10 Reasons to Upgrade Your E-Commerce Website to a Conversational Website

A conversational website is a smart website that uses a conversational interface to communicate with visitors. Here a chatbot facilitates the conversation with the users. A bot and a user go back and forth with a series of close-ended questions. In other words, a bot is a medium for the conversation between a website and a user. And based on the user´s input, the bot takes action on the website.

A conversational website can drastically improve the performance of e-commerce businesses. It helps by creating a better way for brands to interact with their customers online and improves user engagement and customer satisfaction.

In recent years, and especially throughout 2020, more and more customers have been switching to digital channels. Even those that used to do offline shopping feel confident about e-commerce and have made the switch to online stores. For this reason, it is time to use AI technology and adapt to the users´ flows and habits to make online shopping interactive and frictionless. 

People love messaging

Messaging has become a major means of communication in recent years. According to Statistic Brain Institute, in the USA, the number of monthly sent and received texts has increased by 7.000% in the last decade.

People tend to prefer to communicate by texting, with friends, relatives, but also with companies. Messaging is easier and faster than making a phone call or sending an email. For that reason, massaging with a brand is an always-available communication option that many customers appreciate.

Most of the customers already interact with chatbots. According to UserLike study, 80% of respondents have interacted with a chatbot before. Consumers are feeling more comfortable with the idea of chat support now than they used to in the past. In particular, Gen Z and Millennials are more willing to communicate with brands through chatbot messaging.

A conversational design makes communication between website and user through a chatbot possible, making the shopping experience more personalized.

Easy Page Browsing

Visitors of e-commerce websites waste a lot of time searching for what they are looking for. Browsing can be much easier on a conversational e-commerce website with a chatbot taking care of the search for the user. It saves the user from going through infinite menus and filters.

A chatbot sees what the user sees and shows what the user tells the bot to show. It turns a tiresome and time-consuming website browsing into a conversational and engaging search and product filter.

To illustrate, when a customer asks a bot about a product, it can show cards with thumbnail pictures, a description, a link to every product page, a video, or other visual content. It can also offer several products in a customized window and navigate the user.

When a user lands on a homepage, a chatbot can start a customer journey by asking ¨How can I help you today? ¨. The user´s answers can be: ¨ I am looking for floral perfumes for women¨, and the chatbot’s answer can be something like ¨ I am happy to help! Here is the complete list of all floral fragrances for women in our store¨.

Solving the Issue of Shopping Cart Abandonment

Purchasing decisions tend to be emotional, and if a consumer begins to doubt the products in their shopping cart, they will either cancel the order or just leave the website. Over two-thirds of all online shopping carts end up getting abandoned.

Often customers need advice on whether they make the right decision. Current e-commerce website design has limited abilities to encourage customers to check out. A big shiny call to action button is not enough.

When a customer does not check out after a spending a long time on the website, a chatbot widget can pop-up and remind the customer about items in the basket or encourage him or her to go back to shopping.

It can assist the shopper by saying, for example: “Any doubt about how this shirt will look on you? Let me help you with the size!”, or “I love this shirt too. Have you seen there’s only 3 in stock?”, or “May I show this shirt to you in a different color?”.

Many e-commerce businesses try to retrieve abandoned shopping carts and send a reminder by email. However, this method does not seem to be effective. Many customers do not even open those emails.

However, a conversational website can encourage a shopper to check out in real-time or gather useful information on why a customer does not want to proceed. For example, it can ask: ¨Was the price too high? ¨, Is the time of shipping too long?¨

Often users lack some information to make the final decision. A chatbot can help find the details that the customer needs from the website that will assure them they have what they need.

(Source: botxo.ai)