Ecommerce Chatbots: How to Improve the Usability of Your Web Store?

According to statistics, 43% of clients use chatbots for making purchases. By adding an eCommerce chatbot to an online retail platform, businesses can boost profits and improve conversions. Advanced AI-based chatbots can generate an 80-90% response rate, which makes these conversational marketing tools invaluable for driving potential clients to place an order. While some people might be put off by the fact that they are talking to a chatbot, most customers value such tools for providing them with the necessary information quickly.

As 34% of clients of web-based eCommerce platforms accept using chatbots, retail store owners can employ such tools for improving the usability of their services and cutting down on expenses. They can be used for boosting sales across different social media platforms and improving the accessibility of an eCommerce store. Using them, you can make your customer support available 24/7. Besides, they can be integrated with popular messaging services. Read on to learn how you can use a chatbot for eCommerce website to increase your profits and improve the visibility of your brand.

What Are eCommerce Chatbots?

Chatbots are a special type of AI-based program created to simulate conversations. Complex chatbots are compatible with popular messaging services, which allows companies to use them to boost their sales using voice and text dialogues. They use an innovative form of communication and are based on machine learning algorithms. It allows such chatbots to sound more human.

Companies use chatbots to communicate with their clients on Facebook as well as send them SMS and messages on WhatsApp. Chatbots were created for simulating the effect of real-time communication. You can use them for multiple purposes:

• Getting user feedback
• Supporting clients
• Answering questions
• Providing recommendations

Regardless of the purpose of use, retail companies can hugely benefit from integrating chatbots based on artificial intelligence technology into their websites. Advanced AI-based chatbots imitate natural speech patterns, which makes them seem human-like. Basic chatbots are programs based on simple rules. They answer frequently asked questions. There are also hybrid options that can support AI-driven and rule-based communication.

Owners of online retail stores can hugely benefit from using messenger bots. Such programs allow them to reach out to their target audience across multiple channels, including Facebook, Instagram, and Google Business Messenger. Using such tools, a company can improve its outreach and start selling Top Trending Products across multiple platforms.

Due to this, companies that want to improve their sales and shorten the response time of a customer support team use chatbots to stand out among their competitors. Chatbots allow retail companies to engage with their customers and streamline communication to improve customer experience. All clients want to get instant replies to their questions, which explains the popularity of chatbots in the global eCommerce market.

Well-written chatbots automate a variety of communication tasks and facilitate engagement with clients. If you aren’t sure whether you need to use chatbots on your site, read on to learn more about their key advantages.

Here’s an example of an eCommerce chatbot that simplifies the shopping process for a customer.

Main Advantages of eCommerce Chatbots for Retail Businesses

No business can succeed without establishing long-term relationships with its clients. By improving the response time of your team, you can boost the customer retention rate. The main task of conversational messaging tools lies in streamlining communication between retail companies and their clients. It allows businesses to cope with increased demand and start to provide their services non-stop. Below, we have outlined the reasons that should make you consider the usage of a chatbot for eCommerce website for increasing your profits when you Start an eCommerce Store.

User-Oriented Approach

While chatbots are widely regarded as automated tools suitable only for basic communication, they can be programmed to sound less robotic and more approachable. Companies customize them and program them using the data of their customers so that they greet them by name. It improves the retention rate and drives returning customers to commit repeat purchases.

Based on the information about the already purchased products, chatbots can provide users with recommendations for making future purchases. In addition, they can make personalized offers and provide discounts for long-term clients.

Complex chatbots are based on advanced code and use information about previous conversations with a client to avoid repetition and make dialogues more engaging. Chatbots can be also used for collecting invaluable data about clients, their interests, and shopping patterns. After learning about the preferences of your clients and their locations, you can personalize your offers and increase your sales.

Increased Customer Engagement

As voice calls gradually become a thing of the past, most clients prefer to communicate with companies using chat tools. According to stats, a delayed reply reduces client engagement by 400%. However, by using chatbots and providing timely replies, retail businesses can boost customer engagement by 54%.

