In the next four years, the chatbot market is slated to grow by $1.11 billion. What’s more, accelerated growth momentum in the market is also expected during the same time period due to a steady boost in year-over-year growth.
So, it isn’t surprising that conversational AI is a hot topic among marketers right now. It is transforming the way brands engage with customers and sell their products.
If you haven’t joined the chatbot bandwagon yet, it’s time to jump in.
In this post, let’s discuss different ways in which you can improve your sales operations with conversational AI.
1. Assist Your Customers Online
When it comes to shopping, a little assistance can go a long way in moving prospects along the sales funnel.
At luxury clothing stores, it’s common for shoppers to have assistants help them find clothes and accessories that match their tastes. Through their service, shopping assistants can improve the overall customer experience.
In the digital world, intelligent chatbots can fill their shoes. They can ask customers relevant questions that help them gauge their needs and preferences. They are designed to analyze user responses and provide responses based on their choices.
You can use these chatbots on your website as well as other social media platforms to boost your sales.
Swedish clothing retailer, H&M, has a special chatbot on the messaging platform, Kik. Their chatbot provides product recommendations to customers based on the answers they give to a series of questions.
Image via chatbotguide.org
Instead of having to go through the entire collection, users are shown handpicked products that they are looking for. