Chatbots have become an essential part of e-commerce businesses. The adoption of AI chatbots is mainly driven by the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the increasing number of retail and e-commerce worldwide. They can help businesses save money by reducing the need for human customer support staff, and can improve customer satisfaction by providing a personalized experience and can have a significant impact on customer loyalty. Chatbots can work in different segments such as marketing, payments, processing, and service. However, when it comes to chatbot revenue, service has a majority of the market share. Chatbots continue to reduce operating costs for enterprises, and the market size will likely continue to swell. According to a report by Insider Intelligence, chatbots were expected to save businesses $8 billion annually by 2022.
ChatGPT will empower AI chatbots
ChatGPT has revolutionized customer support by enabling businesses to deploy AI chatbots that can understand natural language and provide personalized responses. AI chatbots are rule-based systems that rely on pre-defined scripts and decision trees to generate responses, while ChatGPT is a generative model that can generate responses based on the context of the conversation.
Back to the AI chatbot. It is capable of carrying on natural conversation and continuously improving over time. While basic chatbot technology moves the conversation forward via bot-prompted keywords or UX features like Facebook Messenger’s suggested responses, AI-powered chatbots use natural language processing and leverage semantics to understand the context of what a person is saying. The most powerful AI chatbots have the most sophisticated artificial intelligence software built in. This latest generation of AI-driven chatbots uses unsupervised NLP, NLU and NLG to respond to customer queries, making them more human-like and effective.
Main types of commonly used AI chatbots
There are six main types of AI chatbots commonly used, these are:
- Scripted/Quick reply bots: Chatbot used to interact with the end customer via a predefined knowledge base and technical abilities that can capably respond to fixed instructions only;
- Natural Language Processing (NLP) Chatbots: These chatbots use machine learning and natural language processing to understand and interpret customer queries and respond accordingly;
- Service/Action Chatbots: Chatbots designed to perform specific tasks such as booking a flight or ordering food;
- Social Messaging Chatbots: These chatbots are integrated with social media platforms and can be used to interact with customers on social media;
- Context Enabled Chatbots: Chatbots that use machine learning to understand the context of the conversation and provide more personalized responses;
- Voice-Enabled Chatbots: AI Chatbots that use voice recognition technology to interact with customers.
AI chatbot market data
Chatbots are becoming increasingly popular, with 1.4 billion people using them today. Companies are launching their best AI chatbots to carry on 1:1 conversations with customers and employees. AI-powered chatbots are also capable of automating various tasks, including sales and marketing, customer service, and administrative and operational tasks. The global chatbot market was valued at USD 2.6 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach USD 9.4 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 29.7% during the forecast period. The overall AI market is much bigger than the chatbot market.
Chatbots: essential for e-commerce
Chatbots can provide 24/7 customer support, which is a significant advantage for businesses. They can handle customer queries and complaints, provide product recommendations, and even process orders. Chatbots can also help businesses save money by reducing the need for human customer support staff, and can improve customer satisfaction by providing a personalized experience and can have a significant impact on customer loyalty.
Benefits of AI chatbots in ecommerce
There are several advantages of using chatbots in e-commerce. Here are a few:
- Cost reductions: Utilizing a chatbot can reduce the overall operational costs;
- Facilitates customer engagement: AI chatbots can help businesses build better customer service to drive sales and traffic and also maintain better employee relationships by making their queries easier. Customer engagement is integral in driving sales and making conversions;
- Switch to live chat when needed: AI chatbots can switch to live chat when needed, providing a seamless experience for customers;
- Better lead generation: AI chatbots can help businesses generate leads by providing personalized recommendations and product suggestions;
- Gather customer insights: AI chatbots can collect data from users including user responses, fallback reports, page engagement reports, and form response reports. These features assist with AI training by providing information on where users are hitting sales obstacles;
- Provide multichannel solutions: AI chatbots can provide multichannel solutions, allowing businesses to interact with customers on multiple platforms.
The limitations of AI chatbots in ecommerce
Apart from the advantages, there are also several disadvantages of using chatbots in e-commerce. Here are a few:
- AI chatbots lack human empathy and are far from imitating human emotions, which makes it difficult for many customers to connect with brands on a deeper level;
- Advanced models of AI chatbots can be expensive, which may not be feasible for large and complex businesses;
- AI chatbots have limited decision-making capabilities and can only provide answers based on the data they have been trained on;
- Chatbots are susceptible to data security breaches and can misunderstand user sentiment;
- Chatbots can be complicated and require a lot of time to understand user requirements, which can be frustrating for users.
