According to a survey by PWC, AI has the potential to contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. This is a testament to the technology’s ability to positively impact eCommerce businesses.
Some of the ways in which AI assists eCommerce businesses are:
- Making more accurate sales predictions
- Enhancing the consumer experience
- Re-engaging former customers
- Increasing conversions, etc.
As seen above, consumers benefit from conversational AI as it helps them enjoy a smoother shopping experience which makes them more inclined to make a purchase due to the seamless process.
In this blog, we shall thus be delving into the details of how AI-powered assistants are revolutionizing E-Commerce businesses.
This knowledge will help business owners realize how they can better interact with their customers, in addition to other benefits, and thus ultimately adopt these AI-powered assistants as part of their daily operations.
A Brief Overview of the Fundamentals
Conversational AI utilizes chatbots and AI assistants to allow customers to interact with their business using natural language. It follows an underlying principle:
“Chatbots can intervene whenever a user encounters difficulties while navigating a website.”
These difficulties can be:
- Being stuck on a product page
- Hesitating at the checkout
- Not being able to check out in a secure manner, etc.
In such moments, consumers often require a gentle nudge or a piece of advice, which is where AI-based chatbots come in, as they are ideally suited to address these situations.
How is Utilizing AI Different From The Traditional Methods?
Modern-day consumers demand effortless purchasing journeys.
However, many businesses face challenges providing the same due to outdated communication processes and a reliance on traditional E-commerce instead of AI-powered solutions.
Traditionally, websites functioned primarily as catalogs wherein users browsed through product pages, unsure whether they would find what they were looking for.
On the other hand, in the modern era, conversational AI-centric E-commerce offers more personalized assistance to guide visitors toward their desired products.
It provides tailored offers to each user by collecting data on user touchpoints and feedback.
How Does AI Impact E-commerce Businesses?
AI-powered chatbots can engage customers through personalized conversations and can result in better engagement rates.
For instance, Nykaa, a beauty and fashion E-commerce brand, used Verloop.io’s AI-powered chatbots to automate parts of their customer support and offer a personalized experience for their customers through chat threads, which paid off big time!
Nykaa was able to engage 99.7% of all its customers in under 1 minute, resulting in a 2.2x increase in customer engagement.
Let’s explore the impact of AI on E-commerce businesses in more detail and discuss some of the ways in which it can benefit businesses of all sizes:
1. Search Queries Using Voice Technology
Voice-based search capabilities allow consumers to easily perform tasks such as:
- Searching for products
- Placing orders, etc., without lifting a finger (well, maybe just one to activate the voice assistant
These capabilities eliminate the waiting time and are available 24/7, making conversational AI a real game-changer for consumer-centric practices.
2. Enhanced Personalization
AI algorithms can analyze large amounts of data and help create highly personalized experiences.
This includes:
- Customized product recommendations
- Tailored marketing campaigns
- Upselling and cross-selling
- Personalized offers based on a customer’s browsing and purchase history, etc.
3. Improved Conversions
Conversational AI allows businesses to improve their conversion and lead generation game. Businesses can gather important data to deliver tailored messaging and build customer relationships.
Plus, with seamless integration with agent-facing systems, businesses can sync all conversations and details with calendars, CRM systems, and automation tools.
4. Customer Support
Conversational AI allows E-commerce brands to offer a digital support assistant that can:
- Understand their needs
- Address queries
- Guide them through the entire process
It can make the self-service process smoother and more efficient, thereby improving user interaction with the brand and driving better sales. In fact, some AI tools can take care of up to 70% of customer requests, which will inevitably boost customer satisfaction and revenue.
5. Reduce Abandoned Cart Rates
Conversational AI is a valuable solution for E-commerce businesses struggling with abandoned carts, which have an average rate of over 70% and costs companies $18 billion in lost sales.
By re-targeting prospects and reminding them of their abandoned carts with a personalized message and a discount offer, brands can increase the chances of completing the purchase and gaining customer loyalty.
The Future of Conversational AI in the eCommerce Industry
The future of conversational AI in eCommerce is promising. As more and more consumers demand personalized experiences delivered in an efficient manner, chatbots and other conversational AI tools will become even more essential for eCommerce businesses.
Some potential applications of conversational AI in eCommerce include:
- Hyper-personalization
- AR/VR
- Voice commerce
- Chatbot analytics
- Multi-lingual support
As conversational AI technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more advanced applications in the future.
To Conclude
Conversational AI is revolutionizing the eCommerce industry by:
- Automating sales functions
- Reducing operational costs
- Increasing revenue
- Generating leads
- Providing post-sales support
So, if you’re looking for a conversational AI solution that can help you unlock exponential growth for your eCommerce business, Verloop is the answer.
With Verloop, you can automate your eCommerce function from end to end, including post-sales support, to bring down operational costs and increase revenue.
Schedule a demo and start now.
