Chatbots are one of the biggest e-commerce technology trends over the last few years. You may have noticed them in the bottom right hand of your screen when shopping on the web. Do you want to add a chatbot to your e-commerce store to drive up sales? It is a smart idea since AI technologies can increase sales by up to 30%.
Chatbots offer a wide array of benefits, including better customer service, furthering visitors along the buyer‘s journey, and giving accurate product recommendations. They are also a solid strategy to increase sales and customer retention.
Chatbots Offer Key Customer Service Improvements
Chatbots are available 24/7 and appear instantly. The same availability is not feasible with live agents unless you spend a fortune on customer service. Chatbots improve customer service in more ways than one:
- Answering questions: Chatbots can answer commonly asked questions and help visitors make buying decisions. Each answered question inches the visitor one step closer to making a purchase.
- Recommending products: Customers may not find the products they want in your navigational menus. However, a quick chat with your AI messaging system can reveal those products. It leads to a better user experience and more trust in the benefit of chatbots.
- 24/7 availability: Around-the-clock availability means customers do not have to wait for a live agent. It also decreases the chances of customers leaving your website because they do not have enough information to complete their purchases.
Give site visitors the ability to move from the chatbot conversation to a live agent. This provides customers additional help if they were not able to get answers from the chatbot.
AI Helps Brand and Reinforce Your Business
Scripting chatbots to answer customer questions can reinforce your brand. For example, if you sell coffee products, then script the chatbot to target this customer base. Coffee-related jokes or jargon exhibit an extra level of detail. This sets your chatbot apart from your competitors.
Think of your chatbot as an extension of your brand. As such, it needs to have the correct tone and style—just like you would expect of your human customer service team. Through consistent messaging, you can reinforce your brand and relate to your target customer. Adding a personal touch to your chatbot is another way your e-commerce store can stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Chatbots Can Ask for Feedback
Program the chatbot to ask for feedback. Feedback is great for spotting website weaknesses and areas of growth for the customer experience. If you notice customers sharing the same problem, it is worth your time to have a closer look at that issue. Chatbots can carry out data gathering functions in a scalable and automated fashion. Scalability makes chatbots a simple and cost-effective sales tool.
Consider asking customers for product suggestions. Customers will have special insights into what products they would like to purchase. This is an easy way of determining the demand for products that may not have come out in other research methods.
Capture Emails with Chatbots
Consider adding an email capture strategy to your chatbot script. However, it needs to be natural to avoid coming across like you are asking for something from the visitor. Instead, phrase it as an interaction that is beneficial for them. Here are a few examples:
- New product updates: Offer an email subscription to receive updates for related products and discounts. It is a great motivator to share their email address. This type of email is best if you regularly provide valuable offers.
- Training course: Consider offering a training course related to your products. Continuing with the coffee business, you could offer a course on making the perfect cup of coffee.
- Promo code: Do you offer a promotional code to new email subscribers? If yes, then share this reward when asking for the email. It is a strong incentive to spend a few moments signing up for the email newsletter and positive first interaction with your brand.
Do not script the chatbot to ask for the customer’s email before answering their questions. The first purpose is to answer questions, so this function must be the priority above all others.
Chatbots Create Qualified Leads
Your sales team can focus on selling to qualified leads instead of prospecting. Chatbots can funnel out potential buyers from casual visitors. Your team can spend their time more productively.
By leaving boring and repetitive work to AI, human employees can focus on more creative and engaging tasks. The results will depend on how you script the chatbot to qualified leads so your team can begin sorting through them effectively.
Chatbots are Constantly Evolving
The AI technology that powers chatbots are still developing. They also have the ability to learn through interactions with customers. Commonly used words related to a problem are sorted to increase their knowledge base. It allows future chats about the same problem to be more helpful.
The language processing format of chatbots ensures they can handle multiple languages and adapt to a customer. Clients with all levels of communication skills can have successful interactions with the chatbot.
Final Thoughts
Keep in mind that chatbot technology is new and under consistent development. Your customers can expect to get even more from chatbots in the future. The best part about chatbots is the great return on investment.
It is estimated that in 2020 around 85% of businesses added an AI component. To avoid getting left behind, you need to invest in AI that works for your brand. It is an industry trend that you cannot ignore.
Interested in reading more about branding? Check this blog out:
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