Chatbots for Ecommerce: 5 Ways They Can Get You More Sales

Published in

Marketing and Entrepreneurship

7 min readJun 26, 2019

Originally published at https://techbusinessguide.com on June 26, 2019.

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As an ecommerce store owner or operator, do you spend a great deal of time answering basic queries? Such as were can a customer find a product, or questions about shipping and delivery.

Would it not be nice to have software to answer these questions for you?

Chatbots for ecommerce can help you with this and many more problems.

Across many sectors, chatbots have been instrumental in attracting and retaining customers. They bring many powerful advantages that help businesses increase sales.

Would you like to leverage chatbots to give you an edge over the competition?

In this article, we give you some ideas to use chatbots for ecommerce to get more sales.

What Is a Chatbot for Ecommerce?

Chatbots are computer programs capable of making conversations with humans over the internet. Most times you can talk with chatbots via apps such as Facebook Messenger.

Users can interact with chatbots much like they would with any human. They can ask questions, get updates or even get something done.

Take for example the following chatbot that we set up using the Mobile Monkey chatbot builder.

This demo Chatbot that we set up with Mobile Monkey can interact with customers, show the store wares, answer frequently asked questions (FAQ’s), take customers reviews and more.

Did you know that many online platforms like Mobile Monkey allow fast integration of chatbots into your business? Check out our post about 10 free chatbot platforms for superior customer engagement.

In the context of ecommerce, you can find chatbots on the home pages of many web and mobile stores. These agents can communicate with customers in a personalized manner.

More advanced, AI-powered chatbots are capable of voice interaction using natural language processing technology. They can hear and interpret what users are saying. Some chatbots can even interact via pictures.

How Chatbots for Ecommerce Can Help You

Here are 5 ways that chatbots can help your online store make more sales and take it to the next level:

1.- Answer Basic Questions About Products, Shipping and Delivery

Customers can reach an online store knowing what they are going to buy, but still, they need to spend some time searching for the item. When they don’t immediately find what they need, they may ask a customer service agent or leave.

Ecommerce customer service spends much time directing customers towards specific products. They also spend time answering generic questions, such as those about delivery.

These queries are often repetitive; different customers ask the same questions over and over again, a tedious task to customer service agents.

Would it not be nice if you could give both your customers and service agents some help?

Chatbots have the benefit of eliminating the need to search through pages of items. If customers already know what they are looking for, they can ask the chatbot to point them in the right direction, like they would an attendant in a department store.

The interaction with a chatbot is straightforward and intuitive for customers, since they can pick keywords such as “can you help me find,” and then provide a link to a product page.

They ensure timely catering to your customer needs, as chatbots are 24/7 and have no wait times. Also, your customer service agents will thank you for saving them some time to focus on more rewarding tasks.

Of course, if your chatbots end up answering the same questions over and over again, there may be optimization opportunities. Something might not be apparent in the website layout, or you may need to feature a section more prominently. Analytics software can help you track these trends and find improvement opportunities.

2.- Get More Up-Selling and Cross-Selling Opportunities

Once you are talking to your customers with the help of your chatbots, you can take it to the next level. With your chatbot, you can entice customers to buy enhanced product or accessories.

Would it not be nice to help your customers cover these needs (instead of your competitors)? Moreover, increase your sales in the process.

Chatbots can up-sell models with extra or enhanced capabilities. They can also offer related products to the customer.

In addition, chatbots can work in unison with recommendation engines, software programs capable of accessing a database of pre-set product matches. See our article about Market Basket Analysis for more information.

3.- Prevent Cart Abandonment

Cart abandonment occurs when customers add products to their ecommerce carts but then leave without buying.

A variety of factors cause shopping cart abandonment: Reservations about price, uncertainty about the website or the product itself.

Until now, businesses have used email sequences to attempt winning back those lost orders. The disadvantage is that the contact attempt occurs when they have already left.

Would it not be better to have your chatbot resolve objections before customers leave?

A chatbot can step in to help customers complete their purchase or get feedback about why the customer wants to leave.

Chatbots can help you to:

Make relevant questions for customers who are unsure about completing their order.
Answer questions about shipping and delivery.
Offer help to find more suitable products.
Offer incentives such as discounts.

At the very least, chatbots can save transcripts of customers interaction, giving valuable insights into what customers feel is missing. Later, you can use these insights to make improvements.

4.- Make Product Lifecycle Offers

Many products have a predictable consumption cycle. Imagine that your customer is running low on a product, it’s about time to order again, but he doesn’t reorder. He could have forgotten, or he could be considering an offer from one of your competitors.

What actions can you take?

Now imagine that when the customer is running low on supply, or when a gadget that he bought is about to become obsolete, he receives a message asking “How is your supply holding up?” Or “It’s time to buy a new smartphone, here’s a special offer for you.”

Chatbots can help you communicate these reminders and offers in a meaningful and personal way, increasing your chances of retaining customers and making more sales.

Take into account individual customer’s reorder cycles, to send timely messages based on average re-order times.
Pair replenishment messages with subscription programs: Conversation rates for subscription services are higher when customers are already making recurring purchases.

Here are two ideas about how chatbots can help you make product lifecycle orders:

5.- Improve Post-Sales Services

A helpful post-sale service is a great way to foster better relationships with customers. Better customer relationships lead to increase retention and more recurring sales.

Making a post-purchase check-in is a best practice in ecommerce, especially if sold products requires how-to instructions.

Directing the customer to a specific online resource that helps them get the most out of the product.
If the customer is unhappy, the chatbot can direct him or her to a customer service representative.
Asking the customer to rate or review the product, which can be then sent from the bot to social media networks or posted in the online store itself.
Prompt customers to share a review or recommend the product to their friends.

Chatbots can help you make the initial post-sale contact and depending on the response, trigger different customer service flows, for example:

Get More Sales with Chatbots for Ecommerce

Chatbots for ecommerce are becoming the best way to have meaningful, one on one interactions with customers.

Chatbots can help your online business make more sales, through features like helping locate products, answering questions and offer extra products.

In this article, we showed you 5 ways to make it happen. If your partners or employers are still unsure about new artificial intelligence technologies and chatbots, these can be valuable arguments to make your case.

Start using these ideas now to integrate chatbots in your ecommerce business and start getting more sales.

Another way of bringing more sales to your online store is by improving the shopping experience. Check out our post about Ecommerce Chatbots: 10 Ways to Bring Fantastic Shopping Experiences.

Would you like to start integrating chatbots into your business right now? Then, check out our post about 10 free chatbot platforms for superior customer engagement.

Have you tried out chatbots in your online business? In what ways have they helped you boost your sales? Share your comments below.