Top-level chatbots base their replies on the available information about customers. They keep communication clear and concise without providing clients with irrelevant information. Real-time communication results in a higher engagement rate and allows companies to drive clients to purchase their products.

SIgnificant Cost Reduction

Chatbots allow companies to lower client acquisition and retention costs. In addition, they enable business owners to automate the processes within the company. Instead of hiring a large customer support team that will answer customer inquiries in real time, retail companies can save money by using chatbots. These solutions have great value for the money as they respond to clients 24/7. Their quick replies ensure that a customer won’t get discouraged and go to third-party platforms to find information about a product.

Using such automated tools, companies can answer 80% of frequently asked questions. Thus, a customer support team will have to handle only the remaining 20%. Besides, your customers will like your company more if you provide them with timely replies.

Lead Generation and Conversion Opportunities 

By making personalized offers, chatbots generate leads and drive sales. They are used for sending links and online forms to potential clients as well as convincing them to subscribe to a newsletter to get information about the best deals.

Chatbots allow companies to get high-quality leads, thus increasing the conversion rate. They provide personalized recommendations, information about sales, and product reviews to convince potential clients to place an order.

Feedback Collection

To develop your online store and increase your sales, you need to get feedback about your products and the usability of your website. If a client is not satisfied with a purchase, a chatbot should offer an easy way to replace the item or get a refund. It allows retail businesses to minimize the number of negative reviews and improve the customer satisfaction rate.

How to Use a Chatbot To Improve an eCommerce Store

By making your site more convenient to use, you can streamline the customer journey and make the client experience more enjoyable. You can employ these programs to solve a range of tasks:

• Answer questions about your products and services
• Solve payment and registration issues
• Collect feedback and client data
• Automate the process of placing orders
• Increase customer engagement
• Offer bonuses
• Improve the client’s journey

The importance of a chatbot for eCommerce store is difficult to underestimate. Such programs can quickly answer a variety of questions and drive a client to make a purchase.

Top-level companies use chatbots to make their FAQs more interactive and provide support to their clients. You can use such programs to improve the loyalty of your clients to your brand. To make your chatbots more engaging, you can use pop-up questions and ask your clients whether they need any assistance.

Once you have gathered enough information about your clients, you can recommend other products based on this data. If they face any difficulties when placing an order, you can use chatbots to guide customers through the process. By keeping in touch with them, you can encourage your clients to make repeat purchases.

You can also use a chatbot to make your marketing campaigns more successful and expand your outreach. AI tools are perfectly suitable for analyzing the needs of clients, offering personalized suggestions, and informing them about the best deals.

Using chatbots, you can reduce the cases of card abandonment and promptly answer questions about products. In addition, chatbots can be used for providing multi-language support. When a chatbot can’t solve an issue, it can redirect the request to a member of the customer support team. Companies also often use chatbots for up-selling. It enables them to increase the number of repeat purchases.

Here are some other cases when a chatbot can solve a problem quickly:

• Shipping issues
• Refunds
• Order placement issues
• Returns

Chatbots help retail store owners to analyze what products are in high demand and what their customers value the most about a brand.

How To Set Up a Chatbot

If you need to use a chatbot for a variety of tasks, it’s better to add an AI-based solution. Make sure to select a chatbot that is best suited for your industry. You may use Google Analytics and other available tools to get insights that will help you understand how to use a chatbot. After selecting a suitable tool, you need to add the chatbot code to your site. You can either edit HTML code or employ Google Tag Manager.

Depending on the chatbot you have selected, you will get access to different tools for analyzing your sales and user metrics. Using the dashboard of your eCommerce chatbot, you can get access to client demographics as well as analyze the engagement rate, response times, and client satisfaction. Thanks to this information, you can improve the navigation system and the checkout experience.

Setting Up a Shopify Chatbot

Many well-established companies build chatbots from scratch to ensure that they are tailored to the needs of their target audience. However, you might need to wait for a long time until you get a chatbot for each channel you want to use. Thankfully, there are plenty of pre-made solutions available. For instance, if you want to Create an Online Clothing Store, you may use a Shopify chatbot to answer frequently asked questions about sizes and shipping options.

