E-commerce chatbots Everything you need to know
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E-Commerce Chatbots: Everything You Need to Know

Chatbots are the new trend in companies that want to improve their services. Whether for customer support, process automation, or scalability, a chatbot in e-commerce can help immensely.

What is E-commerce?

The concept of e-commerce or “online shopping” is related to purchasing and selling goods or services over the Internet.

Although it seems to be a recent term and practice, it has been around 40 years, being possible since 1979 to make online transactions between companies and customers or between companies.

The two forms of access to online stores are through the brand’s website (computer) or mobile applications (smartphone).

Besides integrating everything that involves creating and maintaining these platforms, e-commerce involves many other areas such as online marketing, electronic fund transfer, and product management.

Currently, large and small stores offer the possibility of buying online. However, it’s noted that smaller stores begin their journey on the Internet.

That is, they start their business 100 % online, investing in online marketing. After a while and depending on the requirements of their customers, they open the physical space.

At the same time, the opposite is also happening. Mostly in large chains, they close smaller stores (leaving the larger ones in strategic places) to privilege e-commerce.

The latter had a greater occurrence due to the quarantine imposed as a consequence of the world pandemic.

What are Chatbots?

Chatbots are virtual agents that can be integrated into the most diverse messaging platforms. They are systems with which you can talk and get an answer automatically and automate many other processes without human intervention.

Interactions Automation

It’s starting to be so popular in all economic sectors that Business Insider predicted that by 2020 about 80% of companies would have implemented some form of a chatbot.

Because it’s a form of automation of interactions, companies can widely use it to reduce the affluence of their Contact Centers.

Affluence Reduction

According to Gartner, the implementation of chatbots in institutions reduces about 70% of calls and e-mails from Customer Service.

This percentage is strictly related to repetitive and easy to solve questions. In other words, if you take this factor out of the equation, your human assistants are much more enable of responding to requests with a higher degree of complexity.

Preferred Form of Contact

As already mentioned, you can integrate a chatbot into any chat applications such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, among others.

This is a very relevant factor that should be considered, as about 56% of people prefer to contact companies via message instead of making calls. Also, about 53% are more inclined to buy at brands where they can exchange messages.

Although chatbots are installed in messaging applications, they can be included in the brands’ own websites. This shows that your company is aware of technological innovation trends and is concerned about the type of service it offers.

What are Chatbots, and What They Do on E-commerce?

Chatbots are essential for those who want to improve their Customer Service and expand their brand through different contact channels. Still, they are a great way to maintain a good relationship with consumers.

The answer is this: the chatbots on e-commerce serve to keep the customer satisfied. A satisfied customer is a loyal customer, and that’s what your company has to think about.

Quick Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

How many customers were dissatisfied with your services when the pandemic began? When there was an exponential increase in online shopping, and your company could not answer all the questions?

Well, with a chatbot, this wouldn’t happen because your customers would get an answer instantly. They wouldn’t have to wait because most questions would be the same, and frequently asked questions can be easily programmed.

If the customer wanted to know where their order was, the bot would cross the purchase data with the carrier data and immediately answer the order location.

Suggestions according to Consumer Surveys

Consumers often “walk” around the site looking for something that fits their needs, not knowing exactly what it is.

On these occasions, a chatbot would be their best friend. According to the research done and the items they clicked on, the bot could recommend the best-fit item.

Shopping Finalization Support

In a study on chatbots, to the question “For what situations do you foresee the use of a chatbot?”, about 40 % answered “Purchase of items.”

That’s right! A chatbot can help in completing purchases and even carrying out transactions within it.

With some integrations, your chatbot can, after the customer chooses all the items he wants, make the payment request, whatever the payment method chosen.

Artificial Intelligence in E-commerce Chatbots

Of course, all these features are only possible if your chatbot has Artificial Intelligence in its base.

The AI is what enables your bot to learn from the commands it receives, as well as having the ability to cross information with other systems.

With a series of specifications given to the system, it can get the information needed to answer your client’s needs.

What are the benefits of chatbots for e-commerce?

1) Available on the website and mobile applications

Because they are easily integrated systems, they can be available in whatever contact channel your company wants.

2) 24/7 Service

Bots don’t need rest, so they can provide a service at any time of the day, without your customers having to wait for the next business day.

3) Personalized Service with AI

The AI allows the collection of data, questions, and respective consumer research, which improves your bot’s efficiency. The more data the chatbot has, the more effectively it responds to requests.

4) Pre and post-Sales Support

As we had already mentioned, bots can be a great option for product recommendations. However, besides recommendations, they can be a way to show consumers that you’re offering help at any stage of the sale.

5) Greater Response Speed

Because it has the ability to respond to several people at once, the response time of a chatbot is much shorter than that of a human assistant, who can only respond to one person at a time.

With the Visor.ai Platform, you can get your assistants to respond to several people at the same time as well. Go to Chatbot or Live Chat: Which is the Better Option? to learn more.

6) Multichannel

By implementing the chatbot system on all your digital channels, you can offer a more fluid service, with no disparity of information between them. That is, the client starts the contact in one channel and then passes to another. The bot recognizes that it’s the same person and continues the process without starting a new case.

7) Metrics Collection

In addition to chatbots, these systems’ platforms offer metrics related to orders and actions performed by customers. These numbers can be essential to improve your services.

Chatbots for E-commerce Large Contact Volume

There are specific occasions of the year when purchases, whether online or not, increase dramatically.

During the pandemic, people could not leave home, and there was a visible growth in e-commerce.

However, there are times when a sharp increase is seen. These are the seasonal sales season, Black Friday, and the Christmas season.

With these periods of greater consumption, there’s also an increase in the search for Customer Support to clarify doubts and questions. This increase can be problematic if it does not offer an efficient service to answer all customers.

Whether for electronic products stores, clothing, beauty, or any other, they all have something in common: large volumes of contacts and willingness to improve their service.

Implementing a chatbot would be fundamental because, at a low cost, you can see all these factors fulfilled.

More than Chatbots: Email Bots for E-commerce

In addition to chatbots, you can also automate your email channel – the second largest contact channel between customers and businesses.

With this automation, you can reduce the processing of incoming emails, letting the bot carry out the identification of the subject, and collecting the necessary information.

Thus, it increases your team’s productivity because they receive the cases already with all the data collected and identified, only needing to close the processes.

In short, the bet on bots with AI is the answer to your problems. Talk to us, and together will make your consumers even more satisfied!