E-commerce Chatbots: 5 Ways to Increase Sales, Conversions & Retention

According to research, above 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned by users. Shopping cart abandonment can be painful for e-commerce brands, but why should you care? 

This is because e-commerce competition on a global scale is getting tougher each day. Optimising every aspect of your e-commerce store is the best way to stand out. 

If you want to know how to increase your sales, conversions and retention rate, keep reading!

The use of AI Chatbots

We are in the era of chatbots and brands with excellent customer service know this. What is their secret that is no secret? AI chatbots. 

The supreme reason for using a chatbot to power your business is to increase customer retention and online sales. 

Chatbots is a piece of software that establishes conversation and communication with users. Chatbots powered by artificial intelligence are differentiated from the rest due to their ability to understand the questions they receive. 

Thus, they provide the exact info the user is looking for. Chatbots play an important role in a brand’s customer service and in increasing sales, conversion and retention.

 

Related article: Why you need an omnichannel strategy for your digital project

 

 

At times, an abundance in choice of products can be overwhelming for customers, and this might interrupt the regular flow of the conversion funnel. 

This is where AI-powered chatbots prove to be a helpful asset by offering stage by stage guidance during their shopping journey. The chatbots identify customer requirements through questions and offer the right recommendations. 

This approach not only saves time, but it also facilitates independent and hassle-free shopping experience having a positive impact on conversion.  

Easier lead qualification 

The best thing about chatbots are, they can even qualify the leads for you. Yes, you heard it right. Lead management can be a headache, as it requires continuous nurturing. 

While it’s worth the results, it is not easy. So, why not have a chatbot do it for you. Program set of Q&A sessions to figure out where a customer is in their sales funnel. Let’s take an example.

 

 

Here, the bot looks similar to a live chat box and users would mostly engage with it. The great way to qualify your leads is by using a live chat with a real person along with the bot. 

The bot will do the work of bringing leads and picking the right products and services for them. Meanwhile, your sales executives can come in and close the deal easily. 

This strategy is quite easy and can be integrated with your already existing lead nurturing strategies. 

 

Chatbots can help you qualify your leads and detect where a customer is in their sales funnel.

 

Chatbots to reduce cart abandonment

Ok, back to e-commerce businesses. There are several reasons why customers abandon their carts and the major one among them can be poor site navigation. 

Surveys show that customers consider customer experience is a significant factor that drives their purchasing decisions. 

Optimising your store for better site navigation is the best way to tackle this, but chatbots can also help you to guide your customers to the right product categories.

 

 

Ecommerce chatbots also lower the abandonment rate by reaching out to customers directly. A well-integrated chatbot can send automatic cart reminders to customers. 

It allows them to make a direct purchase within the messenger without moving to the website. This makes for a better option than emails where customers have to move to the site to complete their checkout process. 

A chat facilitates a personalised route for a particular conversion. You can also program chatbots to attach discount coupons to entice the customers who abandoned their cart often. This is a proven method that considerably reduces cart abandonment rate and increases conversions. 

 

? You might be interested | E-commerce App: Why and how to create one for your online store

 

Facebook chatbot to increase engagement

The Facebook chatbot is an excellent example of AI chatbots working well to drive customer experiences for e-commerce stores. 

Asking a question and getting relevant answers is the first step of any communication. Besides solving a problem in satisfying the needs of customers, chatbots do it all. 

As chatbots are integrated with APIs or web services, they easily offer instant and customised solutions to user queries. All thanks to the Omni-channel experience, chatbots can interact well regardless of the digital channel your users communicate from.

They will get the same experience regardless of whether they choose WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS or webchat. 

Instead of leveraging traditional ads, you can rely on click-to Messenger ads instead. When a visitor clicks your ad, it immediately starts a messenger conversation which allows you to capture the contact information.

 Meanwhile, the user gets helpful information about particular products and services, too.

 

 

Facebook Messenger scan codes

Messenger scan codes on Facebook are just like QR codes. This allows users to connect to any brand in a relatively easy way. 

You can scan them by using the Facebook Messenger and they immediately open a messenger chat of the particular brand. These chats can be connected with any chatbot platform. 

The best part is- you just need the FB Messenger app to start using them, which almost every user already has. Brands can print the messenger scan codes into their flyers or presentations and you just have to connect the code to an AI chatbot that offers users with a free download. 

 

Read more | Why chatbots are key to the future of business intelligence

 

Snapcodes on Snapchat

Snapchat also offers similar codes and more brands have been using the same to boost their exposure through marketing campaigns. This facilitates free advertising as Snapchat doesn’t charge advertisers for snap code. 

You can place snapcodes that even direct the users to your online store. Some brands even use snap codes to collect data and purchase behaviours of users. 

This can be seen in scenarios where brands use snap codes that promote users to input their name and email. The company records this information to use in their campaign and marketing strategies for conversion and lead generation.

Conclusion

Do you feel that your e-commerce business needs a new marketing strategy involving modern technology to catch where your business is lagging in the market? 

If yes, then it is high time you must start using chatbots to boost your sales and conversions. 

AI Chatbots have transformed the ways to reach out to your potential customers, the way you provide customer support and the way customers shop. 

Nobody can deny the fact that chatbots are evolving constantly and can handle complex business operations continuously helping brands to increase customer engagement, conversions and retention.