Facebook is an indispensable tool for marketers. Facebook Messenger is used by nearly 900 million people. A year ago, Facebook launched a suite of amazing features for its Messenger platform. Interestingly, a few bots were launched to take user-experience to the best level. Facebook understood the importance of conversational commerce of which chatbots are an integral part.
Chatbots can send and receive messages on behalf of ecommerce merchants. This is done by a mechanism called NLP – Natural-Language Processing. NLP is all about turning structured sentences into data. What astonishes and attracts us is that the functionality of chatbots is not limited to processing text.
The functionality of chatbots goes beyond texts. They can be used to identify the items in a mobile shopping cart, send invoices, and process images in image galleries. Chatbots are the next big thing in ecommerce business. Here are a few reasons why you should have an ecommerce chatbot.
Improved lead generation and conversion on mobiles
The global add-to-cart conversion rate for ecommerce stores on desktops is 12.5%, but for ecommerce stores on mobiles, it stands at 9.4%. Despite spending enough time on smartphones, people are skeptical of making purchases on them. What works excellently though is messaging. So, mobile ecommerce is incomplete without messenger bots or chatbots. Chatbots provide the best shopping experiences to customers by discussing their needs, requirements, and doubts.
Available 24/7
Customer care is important and cannot be discounted. Here is an interesting fact – People spend an estimated 13 minutes on an average until they are assigned an operative. To expect audiences to wait for seven long minutes is unfair. If anything, chatbots are revolutionizing this department.
Live chat, emails, and phone calls are now being replaced by chatbots. Chatbots are elements of AI (Artificial Intelligence). This necessarily means they can work round-the-clock without taking a break. The question of unavailability of chatbots can, therefore, be dismissed.
An affordable investment
Ecommerce entrepreneurs go to the extreme lengths of hiring a lot of customer support staff to cater to the requirements of audiences. Salary of an employee conflates fixed component, variable component, performance-based component etc. Thanks to chatbots, ecommerce businesses can reduce down on staff. That said, complex queries should be escalated to customer support agents.
100% satisfaction
Human behavior entails various kinds of emotions. More often than not, humans tend to react based on their mood, motivational levels, and attitude. An agent with very high motivational levels and positive attitude is likely to talk to customers in a pleasant way. Customers will not be happy with moody staff.
Chatbots, on the other hand, are programmed to perform beyond expectations and no manner what, customers are always greeted politely. In industries such as travel and hospitality, chatbots can be programmed to communicate the requested information in the native language of the traveler. This necessarily means that chatbots facilitate cross-border commerce.
Automation of repetitive tasks
The best thing about chatbots is that they are intelligent. They learn and evolve from customer interactions. Humans hate monotonous and mundane work. They get vexed doing the same tasks again and again. They are prone to make errors owing to the lack of interest.
Chatbots are different. They are capable of automating tasks which are to be frequently done and at the right time. For instance, once a customer purchases an item from your eCommerce store, chatbots shall send a customized “thank you” message. This shall result in a terrific post-purchase customer experience.
How to build a Chatbot?
Chatbots can be built in either of the following ways:
Configuration with your ecommerce app: If your ecommerce store is accessible on a mobile app, configure the chatbots with the application. A single click integration is also possible.
Integrate them inside messenger: If your ecommerce store has a built-in messaging system, integrate the chatbots inside messenger.
Chatbots are personal assistants. Right from giving product recommendations to informing customers of latest discounts and offers, chatbots are capable of doing almost everything.
About the author: Jessica Bruce is a professional blogger, guest writer, Influencer & an eCommerce expert. Currently associated with ShopyGen as a content marketing strategist. She also reports on the latest happenings and trends associated with the eCommerce industry. Follow her on Twitter @Jessicabruc