As an online merchant, it is becoming increasingly crucial to provide a seamless and positive customer experience throughout their shopping journey. Keeping customers engaged pre- and post-purchase throughout different touch points (your store, social media, email, and chat) is getting more difficult.
Enter the solution—ecommerce chatbots. Using chatbots is one of the ecommerce trends ecommerce businesses would be wise to implement as soon as possible. A Business Insider Intelligence report predicts that global retail spending via chatbots will reach $142 billion by 2024.
In this guide, we will guide you through how to choose the right chatbot for ecommerce, why you need one, and our recommendation for the best ecommerce chatbot for your online store.
What’s an Ecommerce chatbot?
An ecommerce chatbot is software powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that can simulate conversational language (human-like) to engage shoppers throughout their buying journey. You can use these chatbots to answer customer inquiries in real-time, improve the user experience, and increase sales.
Why You Need to Use an Ecommerce Chatbot
Customer Support
Consumers expect omnichannel shopping experiences these days and businesses to be available 24/7 to answer any of their questions. While human agents can provide support around the clock, it can get expensive. Moreover, there are seasonal fluctuations, so staffing can also be a challenge. With chatbots, you can guarantee quality support for your customers 24/7.
Data Collection (Lead Generation and Customer Insight)
Ecommerce chatbots can also collect user data or customer information. You can use this data for personalization, business development, and marketing strategy. If you have customer relationship management software (CRM), the information you gather from your ecommerce chatbots can be saved under each respective customer so you gain deeper insights.
Marketing
Chatbots can be used to disseminate information about upcoming deals, new products, and store promotions. What's better, smart chatbots can segment customers who are more likely to convert when receiving special promotions.
Engagement through open and click rates can be done so you can tailor your marketing accordingly.
Boost Sales
Chatbots can remind customers of their abandoned shopping carts, follow up on special promotions, and make personalized product recommendations based on user intent and past conversations. They can also perform shopping cart assistance and upsell and cross-sell.Reduce Operational Costs and Increase Operational Efficiency
As mentioned earlier, having a team of human agents can be costly, and chatbots can reduce your operational costs. This way, you can focus on more important aspects of your ecommerce business.
3 Types of Chatbots for Ecommerce
Chatbots are continuously evolving, so there are different types of chatbots that perform a range of functions for one’s business. Chatbots can be broadly categorized into these types:
Simple Chatbots
These chatbots are the most basic and have limited functions. Also called rule-based bots, simple chatbots are very task-specific and are for simple and straightforward actions, dialogues, or scripts only.
For example, a simple chatbot in an online store can only answer questions based on a knowledge base or predetermined options. It cannot understand context from previous conversations or customer interactions.
A specific use case for a simple chatbot is order tracking. A customer enters the order number and the chatbot provides an update or a tracking URL based on the script or dialogue you set.
Smart AI Chatbots
Smart chatbots are more advanced than rule-based chatbots. They are developed using conversational AI to understand context, intent, and human interactions so they can respond better. They can draw inferences from previous interactions to simulate free-flowing conversations.
A great example of this kind of chatbot would be virtual shopping assistants. In a beauty store, a customer can ask for recommendations on a specific product, and the chatbot can understand the message and reply based on a particular concern—anti-aging, brightening, and more. Apple’s voice assistant, Siri, is similar to it.
Related: 12 Best AI Chatbots For Ecommerce in 2024
Hybrid Chatbots
Leveraging the functions of a rule-based and AI-based chatbot, hybrid chatbots simplify use cases. They are set up with rule-based tasks but are taught to understand context and user intent to deliver a human-like response.
A good example of this would be when you order pizza through chat, the bot can walk you through the necessary decisions for ordering (size, crust, and toppings), but can also ask preferences (if you want your pizza to be sweet or spicy, for example) so it can recommend.
How to Create a Chatbot for an Ecommerce Website using VanChat
Here at VanChat, we wanted to develop an AI chatbot specifically developed for Shopify stores. We made sure that you can install it without the need for coding (just get it from the Shopify App store and click Install) but you can also develop or customize the platform.Here is how to create or customize your VanChat chatbot:
1. From your Shopify admin, go to Apps and search for VanChat.
2. Choose the app and click Install.
3. Once installed, access the app in your Shopify admin > Apps. VanChat should show up as one of the installed apps.
4. To install, enter your email address.
5. This will trigger a setup wizard where VanChat will ask you a few things about your ecommerce business.
6. Customize your AI shopping assistant according to your brand—no coding knowledge is required.
7. To activate the chatbot, you will then be asked to choose from any of VanChat’s subscription plans.
8. Once subscribed, you will gain access to the VanChat dashboard from your Shopify admin.
How to Choose the Right Chatbot Platform for Ecommerce
When choosing the best ecommerce chatbot, consider its features, integrations, customization options, and scalability. Check its user interface and test for accessibility and intuitiveness. Its analytics feature should be insightful and offer a wide range of reports.
Features
It is important that the chatbot’s features are what your business needs. If you are looking for a simple automated response for order tracking, you won’t go for a complex AI shopping assistant. Conversely, if you need insights and personalized recommendations, prepare to invest in robust paid plans of chatbot platforms.
