Let’s Leverage Ecommerce Chatbots for Success

Providing prompt customer service is crucial to a good customer experience and, ultimately, for good sales. But how do you provide good customer service, especially with a huge customer base? The answer might be simpler than you think. Utilize chatbots. These artificial intelligence-powered assistants can be your ecommerce store's secret weapon to skyrocket its sales.

What are ecommerce chatbots?

Chatbots, often virtual assistants, are AI-based software designed to interact with humans in their natural languages. These interactions usually occur via text chat windows, but verbal interactions are also possible.

Tip: It's crucial to remember that chatbots are not limited to responding to queries and messages. They can also perform tasks such as setting reminders or ordering products.

Chatbots serve as digital assistants capable of addressing real-time buyer inquiries, product suggesting, and handling customer support tasks—all without time constraints or the need for compensation. Incorporating a chatbot into your online store can emulate the interactive nature of physical retail space. On average, businesses witness a 67% increase in sales by leveraging chatbots. Sources like haptik.ai and Manychats Manychats support these statistics.

Types of ecommerce chatbots

The use of chatbots in ecommerce has surged in recent years, thanks to the growing expectations of modern shoppers for instant and personalized services.

According to Yellow.ai chatbots can be classified into three main types based on their functionality:

1. Rule-based

These chatbots operate on predefined rules and respond based on specific keywords or patterns.

2. AI-powered chatbots

They leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence to handle natural language conversations and provide contextually relevant answers.

3. Voice-activated

These bots interact with users via voice commands and can recognize speech patterns and verbal cues.

Each type of chatbot has unique strengths that can be leveraged to enhance the customer experience and boost sales in an ecommerce store.

Strategies to leverage ecommerce chatbots

Here are five strategic ways to leverage chatbots in your ecommerce store

Strategy 1: Implementing multi-channel chatbots

One of the most effective ways to enhance customer engagement and reach a broader audience is by implementing multi-channel chatbots. These bots can interact with customers across multiple platforms like the ecommerce store's website and social media channels. This is how you can implement them.

• Identify primary channels: Determine where your target audience spends most of their time online. This could be your ecommerce website, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.

• Customize responses: Tailor your chatbot's responses for each platform while ensuring consistent branding and messaging.

• Use chatbot solutions: Many online solutions can help you implement multi-channel chatbots. For example, Tidio is excellent for ecommerce AI chatbots, while SnatchBot is ideal for omnichannel integration.

Example: From Sephora. This was the first beauty brand to build an ecommerce chatbot. It has two Facebook bots.

Strategy 2: Chatbots for promoting signups or account creation

Chatbots can also prompt store visitors to create accounts by offering discounts or exclusive offers.

• Create an account-creation chatbot: This bot should guide users through the account-creation process and offer real-time assistance to resolve any issues during the account-creation process.

• Offer incentives: Encourage users to sign up by offering discounts or exclusive offers.

This strategy can result in a smooth onboarding experience for customers, increasing the chances of conversion.

Strategy 3: Upsell and cross-sell with chatbots

Ecommerce chatbots can intelligently recommend complementary products or upgrades based on customer preferences and purchase history, effectively upselling and cross-selling.

• Analyze customer data: Analyze your customers' purchase history, browsing behavior, and preferences to understand their interests and needs.

• Offer personalized recommendations: During conversations, the chatbot can suggest relevant products that complement the customer's current selections or offer product upgrades.

This strategy encourages customers to explore additional products, potentially leading to an increase in sales.

Strategy 4: Order tracking chatbot for ecommerce store

An order-tracking chatbot can enhance customer service by providing real-time delivery updates.

• Integrate with supply chain systems: The chatbot should be integrated with your supply chain systems to provide accurate order updates.

• Lower operational costs: By handling routine order inquiries, the chatbot reduces the workload on staff, improving customer satisfaction and potentially lowering operational costs.

Example: Flipkart's chatbot provides updates regarding the order status and assists customers with queries.

Strategy 5: Humanize your chatbot by giving it a name

Giving your chatbot a human-like name can make interactions more personalized and less machine-like.

