With a few clicks, consumers can buy an item and get it delivered to their door. Online shopping is simple, convenient and practical for those that utilise it, and its popularity only continues to grow. It is estimated that by 2040, people will make 95 percent of their purchases online. Currently, in the UK, 51 percent of consumers say they prefer to shop online, and those that shop online use the internet for 87 percent of their retail purchases. It is clear that optimising your eCommerce platforms to offer your customers the best shopping experience possible is essential to boost sales and prepare for the future of shopping. One way of doing this is to add a chatbot to your eCommerce site. There are a number of ways in which eCommerce sites can benefit from chatbots, and we take a look at some of these benefits here.
Building Customer Relationships
There are many ways in which chatbots can be used by eCommerce sites to forge a better customer relationship. Chatbots are a great tool to use to greet customers when they visit the site, which can help to enhance the customer’s experience. By initiating a conversation with a customer, the bot can engage customers and see if they need assistance. As well as helping the customer, by engaging them, you are keeping them on-site, which extends the on-page time.
Product Recommendations
Amazon is known to generate 35 percent of its revenue from its recommendation engine, which includes the ‘Frequently Bought Together’ and ‘Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought’ sections that appear on product pages. It is clear that product recommendations are essential for eCommerce sites, and a chatbot is an ideal way of reaching potential customers with suggestions. A chatbot can make personalised recommendations to customers following a few pre-defined questions. Chatbots can also be given a friendly and conversational tone, allowing them to act as a personal shopper and forge a relationship with your potential customers.
Sephora provides a great example of a chatbot for these purposes. Their bot is available on Facebook Messenger and acts as a personal assistant to customers. The chat begins with a short quiz so that the experience can be personalised and product recommendations can be made. As well as offering support via chat, Sephora’s bot can also offer tutorials, makeup tips and share video clips. Likewise, clothing retailer H&M offers a chatbot that can recommend outfits based on the colour and style preferences provided by the shopper.
Customer Support
As an eCommerce retailer, your customer’s won’t be able to go in-store for support. Whether they have a query or complaint, their contact is likely to have to be online. When interacting online, customers anticipate a timely response. Customers are happier, and purchases are more likely when prompt responses are provided. A chatbot is essential to achieve this, as not only are they available 24/7, but they can handle an infinite number of queries at once, meaning your customers will never be kept waiting.
Customer Data
If the customer consents to your company collecting and storing their data, then a chatbot is a great tool for gathering customer data. Data given to a chatbot will come directly from the user, so it will be accurate, and you can ensure that it has been given with their permission. With this data, their experience can be more personalised, and if they return to the site, the chatbot can initiate a conversation using their name, further personalising the interaction.
International Customers
The beauty of eCommerce and online shopping is that your business can be accessed by people all over the world. However, many customers will be reluctant to spend money on a site that is not in their native language, as they want to be sure that the products they are purchasing are right and that the site is trustworthy. Chatbots can be set to respond in different languages, so the bot can provide translations to customers who speak another language. This allows them to be more confident in their purchase choices, as they can better understand what the product is offering.
Prompt to Buy
Those who run an eCommerce platform will know that many customers abandon their carts. In fact, a report from SaleCycle in 2018 revealed that 75 percent of online shoppers abandon their carts. While some companies will choose to remind their customers of an abandoned cart after they have left the site, it can be more effective to prompt the customer about completing the sale while they are still on the site. Research shows that chatbots offer click-through-rates five to ten times better than that offered by email marketing. As chatbots can be more personalised, friendly and human-sounding than an email, when it directly addresses a customer on the website to ask about a purchase, it is likely to be more effective.
Chatbots can also offer instant pushes to purchase, for example, by providing a discount on the order, as this could be the motivation a customer needs to checkout. Rather than wait for a customer to leave the site and email them to encourage a return, this can be done as the customer browses your site, increasing the likelihood of a purchase.
If you are interested in adding a chatbot to your eCommerce site, then Hostcomm offers chatbot software that can be tailored to your business’ specific needs. We can customise the bot to engage your customers and give it a personality and voice in-line with your brand. Get in touch with our expert team to find out more information or request a demo to see what our chatbot can do for your eCommerce business.