The role of chatbots in improving customer satisfaction and loyalty
According to a study, chatbots have a more substantial impact on word-of-mouth and reuse intent, while customer satisfaction obtained through traditional customer service has a stronger impact on customer loyalty. The most important thing for customer satisfaction is helping the customer out and giving them a good experience. Chatbots can help improve customer satisfaction by providing a personalized experience. They use customer data to provide tailored recommendations and promotions. Chatbots can also use natural language processing (NLP) to understand customer queries and provide relevant responses.
The impact of chatbots on customer loyalty is significant. A study found that a connection between chatbots and customer loyalty is very likely. However, some customers suffer from the privacy paradox because of personalization.
Chatbot platforms
As the demand for chatbot software has skyrocketed, the marketplace of companies that provide chatbot technology has become harder to navigate as competition increases with many companies promising to do the same thing. However, not all AI chatbots are the same. Vendors develop proprietary software to handle AI and natural language processing and tailor their platforms to customer interactions, such as checking order status and answering product questions. Some of the top chatbot platforms include Google Dialogflow, Amazon Lex, IBM Watson Assistant, Facebook’s Wit.ai and Microsoft Azure Bot Service. Others great platforms are:
- Tidio: Tidio’s chatbots for ecommerce can automate customer support and provide proactive customer service;
- Chatfuel: This is a user-friendly chatbot for ecommerce on social media;
- ManyChat: This is one of the rule-based ecommerce chatbots with ready-made templates to speed up the setup;
- Ada: Ada is one of the best ecommerce chatbots for online retailers;
- Snatchbot: Snatchbot is a chatbot platform that can be used for ecommerce.
Choose the one chatbot platform that fits your needs and budget.
Brands that (already) use AI chatbots in their business
Some well-known brands that have developed chatbots for their ecommerce stores include H&M, Levi’s, Nivea and Sephora. There are many examples of e-commerce brands that use chatbots. Here are just a few:
- H&M developed a chatbot for the messaging platform Kik to complement its e-commerce store;
- Lego was the first toy retailer to introduce an e-commerce chatbot to its customers;
- Nivea created a chatbot that helps customers find the right product for their skin type;
- Ebay has a chatbot that helps customers find the best deals on products;
- Sephora has a chatbot that helps customers find the right makeup and skincare products;
- Unilever has a chatbot that helps customers find the perfect cup of tea;
- Casper has a chatbot that helps customers find the perfect mattress.
How to implement a chatbot in e-commerce
Implementing a chatbot in e-commerce can greatly enhance the customer experience and improve sales. Here are some steps to follow when implementing a chatbot in your e-commerce store:
- Identify your goals: Determine what you want to achieve with your chatbot. Do you want to improve customer service, increase sales or provide personalized recommendations?
- Choose the right chatbot platform: There are many chatbot platforms available, that offer different features and capabilities.
- Design the conversation flow: Plan out the conversation flow for your chatbot. Think about the questions customers might ask and how the chatbot should respond.
- Train your chatbot: Use machine learning and natural language processing to train your chatbot to understand customer queries and provide accurate responses.
- Integrate with your e-commerce platform: Integrate your chatbot with your e-commerce platform so it can access customer data and provide personalized recommendations.
- Test and refine: Test your chatbot with real customers to see how it performs. Use their feedback to refine the conversation flow and improve its accuracy.
By following these steps, you can successfully implement a chatbot in your e-commerce store that enhances the customer experience and drives sales.
In conclusion, chatbots and AI are the future of e-commerce. AI chatbots are becoming increasingly popular in the e-commerce industry due to their ability to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. There are six main types of chatbots commonly used. The AI chatbot market is growing rapidly, with a projected market size of $9.4 billion by 2024. While AI chatbots have many advantages in e-commerce, they also have some limitations. Chatbot platforms are available to help businesses implement chatbots in their e-commerce platforms. Many brands are already using chatbots in their business, and businesses can implement chatbots in their e-commerce platforms by researching the chatbots that are already being used by e-commerce businesses, analyzing the chatbots’ features and capabilities, and choosing the chatbot development platform that best suits their needs and budget. By implementing chatbots in their e-commerce platforms, businesses can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, reduce costs, and increase revenue.