Chat bots for e-commerce: improving customer service with AI

Before and after

The advent of artificial intelligence has dramatically changed the situation. New technology increased customer support efficiency by 77%. Some firms took advantage of this to increase turnover, while others reduced the cost of maintaining call centers and attracting outsourcers. Text and voice chatbots based on artificial intelligence were a real breakthrough that, on average, increased business profitability by 10%. We will tell you exactly how AI affects customer support.

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Increasing customer loyalty

No one wants to talk to a soulless machine like an answering machine. But most people are willing to have a dialogue with an intelligent robot that mimics natural human speech. Statistics showthat 87% of customers do not see the difference between an operator and a robot on the line. The level of satisfaction with a conversation with a chatbot is even higher by 2%. In surveys, customers say that they feel more relaxed when a car connects to the line: they are not afraid to provoke negative emotions and do not try to comply with social norms of courtesy. A paradoxical situation is emerging: chatbots reduce tension and help people relax. Although it would seem...

One more important statistics concerns the speed of processing requests. On average, chatbots respond to a request in 5 seconds, and an operator in 1.5 minutes. At the same time, every 14 seconds, the probability of receiving a positive feedback decreases by 3— 5%. In surveys, 48% of customers say they trust chatbots more than operators, and another 18% don't see the difference between them.

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The numbers show the unequivocal benefits of AI-based chatbots. By introducing new technology, you increase customer loyalty and improve your brand reputation. Intelligent robots stimulate repeat sales and give an additional impetus to business development.

How exactly can smart chatbots be used in e-commerce?

Providing information about a company, its products and services is the simplest example. In principle, previous generation algorithmic chatbots can also handle it, although they understand complex queries less well and provide the same answers each time. The real potential of AI robots is revealed in other scenarios.

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Collecting customer information

After opening your site, a customer may be interested in the offer but never complete the transaction. It is likely that later he will simply forget about the online store. The solution to the problem is quite simple — to remind yourself.

To do this, connect a chatbot. The dialogue window with him automatically opens 10-30 seconds after the visit. This way you won't spend API tokens on random visitors and annoy those who already plan to return in a while.

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The chatbot will ask for an email or phone number, giving you a small bonus in return. This could be a discount for a new customer, loyalty points, or just a promise of an interesting newsletter. By customizing this offer and generating a unique message for each customer, you will get a high conversion rate.

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Feedback collection

Most information can be obtained “hot on the trail” when a person has just finished interacting with the site. Strong emotions, especially negative ones, motivate him to write a detailed review. If you already have experience in e-commerce, you understand that any feedback, regardless of its emotional tone, will be useful, especially when it contains specific information.

In this case, it is rational to launch the chatbot when you try to leave the page when the cursor approaches the tab's close button. You can show the call to dialogue in a pop-up window, so it's hard to miss it. Artificial intelligence will help you create the right message, taking into account the visitor's behavior. For example, “We noticed that you left an item in your shopping cart. Tell us what you didn't like to see us improve our service in the future!”

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Upselling and cross-selling

Based on research results, selling goods to regular customers is 5 times easier and cheaper than looking for new ones, especially if you entrust this task to artificial intelligence. Modern customer relationship management (CRM) platforms can track every visitor's action on the site. By involving a pre-trained chatbot in this process, you can create an offer that will be very difficult to refuse.

For example, a customer chooses a keyboard in an online computer store. The CRM contains evidence that he also looked at mice or bought such a gadget more than a year ago. This allows you to choose one of the following modes of action:

• link to the mouse category in the store's catalog;
• provide a discount coupon for the purchase of any product from the relevant section;
• recommend a specific mouse model that is optimal for the keyboard.

The chatbot will perform perfectly in all of these scenarios. The choice will depend only on the configuration and functionality of the CRM.

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Sales automation

Many people prefer to shop not on websites, but in messengers and social networks. This is a modern analogue of small convenience stores: they are visited not only for reasons of saving time, but also for live communication with sellers, which supermarkets deprive us of. On the one hand, this trend opens up new opportunities for online stores, and on the other hand, it increases resource costs.

As you may have guessed, chatbots are the solution. They can talk about the store's product range, offer the best product in a particular category, explain in detail the terms of current promotions, and even accept payment. And all this is as polite as possible, without signs of irritation and fatigue from long dialogues. And also — at no extra cost and with the ability to scale the business without restrictions.

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Which chatbot should I choose?

Artificial intelligence has been around for several years, and its developers are providing access to the API to everyone. Therefore, it is not surprising that you can find many services on the Internet for connecting AI chatbots. We will tell you which of them deserve the most attention.

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Tidio

Tidio — hybrid online communication service. It allows you to create intelligent and algorithmic chatbots, as well as connect employees to conversations if necessary. AI in it speaks 7 languages and offers several dozen dialogue scenarios. He continues to learn with every conversation, continuously improving the quality of communications. Another feature of it is small surveys at the start, which allow you to choose the right direction of communication with one click.

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Watermelon

Watermelon uses the latest version of the GPT 4.0 Turbo generative model and plans to upgrade to GPT 4.0o soon. This makes it one of the most effective solutions in its class. Developers estimate that their chatbots currently cover about 96% of e-commerce needs. Watermelon also offers a user-friendly control panel with a minimalist design. Here, a support officer can receive all the necessary information about the customer, from contact details to their emotional level.

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Chatfuel

Chatfuel — an official partner of Meta Corporation. So it's no surprise that the service offers plenty of ready-made chatbots for Instagram and Facebook. Their areas of expertise include sales, customer support, consulting, collecting contact details and working with feedback. An official partnership with Meta means not only seamless social media integration, but also the coveted blue checkmark next to the bot's name that enhances your company's reputation.

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Customers.ai

Customers.ai — more than just a service for creating intelligent chatbots. It has a module for recognizing anonymous buyers that uses its own database and open sources of information. The developers claim that this solution reduces the cost of attracting new customers by 50— 95%. As for the chatbots themselves, they have quite a wide range of functionality: they are engaged in upselling and cross-selling, collecting data and giving out welcome gifts.

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DialogFlow

DialogFlow — an affordable chatbot from Google. Its main feature is a convenient billing system that involves paying for each message without a monthly subscription. This is really effective — you only increase costs when you really scale your business. DialogFlow is quite difficult to integrate. It requires writing code and learning artificial intelligence on your own. On the other hand, large businesses can get the most out of it through fine-tuning.

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Conclusion

Intelligent chatbots are one of the top trends in e-commerce. They significantly reduce the burden on customer support, marketing, and sales departments. Theoretically, today you can launch an online store on your own, transferring up to 90% of communications with customers to artificial intelligence. There are many ready-made solutions available — services that connect in a matter of hours and adapt to your business needs. You can entrust them with sales, collecting contact details, informing customers about current promotions, and many other tasks.

Connecting chatbots is a routine process for large companies, but it is often difficult for small and medium-sized businesses. By contacting Start:Duck, you will receive answers to all your questions regarding the new technology: which service to choose, how to set it up, and what modules should be paid for in a subscription. We will choose the right platform for you by creating custom bots for your needs. Would you like to see how it works? Use the widget on our website to get advice from an AI assistant. He will explain how chatbots and other smart solutions are integrated into different business sectors.