Imagine this, your Shopify store is not doing as well as you thought it would. You’re experiencing a significant challenge with customer relationship management (CRM). You included the live chat functionality in your e-commerce platform. But, you don’t have the financial ability to hire full-time staff to respond to queries fast. From some of the feedback, there seems to be a lot of frustration about this.
What you may not know is that there is a fantastic solution available. And it comes in the form of chatbots.
At this point, you may be asking yourself what is a chatbot? Well, these are computer programs that mimic human conversation. In fact, you may have chatted with several on other e-commerce platforms. Yet, you did not know that you were talking to machines because they sound very human-like.
The more advanced ones incorporate artificial intelligence technologies. The software can learn human behavior and personalize its conversations.
Chatbot technology has revolutionized customer service. The adoption rate by retailers is on an upward trend. By 2024, it could reach over $142 billion. A considerable leap indeed, considering that as of 2019, it was $2.8 billion.
Our article explores why your business should use chatbots in CRM.
Excellent Customer Experience with Chatbots
Do you know why a customer will keep returning to your business? While it could have a lot to do with the quality of products or services. But there is a more critical factor. And that is the experience they have when transacting with you.
Put yourself in the customer’s shoes for a minute. Indeed, you don’t even need to imagine this because you have been one several times. You know the frustration of waiting to get feedback after raising a ticket. Or, you can’t reach the customer care agents on live chat. This is because they only operate during business hours.
You can make the customer experience better by using a Shopify chatbot. The bots take on the role of a virtual assistant, who is available 24/7. The AI Shopify bot will provide prompt feedback to queries. The chatbots will also help customers find what they need faster.
By learning human behavior they can also recommend products to the customer. Due to the conversational aspect of the technologies, you have a chance to collect tons of rich data. You can analyze the data and use the insights to improve the customer experience.
Chatbots Are Excellent Sales Agents
Many people would argue that machines will never replace the human factor. And, that is not the focus of our discussion today. Yet, your Shopify chatbot may be a more effective salesperson than the humans. Allow us to qualify this argument.
First, chatbots don’t deal with human issues. They will never be in a bad mood and talk to potential or existing customers in any way.
As we stated, AI chatbots can learn human behavior. They do this thanks to machine learning technologies. They can generate valuable insights through customer interaction. All these without needing to ask leading questions. Your human sales agents don’t have the same abilities.
The chatbot will recommend products, making them a fantastic sales and marketing tool. They can also personalize service offerings to suit the individual customer needs.
The third point in favor of chatbots is lead generation. 55% of businesses get better quality leads with chatbots. This could be due to the quick response rate. Which customer, yourself included, does not like to feel they are a priority?
CRM Automation with Chatbots
Source: Freepik
Customer relationship management entails a lot of work. There is the active engagement that includes talking to customers. You must respond to their queries or concerns on time.
But you must also capture the data and enter it into the CRM system. Chatbot automation allows you to turn over such work to the software. The business will realize tremendous savings in time while enjoying higher efficiency.
With a Shopify chatbot, there is also quick access to information. Simple queries by the teams can give them relevant information about the customers. You don’t have to spend hours going through spreadsheets for such.
The chatbot can update data as soon as it receives it. The technology is precise and reduces common human errors. The quality of the data is much higher without needing more input.
Manage Customer Related Processes with Chatbots
We have talked a lot about customer engagement and communication above. But, there is a lot more you can achieve with chatbots. These include:
- Increasing shopping convenience for customers by adding a cart within the chatbot window
- Track customer orders throughout the entire buying journey. The bot will apprise the customers every step of the way until delivery. Further, they can do this day or night. It frees you from having to deal with several calls or emails.
- Chatbots can enhance the shopping experience resulting in fewer abandoned carts. The technology will send reminders to the customers. It is a fantastic way to get them to complete their check out.
- Marketing teams can use the chatbot for upselling opportunities. That is a fantastic way to boost revenue.
- Natural language processing (NLP) technology is great for conversational marketing. Due to this, the bots can mimic human conversation. They can switch topics or adapt to whatever the customer wants to talk about. That makes the conversation more natural. It explains why some people never know that they are talking to machines.
- Chatbots are in direct contact with customers. That makes them a valuable tool for content marketing services. You can use the bots to push content. And, it allows for personalization of such due to a better understanding of the customer preferences.
- Data analytics provides fantastic insights to help improve the customer experience. You can, for example, collect user sentiments. That lets you know what they feel about the product and service offering.
- Chatbot integration with mobile or messenger apps is key. It allows you to reach customer’s right at the point of their convenience. They can, for example, shop and get the same buying experience as they would on laptops.
Final Thoughts
Chatbots can help with customer relationship management in so many ways. The most significant is better engagement through conversational marketing. Customers get quick responses to queries or concerns.
The technology provides fantastic support to the human team. Automation of the tasks can result in significant savings in time and money.
24/7 access means you are always available, even outside normal business hours. Unlike humans, they never sleep or need to take time off for whatever reason, so you can be sure that your customers’ needs are always tended to. Constant access is a crucial factor when managing customers.
