Chatbots are not new in ecommerce. Major retailers have been using chatbots for years now. However, many businesses are still figuring out how (and if) chatbots help enhance the ecommerce shopping experience. Since you are reading this, I’m assuming you, too, have a similar question.
In this article, we will discuss:
- What are chatbots?
- Why do you need chatbots (with statistics)?
- Present and future of chatbots
- How do chatbots help improve customer experience and shopping experience?
- How can chatbots help boost ecommerce conversions?
Let’s get started.
What are chatbots?
Chatbots are an application that uses natural language processing (NLP) to communicate with customers. They can interact based on a set of predefined conditions, triggers, and events.
Though chatbots serve a variety of purposes, they are primarily used in customer service. They answer simple questions and doubts, even outside your business hours.
There are various benefits of using chatbots for business, such as:
- They provide consistent responses every time.
- They can respond to customers’ queries immediately, irrespective of the time or day of the week.
- They help you collect critical customer data, such as customers’ requirements and expectations.
- Offers personalized experiences to customers.
- Automates day-to-day business processes and enables your support agent to concentrate on more complex issues.
Chatbot stats
These statistics indicate the importance of chatbots and why you should implement them on your ecommerce website.
Have a look at chatbots statistics from 99firms.
- Chatbots are predicted to drive ecommerce transactions worth $122 billion by 2023.
- By 2023, chatbots will save 2.5 billion hours for businesses and consumers.
- 74% of shoppers say they use conversational bots to research or buy products.
- 90% of businesses report faster complaint resolution with the use of chatbots for customer service.
Now combine the above stats with the facts from FinancesOnline.
- 69% of customers prefer chatbots for receiving an instant response.
- 41% of consumers believe chatbots provide a better customer experience.
- 67% of US millennials purchase from brands through a chatbot.
Now that you know the importance of chatbots, it’s high time to implement them in your online store. EvinceDev can help you with ecommerce web development and chatbot implementation.
Chatbots Now and In Our Future
Consumers expect to find the information they are looking for in a click. When this isn’t possible, the frustration increases, leading to a loss of sales.
A business insider report predicts that consumer retail spending via chatbots globally will reach $142 billion by 2024, up from $2.8 billion in 2019.
Additionally, an Oracle survey indicates that over 80% of businesses currently use chatbots or plan to use them by 2020. Another survey shows that chatbot usage increased by 92.5% from 2019 to 2020.
These numbers show that chatbots will only increase in the coming years and become an integral part of every ecommerce business.
How can chatbots improve customer experiences?
In a recent survey conducted by Drift, Audience, Salesforce, and Clever, they asked thousands of customers to evaluate their online experience. The top five most frustrating things about the online experience are:
Sites hard to navigate (34%).
- Can’t get answers to simple questions (31%).
- Basic details about a business are hard to find (28%).
- It takes too long to find services (27%).
- Poorly designed smartphone apps (26%).
The good thing is customer service chatbots solve a majority of these problems. They help provide quick answers in an emergency, resolve a complaint, find a human customer service assistant (for complex queries), and get ideas for purchases. 
With the improvement in chatbots, it will further enhance the overall customer experience. In fact, organizations report a reduction of up to 70% in call, chat, and email inquiries after implementing a virtual assistant.
How can chatbots improve the shopping experience?
When it comes to shopping, chatbots can interact with customers, understand their requirements, suggest products, and place orders from a single discussion.
This reduces the time shoppers require to scroll and sort through a list of products. Instead, they can navigate directly to the products that meet their needs. This level of convenience elevates the standard shopping experience.
Here is another example of how chatbot does a great job in improving the shopping experience. It begins by asking a few questions, such as if the customer wants to see men’s or women’s clothing and what kind of apparel they prefer.
How do chatbots improve eCommerce conversions?
As mentioned above, the retail spend via chatbots globally will reach $142 billion by 2024, up from $2.8 billion in 2019. This indicates that more and more people will buy products using chatbots in the coming years.
Here are some ways how eCommerce chatbots improve conversions:
- It allows you to check out within the chat, eliminating the multiple steps required to buy the product.
- Chatbots answer common customer queries instantly, such as return policies, size charts, and more. This eliminates the last-minute obstacles and makes customers confident about purchasing from you.
- It engages customers and reminds them about abandoned carts whenever they visit your website.
- It can offer returning customers special offers to encourage them to purchase from you.
- It assists them outside business hours and helps them with buying. This means your business handles customers’ queries and increases conversions while you’re at home enjoying family time.
Building a Next-Generation Chatbot
Chatbots improve customer experience and generate sales. However, not all chatbots are the same. Therefore, you need to choose your eCommerce website developer carefully.
EvinceDev provides eCommerce businesses with high-quality websites with chatbots that can answer your buyers’ queries, generate more sales, and enhance the overall shopping experience. These chatbots employ natural language processing to understand human language better and assist them with highly relevant answers.
Wrapping Up
Chatbots have become an integral part of eCommerce businesses. They allow customers to get answers to their queries 24/7. For retailers, they reduce the pressure on their support team and boost conversions. Have you implemented chatbots on your online store? If not, what’s stopping you? Contact EvinceDev today to see how we can help you grow your eCommerce business!