If you use the internet on a regular basis, there are high chances that you are already familiar with the concept of chatbots. Those who still don’t know what chatbots are are small computer programs that are developed to stimulate the method of human conversation and interact with real people automatically to assist them with their issues and finish their tasks.

69% of consumers prefer to use chatbots for the speed at which they can communicate with a brand. In fact, 58% of B2B and 42% of B2C companies use a chatbot on their websites. While the chatbots are making a difference in various industries with their effectiveness, the eCommerce industry is benefitting the most from the use of chatbots.

Here are 7 effective ways chatbot technology is revolutionising eCommerce:

• Improving user experience:

Adding conversational bots into your eCommerce system has the potential of simplifying the user experience of the website. An example will help you understand how chatbots can improve the customer experience. Sephora, one of the top beauty product brands, has recently released its personal assistance bot integrated with messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger and Kik.

This assistant bot of Sephora allows users to try new looks and beauty products from the brand. The user only needs to provide his/her images, and the bots give the person a clear idea of how a shade of a new lipstick would look on them. This saves the user from the trouble of visiting a physical store. Needless to say, this takes the user experience to a whole new level.

• Better customer service:

Providing useful customer support should be the number one priority for every business.  A business is nothing without its customers. So, a brand needs to put everything they got to achieve cent per cent client satisfaction rate. You will be surprised to know that chatbots do a great job at assisting customers with their doubts and queries and boosting client satisfaction rate.

A significant number of companies have started to include bots in their business strategy to improve their customer service. Since it is challenging for brands to offer customer support 24×7, including chatbots into the mix can solve that problem. In fact, the customers can get support at late hours as well as on weekends. This certainly helps the brand gain the trust of the customers.

• More accurate product recommendations:

With the emergence of IoT devices, especially the voice search-enabled smart devices, the way people shop online is changing. However, one of the biggest highlights in this area has been the incorporation of chatbots into the home devices and appliances.

LG’s SmartThinq Home Automation hub while being integrated with Amazon Alexa lets you have great control over your home appliances. For example, the bots will automatically estimate the detergent amount needed for your laundry and reorder it automatically when required. As you can guess, plagiarism checker this amalgamation of technologies has limitless possibilities. Same goes for conversational bots and online shopping.

• Automating the lead generation process:

Ecommerce businesses often have a medium to a large inventory, which can be difficult for the customers to navigate through while searching for an item. Chatbots can help lead customers to what they need and make things simpler for everyone. Since the chatbots are highly scalable, it enables you to initiate a conversation with website users and isolate the interested users.

Things may escalate to another level when natural language processing and AI are added to a bot’s workflow. In such scenarios, the bots actually perform better at lead generation than regular human agents. We may get to see more chatbots in the area of sales enablement. They generally gather and store customer data over time and automate data transmission to sales teams for closing the deals.

• Helping mine customer data:

Customers share a lot of data with a brand without realising whether they are having a conversation with a human or bot at the other end. These chatbots store a great amount of consumer data, including the past purchase record and buying habits over a period of time. So, the next time the same customer visits the website or store, the data helps provide a smooth user experience and makes the conversion easier.

Rich consumer data also allows the brands to produce more accurate ways to advertise their products/services to the customers. Knowing the customer’s habits and purchase history allows the brand to estimate the person’s future moves. Presenting the right advertisements to the customers at the right time will improve the chances of conversion and sales.

• Rewarding customer loyalty:

Most businesses spend a lot of money on customer loyalty programs, rewarding their loyal customers and converting them into brand advocates. While there is nothing wrong with this strategy, the chatbots are taking the matter of rewarding customer loyalty to a new level. Popular brands like Burberry and Audemars Piguet are already doing that.

The bots at the Burberry’s website allow the users to check “Behind the Scenes” looks from fashion shows, and also buy the apparels directly from the app. Customers can also engage in live chat with a company agent. The bots used by Audemars Piguet let the users browse through the best watch collections, asses all the features of the individual watches, and find the nearest store to try those items in real life. In other words, the bots can make loyal customers feel valued.

• Closing a sale:

In today’s date, most businesses still prefer to assign a live agent or representative to complete the sale. However, the scenario is changing gradually. Chatbots now have the potential to sell directly and place the orders for users without the need of any human assistance. Even though people used to criticise bots earlier for their inability to close sales, things have changed drastically in the last few years.

In fact, more and more people are choosing chatbots to complete sales. There is a specific type of bots called sales chatbots which are being implemented by companies to improve their sales funnel. They also offer the feature to follow up with clients who could not have been converted in the first attempt.

In conclusion,

Adopting chatbots for your business is a lot more cost-effective than you think. Unlike human agents, chatbots are easy to manage. So, if you have not considered using chatbots for your business, it is the perfect time to incorporate this technology into your business strategy. This will help you take advantage of the changes chatbots are bringing to the world of eCommerce.