How Will eCommerce Benefit from Chatbots?

By Published On: February 11th, 2021Categories: ecommerce, use cases

Guest post by John Edwards.

Chatbots are nothing new in the world of eCommerce. The main reason why chatbots are so popular is that such technologies as artificial intelligence and machine learning evolve at a rapid pace. As a result, AI-powered chatbots become smarter. They can learn from their previous conversations and provide the necessary assistance if your customers need help.

Thanks to chatbots, eCommerce businesses can boost customer experience because customers can get the necessary help at any moment, exactly when they need it. Not only do chatbots enable companies to improve customer support, but they also have the potential to streamline many other interactions between companies and their customers. 65% of consumers prefer to contact businesses via messengers, and 53% of consumers are more likely to buy from a store they can message. 

Artificial intelligence shapes the way people search for products online and order them. Now you can simply say, “Alexa, I want to buy new sneakers,” and AI will do all the work for you. It will show you different options and add them to your wishlist or shopping cart. AI can deal with numerous tasks associated with data so it can enhance the capabilities of eCommerce chatbots, enabling people to get all kinds of assistance.

Besides, machine learning enables chatbots to constantly learn from their interactions with humans. As a result, conversations with chatbots become more natural. On the one hand, AI is still incapable of writing comprehensive lengthy content. On the other hand, it is already able to answer simple questions and search for the necessary information online, which is more than enough for a chatbot.

Also interesting: Supervised vs. Unsupervised Learning – Use & Myths!

Now let’s take a look at the key benefits of AI for eCommerce.

 

Benefits of AI and Chatbots for eCommerce

1. Personalization

One of the main benefits of AI is that it provides countless personalization opportunities. You can use chatbots to collect information about your visitors’ preferences and interests. So that you can use this information for product recommendations and suggestions. Knowing your customers’ inquiries, you can personalize product pages on your website and boost customer loyalty.

AI-driven chatbots can tell your customers when some products are out of stock and suggest some alternatives. They can also inform customers about delivery dates or even suggest products based on the customers’ answers to simple questions. For example, H&M’s chatbot offers products based on the customers’ descriptions of their preferred styles.

2. Decreased customer support costs

When customers are interested in your products, they might want to get more detailed product descriptions. According to statistics, answers to simple questions about products are relevant to 55% of consumers, and 64% of online customers are looking for 24/7 customer support that humans cannot provide. If you include a simple FAQ chatbot on your website, you’ll be able to decrease customer support costs by up to 30%. When customers ask complex questions, chatbots can connect them with a real person.

By the way – you can learn more about chatbots for your business in our ebook. 

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3. Cart recovery

Although many people don’t know about it, abandoned carts can be a good source of revenue. Not all people who abandon their carts do it on purpose. They might simply get distracted, open another browser tab, and forget about what they were going to buy just a few minutes ago. Chatbots can remind your customers of their abandoned carts so they can proceed to checkout or clean their carts. Even if these customers won’t end up buying all items, they might buy at least something.

Also interesting: 4 Ways To Reduce Cart Abandonment With Chatbots

 

4. Improved engagement

We’ve already mentioned that consumers are more likely to choose a business they can message. However, if you want your customers to stay engaged, you should make sure to not only respond to their messages but also to do it quickly. If your response time exceeds five minutes, you’ll be 21 times less likely to convert your leads. Chatbots enable you to respond immediately, therefore increasing customer engagement.

 

5. Product guidance

Quite often, eCommerce customers get lost in a variety of similar products, and chatbots can help them make a purchasing decision. Chatbots can suggest exactly what your customers are looking for and then lead them directly to the checkout page or inform them about discounts.

Thanks to guidance from chatbots, customers can make their purchases faster than ever. There’s no need to scroll through dozens of similar items, reading descriptions, and trying to figure out what the best option is. For example, eBay’s ShopBot talks to customers to determine their needs and then offers personalized recommendations, just like an experienced sales representative.

 

Wrapping Up

Chatbots become smarter so more and more companies start to use them to boost customer experience.

Your eCommerce business can benefit from using AI-driven chatbots in many ways.

We hope that our list of the main advantages of chatbots for eCommerce will help you understand why chatbots became such a buzzword, and why using them is the best thing you can do for your organization.

 

Author bio:

John Edwards is a writing specialist who works at The Writing Judge and Pick The Writer. He is looking for ways of self-development in the field of writing and blogging. New horizons in his beloved business always attract with their varieties of opportunities. Therefore, it is so important for him to do the writing.

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