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Marketers shift from leads to intent as WhatsApp and AI chatbots become the new buying signal
At the eighth DigiPlus Fest on September 25, marketing heads from Panasonic Life Solutions India, JSW Dulux, Apollo24/7 and DLF Office Businesses said conversational channels like WhatsApp and AI chatbots are shifting marketing from leads to early buying-intent signals.
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Channel facts
Figures from ET BrandEquity,
| DigiPlus Fest 2026 edition: | eighth |
|---|---|
| Office-move signalling lead time: | nearly two years |
| Final office transaction engagement: | around nine months |
What it means for online and offline
Treat WhatsApp and AI chatbot conversations as an early-intent data source: tag and score them so sales reaches buyers long before a formal lead form appears, as DLF does with office-move signals about two years out and final engagement roughly nine months before the deal.
Signals to track
- Brands citing conversion or pipeline outcomes from WhatsApp and chatbot intent scoring, not just engagement
- Announcements of chatbot or conversational-commerce tooling partnerships by named brands or martech vendors
- Changes in WhatsApp business messaging terms or Indian data-protection and consent guidance
- Marketing job descriptions or budget commentary that drop lead-volume targets in favour of intent metrics
- Follow-up DigiPlus Fest sessions or case studies that show attribution methods for long-cycle sales
Likely next moves
Our read of what comes next — analysis, not reported by the source.
- DLF Office Businesses is likely to keep tying its earliest conversational touchpoints to its long sales cycle, treating engagement nearly two years ahead as pipeline rather than noise.
- Panasonic Life Solutions India, JSW Dulux and Apollo24/7 are likely to fold WhatsApp and chatbot conversations into their customer-data and CRM stacks and score them as intent inputs.
- Martech and conversational-messaging vendors may rebrand lead-gen products as intent-signal products and pitch them to category marketers in the next event and pitch cycle.
- Rival brands in real estate, healthcare, paints and consumer durables may copy the intent framing, so competition shifts toward who engages earliest in the buying journey.
- Marketing heads are likely to face internal pressure from finance and sales to show that conversational intent converts into closed deals, not just engagement.
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