The chatbot, a computer program created in 2016 and which interacts with the customer as with a human, is used by most customer services. This interaction can take place through instant messaging interfaces or via voice assistants as is the case with Google Home. But is it still as effective? Why integrate a chatbot into your e-commerce?
E-commerce, a very competitive sector
E-commerce is a very competitive sector. The figures published by the FEVAD (Fédération E-commerce et vente à distance) on e-commerce also highlight the importance of this sector, which weighed 100 billion euros in turnover in 2019.
This sector even exploded during the Covid-19 pandemic and the long months of confinement that resulted from it, as consumers had to adapt to the impossibility of going out to do their shopping. They have thus become accustomed to making their purchases online. And contrary to what one might think, contact between customers and the e-commerce site will be made by chatbots in 2022 in more than 84% of cases.
All the advantages of a chatbot for an e-commerce
Having a chatbot or conversational agent on your website offers many advantages, explaining its success with e-commerce companies.
Guarantee the availability of the service
Consumers who decide to take action via a call-to-action on an e-commerce site are first won over by the quality of the user experience and the browsing experience on the site and the reception first. But one of the decisive elements in their choices is availability. This is one of the advantages of a conversational agent, because it responds to the customer in a very short time and regardless of the time at which it is requested. A customer who obtains information or answers to his questions very quickly is a loyal customer.
Improve customer reception
As we said earlier, the quality of the reception is one of the criteria that seduce the customer on an e-commerce site. The chatbot can be an undeniable asset on a platform, especially for visitors who do not yet know the structure of the site and who may feel a little confused. As a good assistant, he first welcomes them so that newcomers feel more at ease. Then, depending on their queries, it redirects them to the appropriate page, thus encouraging them to go further in their research.
Reduce customer service workload
Responding to customers is a time-consuming and energy-intensive activity. The conversational assistant thus helps the customer support team to lighten their daily workload. This option is all the more interesting with regard to night visits, because the next day, it will no longer have to process the requests received during this period. It should not be forgotten that more than 60% of people making online purchases do so in the evening or on weekends. It is therefore essential to be at their disposal so that they are not tempted to go to sites that are much more attentive to them.
Automate responses to the most frequent queries
To remain competitive, a business must take steps to cope with an increase in the number of people using e-commerce sites. To unclog the service, some responses must be automated. The chatbot can thus identify the most frequent requests and respond to them without the intervention of a third party. This will allow the company to use its human resources to solve problems requiring a more personal approach and greater skills in specific areas. According to recent statistics, 74% of customers continue to put people first in these scenarios.
Satisfy customers and reduce customer service management costs
The goal of an e-commerce business is to satisfy customers. To do this, she must at all costs prevent them from making too many requests, especially if they are negative. Indeed, more requests than customers are a sign of their dissatisfaction with the products offered or the services offered. The solution ? The chatbot. It reduces the frequency of contact between customers and customer service, thus reducing the related management costs. This better cost management is essential for the proper functioning of an e-commerce site, the savings made being invested in other items.
Process requests and receive supporting documents
If the company has a physical store, the customer can go there when he has complaints to make or documents to submit. Pure players have to process everything online. It is therefore necessary for them to be able to receive all documents in this way, whether they are supporting documents, such as invoices, purchase orders or photos.
This option is possible on certain chatbots in which customer management software (CRM or Customer Relationship Management) is integrated and those which are intended for the automation of the various administrative processes between the different services or departments of a company. It does not need the intervention of a third party for the reception, classification or edition of these documents. It will be based on a form that the client fills in beforehand.
Optimize reception thanks to proactive messaging
The customer experience on an online sales site is not necessarily the same as in a physical store. In the latter, as soon as they enter, a salesperson greets the customer with a smile, a hello and questions him about his needs or what he is looking for. However, it is essential that the customer finds this warmth in the chatbot (taking into account, however, that most customers prefer that the artificial intelligence and robotic side is not hidden).
Thus, when the customer lands on the landing page and does not leave it immediately, proactive messaging is triggered. The chatbot makes sure to anticipate the contact between the customer and the site. As soon as the prospect consults the latter and stops there for a specific period of time, the conversational agent sends him notifications in order to encourage him to continue the discussion. This process establishes a climate of trust between the company and the customer or future customer.
Establish a relationship of trust and sell more
Trust between a customer and a business is one of the main conversion factors. The customer tends to be much more interested in the products offered. He carries out related research and obtains information from the company. But for these different steps to lead to a purchase, he will want to obtain clear, satisfactory and above all immediate answers.
The chatbot is not only intended to converse with the customer. He also helps him with personalized advice so that he can find the product that meets his exact needs. To go further, it can be directed to complementary products based on the answers to increasingly refined questions.
A person who wishes to buy a vehicle engine, for example, will not hesitate to find on the same site the accessories necessary for its proper functioning, such as gaskets and cylinder head bolts, or even seals, camshaft. She will therefore be directed by the conversational agent to the part of the site where she can acquire them. This step-by-step support is a way for the company to build customer loyalty, while making additional sales.
Build a database to better understand customers and adapt offers
The chatbot is not only responsible for responding to customers. It is also responsible for recording and analyzing their purchasing habits, but also the type of request they make most frequently. By developing a database of their purchasing behavior, the company is much better able to meet their expectations, adapt its offers and improve its services. The chatbot can also, to a certain extent, guide the customer towards the offer that most closely matches his requirements. By helping him to orient himself on the site, but also towards the products in adequacy with his research, the conversational agent is a major asset in the marketing strategy of the company.
to summarize
Having a chatbot solves customer support bottlenecks and allows the team to handle requests that require human intervention, due to their complexity. It is not only intended for the reception of the customer, it can also take care of certain procedures of transmission or reception of documents. This is an important element in decision support for customers who have difficulty finding the item of their choice or who are hesitant to purchase it.
Having a chatbot is therefore advantageous in more than one respect. It also allows you to obtain feedback from customers and reduce the processing time of requests. The fact remains that for the company, the combination between the intelligent conversational assistant and the human customer support contributes to optimizing the performance of customer service and, in the process, to better retaining customers.