In a world where customer expectations are continually skyrocketing and instantaneous responses are expected, it can be challenging for businesses to deliver an excellent customer service level constantly! With 34% of customers rating their most recent customer experience as “average”, “not very good”, or “terrible”, it is clear that businesses must adapt, and as they say, you snooze, you lose!

So, what if you could talk to customers directly and resolve their problems instantly without having to rely on staff? Sound too good to be true, right? Enter Chatbots! Making shopping easier than ever before, this modern technology brings a host of benefits for both the customer and the business! In this blog, we take a more in-depth look at what exactly chatbots are and the benefits they could bring to your business.

What exactly are chatbots?

A chatbot is essentially a computer program with the appearance of a human online giving you advice or guiding you through a process. For eCommerce businesses, chatbots can assist with…

Customer support
Product recommendations
Order updates
Completing purchases
Post-purchase updates
And much more!

So, what are the business benefits of chatbots?

Provide continuous customer service:

Whether it’s answering a frequently asked question or giving an order update, chatbots mean that businesses can provide around the clock customer service at each step of the buyer journey. For example, a customer may have a question about a product, and they can’t find an answer on the FAQ list; with an instant response, you may reduce the likelihood of them shopping elsewhere and losing out on a sale to a competitor.

Decrease costs:

With a chatbot handling your customer enquiries, this frees up time for you to concentrate on building the business without having to incur the cost of hiring and training customer service assistance. So, the chatbot will be saving you staff costs whilst increasing your conversions – we promise it isn’t too good to be true!

Increase conversions:

Research has found that brands that use chatbots for sales purposes increased sales by an average of 67%, with 26% of all sales starting through a chatbot interaction – now, if increased sales aren’t enough to persuade you, chatbots are the way forward we don’t know what will! By enhancing the pre and post-sale customer experience, chatbots can help to guide the buyer through the customer journey by addressing any potential hesitations and queries. With customer experiences generated at every stage of the customer lifecycle, from pre-sale to customer support, chatbots can also help to retain customers and boost loyalty.

Increase revenue:

Chatbots can help to provide product recommendations and send cart abandonment reminders, and with customers increasingly favouring a personalised experience – they are like the online personal shopper the customer never knew they needed! Thanks to this, chatbots can help to boost average order value and overall revenue.

The future of e-commerce is here, and it’s Chatbot technology. If your brand doesn’t have a Chatbot yet, you’re going to fall behind!

Our team have developed a Chatbot specifically for Shopify stores. If you’d like to explore how this could work for your business, get in touch for a free strategy session today – Sophie@3twelve.co.uk