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How chatbots can improve sales in e-commerce?

In life as in business, change is the only constant. It is more valid for online companies like e-commerce which is experiencing innovation with the speed of light. Over a short period, people have become more comfortable with the idea of purchasing goods and services online. Be it food, clothes, shoes, or even medicines, e-commerce sales are rocketing, and the trend is going strong.

Each e-commerce store owner is looking for a USP to increase the attention. Chatbots can help your e-commerce store in a myriad of ways and can prove to be a real game-changer for your e-commerce website.

A chatbot is a small piece of software designed to look and feel like a robot with the ability to chat, hence the name chatbot. A chatbot helps businesses in interacting with customers by answering their queries, managing their requests, and interactively assisting the customers. Chatbots are quickly becoming an indispensable part of an e-commerce business.

The use of chatbots in the customer service segment is well-known, but these chatbots can be used to drive sales as well, let’s have a look.

Providing information quickly

One of the significant reasons that Domino’s was successful with its “30 minutes or free” strategy is that it eliminated a fundamental problem of the customer, the uncertainty regarding the delivery time of the pizza. Customers hate it when they do not know when their product is expected to arrive, and they hate it even more (like revenge hate!) when you make them wait on the phone in excellent customer care questions.

With a chatbot, the customers can easily ask their questions related to delivery and shipping to the chatbot without waiting in lines. There are numerous questions in the minds of customers regarding delivery and shipping. Specific questions come up before purchase, and certainly, come up after purchase.  A chatbot can help in scheduling a preferable delivery time, let the customers know in detail about the shipping costs and the time of delivery of the product, type of packaging, serviceability in the customer’s area, dimensions of the package and other such questions. Post-purchase questions include questions regarding the shipping date, exact location, how to return the product and to claim warranty on the product.

Your automated online salesperson

Chatbots can be used to increase sales by programming them to communicate with customers consistently. When a customer comes to your online store, the chatbot can suggest products based on their preference. It can ask specific questions to the customers and help them in choosing the correct product according to their usage pattern. For e.g.:- if a customer is searching for tv can be guided by the chatbot regarding the ideal size he/she should purchase according to the dimensions of the room into which the tv is to be installed. Your chatbot can even cross-sell a good quality sound system along with the T.V. This would help you in increasing sales as well as retaining the customer, as it is convenient when the customer is able to shop for all his/her needs from one place instead of roaming from one website to the other.

Chatbots can identify potential selling opportunities by analyzing the conversation between them and the customer.

Resolving the issue of an abandoned shopping cart

Most of the e-commerce websites are plagued with the problem of an abandoned shopping cart. Customers visit your site, add specific products to their carts, and then leave without completing the transaction or even emptying the cart. A significant reason is that people are in two minds while purchasing, they are confused about whether the product is good enough to fulfill their needs, whether the company would respect the warranty claim, etc.

A chatbot can help in this situation, as a friendly advisor, your chatbot can guide the customers through their purchase decisions by answering their questions. A chatbot can be programmed to answer questions related to shipping, the credibility of the company and offer attractive discounts to the customer, which can nudge the customer to make the purchase decision.

Integrate chatbots with social media

Every month people leave around 5 billion comments on Facebook. Many of these comments are on business pages, these comments, whether positive or negative, are potential opportunities to win customers. Your chatbots can engage with customers by understanding the context and giving them an instant. For e.g.:- if a customer is unhappy with a particular brand because they sent the incorrect size of shoes, then the chatbot can start a conversation with the customer and ensure that the correct size is delivered.

Then once the problem is resolved, the chatbot can ask the customer to share their good experience on Facebook and other social media channels.

Also Read: How Souping SEO Up With AI Leads To Win?

Help you in knowing your customers

Chatbots can ask interactive quizzes to your customers and help your brand in understanding the customer in a better manner. In this way, you craft a more personalized user experience. For e.g.:- if a customer tells that he/she is interested more in sports-related merchandise, then the chatbot can show only sports merchandise to this particular customer. Also, push notifications could be sent when a really cool sports merchandise is released by the customer’s favorite sports team. Hence a chatbot can help you in catering to the unique taste of each customer, making them feel special.

Chatbots help in welcoming new customers

Customers love it when they feel valued. One way of doing this is by employing chatbots, which shall guide them in how to use the website/ app. The onboarding experience is a vital touchpoint in the customer experience journey, an opportunity to strengthen your brand image in the mind of the customer. Your chatbot can help the customer in exploring all the great features of your website. It happens many times that there is a solution to the customer’s problem, but the customer is unable to locate the function which will help him/her. For example, if the customer knows that if the perfect size of their favorite t-shirt is unavailable currently, then they can ask the chatbot to notify them via e-mail/ mobile whenever the capacity is available. This is another way in which you can increase sales.

Remind customers about replenishing their stock

Certain products need constant replenishment, for e.g.:- toothpaste, shaving foam, diapers, shampoos, and other household items. Wouldn’t it be nice if your chatbot would remind customers that maybe it is time that they order the replenishments before the spouse starts calling them names!

In this way, your chatbot would reduce the cognitive load on the customer and increase sales.

Make the loyalty program more effective

Most of the loyalty programs are in-effective as customers do not take the full advantage of the loyalty programs. You can integrate the loyalty program with your chatbot and improve the effectiveness of the loyalty program. For e.g.:- your chatbot could update the customers on the points accumulated in the loyalty program, remind them to redeem points before they expire and show great offers through which they could garner extra points.

Encourage user participation

Your chatbot can increase user participation in many ways. One of the techniques can be that your chatbot would encourage the user to share a photograph of the product which they received, and share it with the social media contacts of the user.

Your chatbot could ask the user to describe the experience in their own voice, eliminating the hassle of typing. In this way, your brand could gather valuable information regarding how the customers are feeling about your brand.

Test to become the best

Constant experimentation is essential to derive an effective marketing strategy. Your brand just cannot afford to become obsolete by keeping the marketing strategy stagnant.

You can test various scenarios by changing the chatbot script. For example:- you can check whether 50% off is working or buy one get one is driving more sales. Chatbots help you in conducting A/B testing quickly and effectively.

Wrap-up

Chatbots are a useful tool not just for your CRM (customer relationship management) function but also for increasing sales. If you are integrating a chatbot on your website through the help of top-rated eCommerce developers that give your customers familiar shopping experience and it helps you in achieving more revenue and grow your business exponentially.

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