Serving customers well is a premise of any business, whether physical or e-commerce. However, in online stores, contact by traditional means - telephones or e-mail - can often take time and not be as efficient as the internet requires. For this reason, one solution to improve customer service is to adopt the use of chatbots in e-commerce.
But do you know what chatbots are and why they are a trend in the digital market? The answer to these questions is in today's article. In it we will explain what these tools are, how to use them in e-commerce and especially what their benefits are. Check it out!
What are Chatbots?
Chatbots are types of software whose function is to simulate a real customer service employee through messages. Basically, they talk to people inside your platform, the same way they would if they were a real person.
This system, although often compared to the performance of a robot, due to its automation, has the differential of providing a friendly service, which increases the practicality of the service, reduces time and improves the user experience.
How to Use Chatbots in E-Commerce?
Imagine that the customer made a purchase or has a question about a specific product and needs to contact the e-commerce store. By traditional methods, he may be faced with a page where he fills out a form with his data, writes the message and waits for the company to contact him. This format of communication between the two parties can take days and even cause you to lose the sale!
Thus, chatbots are interesting options within e-commerce, because they can facilitate this intermediation, using for this the communication platforms already adopted by the customer, such as Messenger (Facebook), Whatsapp, and Telegram. This also avoids the need to install new applications that can be discarded after the problem is solved.
In general, we can say that there are two types of chatbots: those based on fixed rules and others whose basis is artificial intelligence.
The system based on fixed rules can identify keywords indicated by the user himself and directs his demand to the specific content. This becomes clear if we think that, within a company, there may be doubts that are more common and frequent. The system also facilitates the communication strategy and speeds up the process of solving doubts.
The chatbot system, on the other hand, relies on artificial intelligence; the software is designed to interpret sentences, which can be both written and spoken by the customer, and from there, create answers and solve problems. This type of system allows the robot to learn from each question solved and, over time, become more independent and able to better serve the public.
This type of service is a trend throughout the virtual marketplace and in some cases can solve up to 90% of customer contact events. However, they do not (and should not) completely replace human work. In many situations, talking directly to the customer is necessary to better understand the problem and propose solutions.
What Benefits for Your Online Store?
Now that you know what chatbots are and how to use them in e-commerce, how about understanding the benefits of their use? Discover below some of the main advantages of the system.
Reduced waiting time
For most companies, serving a very high number of people simultaneously is a great challenge and is not always possible. This situation results in a queue both to talk on the phone and to answer the chat. Besides being unpleasant, this type of service brings financial losses to the business since it requires recruiting a lot of staff and spending a lot of service time.
As a solution, the automatic chats present a great performance in solving customers' problems faster, redirecting to the attendant only the most specific cases of doubts. In addition, the service software works 24 hours a day, reducing waiting time and financial expense.
Greater convenience
By integrating with platforms already used for communication, chatbots have the advantage of being more practical and convenient than other forms of attendance, and can be used on mobile devices that are always within reach.
Personalized service
Chatbots can process large amounts of information. They capture and manage user behavior information such as name, previous purchases, and interests, in order to offer specific services to the person and still make the service more personalized.
This mechanism ensures greater satisfaction, which increases the chances of purchase, and also provides targeted solutions to your needs in a short period of time.
Improved experience
When the virtual business is focused on the user, one of the most significant measures is the type of experience offered. Thus, chatbots in e-commerce offer interesting alternatives since no one wants to waste time spending hours searching for a product or waiting to talk to an attendant on the phone.
In other words, besides the economy, chatbots are important tools capable of enhancing the user experience.
Automating sales and collections
With the integration of chatbots in communication platforms, it is possible to automate sales and even billing processes.
Thus, such services can be performed through WhatsApp, for example, without the need for an employee to coordinate the action.
Higher volume of sales achieved
With all the relevant benefits listed so far, we can say that another great advantage for the use of this software is that it can also increase the conversions of your virtual store due to the improvement in service, speed, and by the customization of the service offered.
With all this, it is normal that the customer feels more comfortable and confident to make the purchase in your e-commerce.
The use of chatbots in e-commerce is a trend that came to modernize the way we deal with users and is already used by thousands of companies worldwide.
Have you thought about applying this system in your virtual store? What is your experience with it? Tell us about it here in the comments!