Go with the chatbot that gives the most value for money. We recommend those that have provisions for unlimited users, a user-friendly dashboard, a customizable chatbot, and plenty of integrations.
Integrations
A good chatbot integrates with all the software you use for your online store, allowing for cohesive operation management. Check for integrations on all your messaging platforms, too, like social media platforms and SMS. If so, only go with chatbots that provide multi-channel capabilities and support.
Customizations
Go for chatbot platforms that give you out-of-the-box solutions but have an option for custom development.
Scalability
We recommend using an app that offers subscription plans that can accommodate your business’s growing needs as you scale.
Common Challenges of Ecommerce Chatbots and How to Overcome Them
Even with advanced technology and development, chatbots still need a lot of improvement. While it can help boost sales and streamline operations, it comes with its own set of challenges.
We outline common challenges below and give tips on how to overcome them.
Handling complex customer queries
This is one that can result in an unpleasant customer experience—when a customer gets default or, worse, totally unrelated answers to their questions.
Solution: Use AI-based chatbots. Artificial intelligence is trainable, which allows chatbots to learn about context, infer from past chat conversations, and be able to respond and even solve complex customer concerns.
Ensuring data privacy and security
Consumers are very concerned about privacy these days. They are also sometimes very distrusting of technology, so you need to instill trust at the onset of the chat experience.
Solution: When a customer initiates a chat conversation, include a privacy and security statement (a short one will suffice) in your welcome message. Go with platforms that have solid, defined, and outlined privacy policies.
Maintaining a natural and engaging conversation
A common complaint about chatbots is that consumers feel they are talking to a robots and not “real” humans.
Solution: Again, go with smart chatbots! Test for NLP capabilities when comparing chatbot apps. It is also crucial to train and educate your chatbot consistently. Chatbots cannot produce information that they are not fed with (or set up with).
Integrating with other business systems
An omnichannel shopping journey is the norm in today’s consumer landscape. Consumers demand and expect consistent experiences when interacting with your brand. This is why chatbots need to have a single system so they can derive conversations from other platforms and connect them with the same customer.
Solution: Check a chatbot app’s available integrations and ensure all your business software and messaging platforms are included.
These days, you can easily get an ecommerce chatbot for your online store by subscribing to any of the ecommerce chatbot apps. Shopify, for example, has an extensive list of chatbot apps available in its App Store. We round up the best ones in our article about the best AI chatbots for Shopify.
How Vanchat Can Help with Your Ecommerce Chatbot
VanChat is a Chat GPT-powered AI shopping assistant and customer service bot built specifically for Shopify stores. It gives accurate and human-like responses to customer queries, ensuring a great customer experience. It also offers personalized product recommendations and proactive sales engagement, contributing to a boost in sales revenue for your store.
Auto learning capabilities
VanChat is inherently equipped with self-learning capabilities, but you can also supplement more knowledge about your store in the Knowledge Base. It can automatically read text, pictures, and other information on your Shopify store. This lets it obtain product information, store policies, and other important data without the need for "feeding" or "training". You can also upload documents (PDF, Excel, and other files) outside your store to enhance its knowledge base.
Personalized recommendations
Because of its self-learning feature, VanChat can quickly learn product information to recommend suitable products and provide suggestions on product comparison, pairing, and size selection.
Proactive sales
VanChat can be configured to pop up and suggest products in your Shopify store to visiting customers. It can recommend best sellers or new products and even offer the latest store discounts or promotions.
FAQs
Can chatbots be used for ecommerce?
Yes, definitely. Chatbots can help online merchants provide 24/7 customer support to their customers, answering queries, providing order status updates, and boosting sales by recommending products, delivering special promotions, and gathering feedback.
How do I use Chat GPT for ecommerce?
Chat GPT is an AI generative tool that can help online merchants develop product descriptions, craft website copy, and generate emails for sending to their customers.
How do I create a chatbot for my ecommerce website?
Determine your needs and research what chatbot platform is best for your business. If you have the budget, you can hire a developer to develop a chatbot for your site, but most chatbot platforms can be customized to match one’s brand already. For example, VanChat is an AI ecommerce chatbot for Shopify stores that you can install from the Shopify App Store. Branding can be easily customized from the Shopify admin, too, once installed—no need for coding.
How do I integrate a chatbot into my website?
Chatbots come with pre-built integrations with most websites and ecommerce platforms. All you have to do is click Install, and you can set up the chatbot on your website already. Chatbot platforms come with specific instructions.
Conclusion
Ecommerce chatbots can be simple, smart, or a hybrid of both. We recommend going with an ecommerce chatbot that not only handles customer queries but also helps with your sales process. In short, ecommerce chatbots hugely contribute to boosting your overall customer satisfaction.
The best ecommerce chatbots seamlessly integrate with your ecommerce platform and are easy to customize and train. With VanChat, you can easily train its AI chatbot with your products and policies. It is easy to install and customize to your brand, but you also have the option to develop it further with custom coding using its developer tool.
About Emily Levingston
Principal Editor of VanChat
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