Let’s discuss how chatbots can help you dramatically increase store conversions, increase average order value, and decrease cart abandonment.
Most of us have experience shopping both online and in brick & mortar retail stores. There are clear pros and cons to each experience.
Retail stores are great when you want to touch and feel the product, or where the choices are so voluminous that a salesman is really helpful to narrow the field.
Online shops, however, can be faster, convenient, and often less expensive than their brick & mortar counterparts.
While there is often more information available online than in a store, it is not unusual for the one piece of information you really need, before you hit that button to buy something, to be difficult to find online or not available.
Of note, the online shopping experience typically lacks a salesperson to approach and facilitate the shopping experience.
Big online stores do have live customer service, but it is typically used to answer questions posed by the customer, if the customer is proactive and knowledgeable enough to volunteer a question.
There remains a real and unmistakable VOID – customers are simply not getting the attention they so deserve and need when shopping online. This is where chatbots can significantly help increase store conversions.
Men’s suit shopping is a perfect example. How challenging and frustrating can that be?
Let me share with you my recent experience:
I first tried to buy the perfect suit online, but quickly became frustrated. Online, all the suits look very similar; it’s hard to tell how the suit will fit you, and no matter how far in you zoom on the fabric, you can’t fully appreciate the look and feel of the material.
Additionally, I could not understand the large price range between similar-looking suits.
And so, I dragged myself to the suit department in a large department store at the mall – another terribly depressing experience.
The salesperson referred me to a rack of similar-looking expensive suits, and I felt absolutely lost.
I felt uncomfortable as she hawkishly watched me study the endless rack.
I can’t totally blame the young salesperson, as I was hesitant to volunteer information, such as what price range suit I was looking for, or what suit brands I liked – the truth is I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for, and so I left the store rather quickly – needless to say, without a suit and with a bit less pride.
Ultimately, I stumbled onto a stand-alone suit store near my home.
When I first entered the store and saw racks upon racks of suits, the same lost feeling started to envelope me.
As I promptly turned around, ready to leave, I was intercepted by a friendly salesperson. “Welcome. Looking for a suit, I presume?”, he said with a smile and the casualness of having assisted thousands of customers this exact same way.
After a bit of small talk he started asking me some questions that helped me hone in on what I was looking for.
Salesperson: “Do you generally like a boxy or more fitted suit?”
Me: “Fitted, I hate it when my suit is baggy around the waist and leg.”
(Apparently, my preference for a more fitted suit immediately ruled out most of the brands in the store.)
Salesperson: “Totally understand. We should consider a European brand first, they’re cut tighter.”
Salesperson: “It is cold outside, can I presume you are looking for a winter suit?”
Me: “Yes, I am actually looking for two identical looking suits: one for Winter and one for Summer. I recognize the material will be different but I want a consistent look for both seasons.”
Salesperson: “Glad you pointed that out. There are only a handful of European brands that make both winter and summer suits that we have in stock.”
Within a couple of minutes I was presented with a couple of suits to try on.
Once I narrowed my choices the salesman inquired whether I wanted matching shirts, ties, or socks.
He even had in hand a couple matches he thought went particularly well with the suits I chose. Zip, boom, bang – a very efficient, and uplifting shopping experience. I left with a couple of suits and ties (more than I planned to purchase!) and I will definitely go back to the same store for my next suit purchase.
What made this experience so delightful? And was it possible to make the online shopping experience come even close?
After some reflection it became clear to me that it was the salesperson at the local suit store, not the particular suit or store environment, that made all the difference.
His in depth knowledge of his customers and their needs allowed him to ask just the right questions, at just the right time (and he caught me right before I was about to leave the store!).
This was in stark contrast to the lost feeling I had, when shopping unassisted online, or the uncomfortable feeling I had with the disinterested salesperson I encountered at the department store.
I was exhilarated at this epiphany because I knew that chatbots could help website owners replicate this feeling in an initial encounter with a shopper browsing at an online store. And this could be done organically without the cost of hiring a real live human being, or the expense of hiring a programmer for a customized chatbot, which would require an expert to create and maintain. As a seller, you may not be able to clone yourself or your best salesperson quite yet, but chatbots get you pretty close.
Chatbots virtually walk the “floor” of your online store and appear to your visitors by way of a messaging box to your customer at just the right time and place.
(view more bots like this here)
So, my friend, you can consider your chatbot your “mini me”. Or your mini-you – get it?
Just like the store with tons of suit racks, the typical eCommerce store is categorized for the masses – by brand, size, season, etc.
View this page here.
While the website is well organized, it can be very challenging for the shopper to find a suit that fits his particular needs.
Especially, for example, if he is not an experienced suit shopper. Most people don’t know what brand to go to or what material to choose.
Let me show you how chatbots can dramatically change this shopping experience for the better – for everyone!
Let’s leverage the knowledge of your best salesman and create a chatbot that pro-actively engages customers on your website.
First we start with choosing a trigger. A trigger is a condition that, if met, results in Gobot appearing on the website.
In this example one trigger will be if the customer has landed on a page featuring a suit style that is available in both winter and summer weights.
Gobot will then appear with the following messages:
Gobot: “Hey! This particular suit you are looking at is our hottest seller this winter season.”
“One reason for its popularity is that this same suit style is also available in summer weight.”
“Interested in seeing the summer weight suit?”
User chooses: a) Yes or b) No
The trigger is specialized enough to make sure that your chatbot does not offer this option for winter suits that are not also available in a summer weight fabric. If the shopper clicks on Yes, he is automatically brought to the page featuring the same suit in summer weight.
At this point your chatbot can seal the deal by offering the following:
Gobot: “Shall I add this second suit to your shopping cart?”
User chooses: a) Absolutely or b) No thanks
If choice b):
Gobot: “Please reconsider, we will take 25% off the second suit if you act quickly!”
No one knows your business and customers like you do, but there is only one of you!
Chatbots allows you to fully leverage your “mini me” by engaging customers in a predictable and consistent way even when you are not present!
All you need to do is anticipate the interaction, draft a quick chatbot script like the one above, and turn your chatbot on.
You can have as many different chatbots running as you like, for as many different items or scenarios as you can imagine.
Of course there are millions of different possible customer interactions, but you have done your homework and are the expert as to which tend to repeat in a consistent way and would benefit with some customer support or engagement.
And for those situations, Gobot is the perfect choice.