Owners of Shopify stores can set up an eCommerce chatbot in a few clicks for a variety of channels. After deciding on the type of chatbot that you want to use, whether it’s a chatbot for social media or a basic live-chatting tool, you can download a suitable app and integrate it with your store.

Using Shopify Inbox, you can manage countless client queries in the most timely manner. It allows you to answer questions and automate the task of sending order updates. You can also integrate other available chatbots that allow you to use messaging applications in the most effective way.

Use Chatbots for Selling Across Several Platforms

Chatbots offer a time-tested way to enhance the client experience and minimize bounce rate. Their main task is to engage customers in a meaningful way. These days, many clients prefer live-chatting tools to other communication methods, such as voice calls or emails. This is why it makes sense to use chatbots on social media to improve the brand image of your eCommerce store and boost client engagement.

Instagram

Instagram is a perfect tool for improving your marketing efforts. Over 150 million Instagram users engage with companies using this platform. While many businesses don’t use automated replies, chatbots are necessary for those who want to scale their businesses. Most companies prefer using hybrid chatbots as they make it easier to gather information and provide clients with product details.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is popular among Indian clients. There are 390 million users in this country that prefer using this messenger. This is why there are more than 5 million companies that use chatbots for this messenger. It allows them to answer all inquiries in no time.

Using WhatsApp chatbots companies can start to communicate more effectively and expand the outreach of their marketing campaigns. As a result, vendors that use chatbots stand out among the rest and provide reliable customer support. Such tools are perfect for client feedback management and reducing the number of abandoned carts. WhatsApp chatbots can be also used for providing educational content.

Telegram

While Telegram is less popular among European users, this messenger makes it easy to set up and use an eCommerce chatbot to reach out to a wider audience. It can drive more traffic to your site and increase conversions. However, before setting up chatbots for all the channels you may think of, make sure to analyze the needs of your target audience and its preferred methods of communication. It will save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

Facebook Messenger

Many customers use Facebook to reach out to brands directly and learn more about products. This is why vendors use this platform to promote their products and offer discounts to their clients. It’s suitable for driving traffic to your site.

The Best Ways of Using eCommerce Chatbots

To increase your online visibility, you may need to build an eCommerce Mobile App and integrate a chatbot to improve its functionality. However, if you want to make the most out of your chatbot, you need to decide in which cases you are going to use it and what channels will be your top priority. It’s better to focus on those that drive more traffic to your website.

It should be easy to communicate with your chatbot. If the process seems too complicated, your clients might get discouraged easily. Your chatbot should provide all the information available in the FAQ. Many people use chatbots to save time, so they should be able to get answers to the questions that interest them most.

Chatbots can improve every part of a client’s journey. Using them, you can provide recommendations and thus drive your clients to purchase. After an order is completed, chatbots can be used for getting feedback and suggesting other products.

Ask the development team to integrate a chatbot with your CRM, it will help you gather customer data more effectively and systematize your database to make it easier to access.

After setting up a chatbot, you need to keep upgrading it and adjusting it depending on the way your clients prefer to communicate with it. By doing so, you can increase your conversion rate and profits.

Final Thoughts

Now that you know about the importance of a chatbot for eCommerce website, it’s time to select the one that will help you boost your sales. It will allow you to meet the high expectations of your clients. All of them want to get quick customer service and solve their issues without putting in much effort. Using AI-powered chatbots, you can reduce your bounce rate and engage with your clients regardless of their location or the language they speak.

After the beginning of the pandemic, many eCommerce businesses experienced quick growth. Chatbots allow them to meet the rising demand and process all queries in the most efficient way. They are the best choice for those who want to scale up their businesses by facilitating order placement and tracking. The most advanced eCommerce chatbots double as virtual assistants. They provide customer support, send product suggestions, and engage with customers across popular social media channels, so make sure to use them for your benefit.