Messaging platform Gupshup on Tuesday launched Conversation Cloud, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tool suite to improve business-to-consumer interactions. The new set of SaaS tools uses AI integration across voice and text communication to improve engagement between businesses and customers.
Two new modules have been deployed as part of the launch. The ‘Converse’ module lets businesses move from one-way messaging to two-way communication, and the ‘Advertise’ module lets marketers acquire, qualify and convert customers.
The Converse module possesses commerce capabilities such as providing customers access to catalogues, enabling payments, and allowing for automated or human-assisted communication.
The Advertise module allows marketers to reach customers by leveraging Click to WhatsApp and Click to Instagram ads. The platform believes this will help marketers acquire new customers and improve campaign ROI.
“Brands leveraging Advertise have seen 60-70% lower cost per qualified lead and 1.6X sign-ups compared to traditional channels,” the company said in a statement.
The Communicate module has existed on the messaging platform for a long time, but the new features use Generative-AI to help personalise communication and optimise engagement by allowing for multilingual messaging using customer language preferences, Gupshup Co-founder and CEO Beerud Sheth told Outlook Start-Up.
In mobile-first countries like India where most businesses and brands need tools to build and manage conversational experiences, it was not practical to keep building chatbots for every business. Hence, Gupshup has put together a self-serving platform which helps businesses build the tools they need, Sheth added.
The San Francisco-based company counts Dream11, Flipkart, Khan Academy, Netflix and Unilever as some of its leading clients. The Tiger Global-backed company’s revenue grew by 40% year-on-year and registered a profit of about Rs 49 crore in the year ending March 31, 2023.
Gupshup, which was looking to go public by the end of 2022, deferred its plans due to macro economic conditions including war, interest rates and market corrections. While the company is ready to go public, it is waiting for the right time, the CEO told Outlook Start-Up. Gupshup is “in the middle of deliberations” to raise pre-IPO funding, however, “nothing concrete” can be confirmed currently, he said.
