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5 Ways Retailers Can Use Chatbots to Spark Sales

26 September, 2019 | 4 min read
CEO & Co-founder
Iranthi Gomes

Retail therapy is for real and your customers are out there trying to engage with your business as they try to overcome some stressors, but sadly most businesses deliver the opposite of that. Not sure what I am talking about? Imagine a customer comes to your website or app in search of a particular product but isn’t able to find it, is not able to track their order, or has challenges finding discount coupons, there is a high probability that they would leave the website or app. While a few do come back and check later, the rest is lost, in the worst-case scenario, they’ve done business with your competitor. 

The most common approach that businesses take is by doing a follow-up of the abandoned cart or remarketing, but that is possible only if your customer entered their details, added products to their cart, and left before buying. Or if they were looking for a particular product using some search keywords, but how do you help your customers find the products they want even before they search for something?

Chatbots could be of assistance here. Imagine your visitors finding help right when they need it, even before they ask for it? Interesting right?

Here are 5 Ways Retailers Can Use Chatbots to Spark Sales. 

 

  • Instant Responses:

According to the results published by “The State of Chatbots Report, 2018” around 55% of the respondents said they use chatbots for receiving instant information and detailed responses to their problems. Chatbots can search through your entire product database, the customer’s shopping history, publicly available information on demographics, and much more to provide instant responses, shopping suggestions, and much more. All of which would take an agent several minutes and multiple questions. The ease of finding help round the clock is what motivates the millennials to shop online on websites that offer chat assistance.

 

  • Updates and Notifications:

As your website visitors browse through your website, you may update your deals, descriptions, and add products, all the while, your bots could provide real-time updates to your visitors about the new deals and discounts to your users.Your bot can showcase the deals in a personalized fashion based on the user’s cookie preferences and ad-blockers to ensure that the visitors do not miss out on the exclusive incentives being offered to them. This is a great way to retain customers on your website or have them coming back for more as they know that there would be fresh deals every time they visit your website and that they would be updated about it through your engaging bot.

 

  • Source Feedback:

After your customer has used a product or a service it is important for you as a business to gather information. One of the most efficient ways to do this is by employing your bot to gather feedback. ServiceForm enables you to program your bot in such a way that it sends out the automated survey, post-purchase communication, etc.The data gathered from the feedback forms can be instantly embedded into the system, analyzed, and used for improvement for customer service in the future. Customers are constantly looking for engaging content on the website and services that simplify their shopping experiences, so use chatbots to understand what your customers need and deliver it for them! 

 

  • Shopping Assistance:

The Opus Research reports estimate a whopping $4.5 billion investments in the chatbots by the year 2021. One major reason for this being the customer service efficiency that chatbots bring along. If you are a business owner who is wondering how you could make the most out of your chatbot investment, remember to keep it simple! An AI-powered customer care solution that works to address your customer’s problems is a priority over a fancy bot with a personality. Statista reports in 2018 found that over 47% of the adult internet users in the US believed that chatbots had a lot of unhelpful responses. The reason for this could be the fact that most businesses are focusing on building a bot that has a personality that matches their brand more than a bot that understands their brand and customers. Serviceform, a chatbot provider can help you customize your bot’s response with real-time data, customer behavior, and much more.

 

  • Omnichannel assistance:

Your website visitor or app user might not always want to shop online. There might be businesses that need to be done by visiting a physical store, while a few others that can be accessed only through social media? How do you handle all the inflow of information and ensure that your agents provide the same service to your customers? Impossible right? A chatbot can pick up on where your customer left the chat, provide real-time assistance, and also guide them to your physical store by fixing an appointment if needed. This would bring in the human element to your bot and ensure that your customers are engaged from start to finish of their buying journey. 

 

Do you need assistance in setting up a bot for your business or have further queries? Drop me a message.