chat to facilitate more seamless customer interactions. Instead of filling out a form and waiting for a follow-up, customers can immediately engage with a chatbot or live employee who can answer their questions or help them move through the purchase process. This real-time interaction not only helps businesses begin conversations at the time when the customer wants versus chasing them after the fact.

The benefits of conversational commerce are clear—improved customer engagement and experience

The benefits of conversational commerce are clear—improved customer engagement, higher sales conversion rates, and increased customer satisfaction. Many dealerships have already begun implementing this approach, and it's proving to be superior in several ways. It allows businesses to provide instant value to customers while addressing any concerns or questions in real time. However, adopting conversational commerce requires proper planning and the allocation of resources to ensure that staff are prepared and available to meet customer needs on demand.

Ultimately, businesses that pay close attention to data from abandoned forms and analytics events can make smarter decisions about how to improve their website and customer engagement strategy. By simplifying forms, optimizing for mobile, and utilizing conversational commerce, dealerships and other businesses can increase their chances of generating leads and converting more customers.

Just as my brother-in-law took the time to discover the answers to his water problem and go upstream to fix it, so should leaders take the time to make sure nothing is pushing customers away, and all obstacles are removed in order to maximize connections and opportunities.

Join me at the Modern Retailing Conference. I will be hosting and speaking along with my brother Brian Pasch, MA and a host of top industry experts. This event is not to be missed. Get your tickets today https://bit.ly/4d4tGp7