• Choose a name: Choose a human-like name that reflects your brand's personality and connects with your target audience in real time.

• Use the name in interactions: Ensure the chatbot's name appears in greetings, responses, and customer interactions.

• Train your chatbot: Your chatbot should respond appropriately to inquiries about its name, providing informative responses that align with its persona.

Example: Myntra's chatbot, Maya, offers beauty and fashion suggestions to customers.

To stay ahead, businesses continuously seek innovative strategies to engage customers, enhance sales, and streamline processes. One such solution that has risen to prominence is the chatbot. When coupled with interactive email marketing, chatbots hold immense potential to transform ecommerce operations.

While chatbots focus on real-time interaction, email marketing remains a crucial tool for nurturing customer relationships over time. The advent of interactive emails has revolutionized how ecommerce businesses communicate with their customers.

Unlike traditional emails, interactive emails enable users to interact with the content directly within the email. This could include completing surveys, browsing product images, or purchasing. By eliminating the need for users to visit an external site, interactive emails significantly reduce friction in the purchase process, leading to higher conversion rates.

Confluence of chatbots and email marketing

When chatbots and interactive email marketing work together, they can deliver a more seamless and engaging customer experience. Here's how:

1. Personalized product recommendations: Chatbots can gather customer preferences and behaviors during interactions. This data can then be used to send personalized product recommendations through interactive emails, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

2. Automated follow-ups: Chatbots can trigger automated emails based on specific customer interactions. For example, if a customer leaves items in their online shopping cart, a chatbot can send a personalized, interactive email reminding the customer to complete the purchase.

3. Enhanced customer support: Chatbots can handle common customer queries instantly. If a query requires more detailed assistance, a chatbot can trigger an interactive email with more comprehensive information or further support options.

Sale/Price drop email sequence

An effective strategy to re-engage customers and drive conversions is to send alerts about sales or price drops. Here's a typical sale/price drop email sequence:

1. Announcement email: Inform customers about the sale or price drop, highlighting key products or categories.

2. Reminder email: Send a reminder to those yet to engage with the initial announcement, emphasizing the limited-time nature of the sale.

3. Final call email: Send a reminder a day or two before the sale ends to encourage last-minute purchases.

This sequence can be set up and automated using an Email Service Provider (ESP) like Mailmodo. An example of this sequence can be found here.

New arrival's email sequence

Informing customers about new product launches is another effective strategy to drive engagement and sales. Here's how a new arrivals email sequence might look:

1. Announcement email: Introduce the new products to customers, emphasizing their features and benefits.

2. More informational email: This email is intended to pique customer interest and share additional details or behind-the-scenes insights about the new products.

3. Early bird offer email: If applicable, provide a limited-time offer to encourage early purchases.

4. Nudge email: Before the launch, remind customers about the new products and the limited-time offer to create a sense of urgency.

Again, this sequence can be automated with an ESP. You can view a detailed example here.

Gathering customer feedback through interactive emails

One of the biggest advantages of interactive emails is the ability to gather customer feedback directly within the email. For example, you could send an interactive email asking customers to rate their experience after a chatbot interaction. This allows you to gather valuable feedback and improve your chatbot service.

You can view an example of an interactive feedback email here.

How to implement these strategies: Getting started with Mailmodo

Setting up these sequences and incorporating interactive elements into your emails can be done using an ESP like Mailmodo. With this you can:

1. Create interactive emails: Use the drag-and-drop builder to create emails with forms, carts, calendars, and more.

2. Automate email sequences: Set up and automate your email sequences, customized with your brand assets.

3. Add SMS nodes: Integrate SMS into your email flows for added customer engagement.

By combining the power of chatbots and interactive email marketing, ecommerce businesses can deliver superior customer experiences, drive higher engagement, and ultimately boost sales. As customer expectations evolve, such strategies will become increasingly important in staying competitive in the ecommerce landscape.

Conclusion

Chatbots are revolutionizing the ecommerce industry by enhancing customer interaction, facilitating smooth operations, and ultimately driving sales. As businesses continue to explore the potential of this technology, the future of ecommerce looks more exciting than ever.