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Have you ever been on a website ready to purchase a product or service, but have some questions? If there's a phone number or contact email, you might be hesitant to use it. Instead of going through that hassle, you find a similar product somewhere else from a website with better information.
If you're a business owner, you'd hate to lose customers that way. Fortunately, a shopping chatbot can prevent that. These AI-driven tools adapt to customer needs and actually learn over time — no training and very few man hours involved. Let's learn how chatbots help improve the customer experience.
24-hour Customer Service
Let's go back to the example above. Maybe you're hesitant to contact a customer service representative because it's late at night or early in the morning. After all, you might not get a response to your simple question for a few hours or days.
Shopping chatbots are available 24/7. By scanning customer queries for keywords, they answer all sorts of questions any time of day. Maybe your business hours change because of weather or your stock constantly shifts. Instead of having to call a store, customers can simply ask the bot.
For consumers, this convenience and attentive service forms their view of a company. In a survey conducted by business analysis firm Salesforce, 78% of respondents said they'd forgive a company for mistakes if they receive excellent customer support and service. A shopping chatbot is only one piece of customer service, but in a highly-competitive e-commerce market, every resource matters.
Shopping Chatbots Connect Customers to Live Agents
Even the best AI chatbots aren't equipped to answer very specific or complicated questions. However, they can answer preliminary questions. Imagine a customer received a damaged product. The chatbot can answer questions about return policies and refunds.
As this is happening, a customer representative can prepare for the interaction. When the time comes, the chatbot transfers the customer seamlessly to customer service representatives. Because a recent survey shows that many customers think they should experience no hold time, a chatbot is a powerful tool to fill that gap.
Long Forms Are Boring
If your business offers more customized products and services, long forms can be intimidating to a new customer. They start their order, see how long the page is and second-guess their choice. It's a necessary part of e-commerce, but it doesn't have to be so boring.
Long forms aren't limited to customized products — businesses should conduct employee and customer surveys somewhat often. No matter how loyal customers or employees are, 60% of people say they won't take a survey if it's longer than 10 minutes.
A chatbot is more fun and conversational. Instead of feeling like they're at the doctor's office filling out a whole medical history, respondents will be more relaxed and engaged. In their eyes, they're not filling out a survey. They're having a conversation.
They Offer Additional Information
Speaking of things customers hate, 95% of customers hate pop-ups. 69% of people now use pop-up blockers. However, when used correctly, pop-ups can convey vital information:
- Coupon codes
- Dates of sales
- New, exciting products
- New business hours
If customers are using a pop-up blocker, that information may never reach them. Instead of using a pop-up, a chatbot can be used to tell customers that information. When a friendly AI pops up in the corner of the screen to tell them about a great deal, customers will be delighted and may even interact more with it. This can lead to new customers, more sales and higher customer engagement.
They Can Be Personalized To Fit Your Clientele
Online stores are all about branding. Every email, newsletter, product description and blog post has to fit a company's voice. Shopping chatbots are no exception.
If you run a law or medical office, your chatbot can be designed to sound reassuring and knowledgeable. For businesses that cater to specific audiences, whether it's millennials, surfers, socialites or sports enthusiasts, your chatbot can be more casual and fun.
A chatbot's personality is fully customizable and always on-brand. You worked hard to build your business. Don't let a grumpy customer service representative turn off customers, no matter how justified their sour mood is.
Chatbots Put Customer Data to Good Use
The human brain outpaces computers in some ways, but falls short in others. For instance, the synapses of the brain can perform about one thousand basic operations every second. That may sound impressive, but that's 10 million times slower than the average processing power of a home PC in 2008.
A chatbot isn't a replacement for old-fashioned person-to-person interaction, but they can do the dirty work of data gathering that requires raw processing power. Humans are, after all, only human and prone to missing key information. Without fault, chatbots help executives and marketing managers:
- Determine the volume of frequent customer questions
- Keep up with the velocity of customer interactions during peak times and seasons
- Sift through the sheer variety of questions and answer them accurately
This isn't just important for the customer experience — it's vital to service and operations. By analyzing data gathered by a shopping chatbot, your business can better anticipate customer needs, plan a more streamlined website and create customer resources like FAQs and blog posts.
Integrate a Chatbot Into Your Customer Service Plan Today
At Aivo, our innovative chatbot solutions earned us an industry leader award from business software reviewer G2 Crowd. We proudly wear that mantle with AI chatbots that fit a wide range of purposes:
- Conversational AI chatbots that learn from and assist customers autonomously
- Chatbot co-pilots that assist live customer service representatives
- Whatsapp and Instagram chatbots that drive effective customer engagement campaigns
Our chatbots work on a variety of platforms that business owners use every day. For more information on how an Aivo shopping chatbot can revolutionize your customers' shopping experiences, contact us today.
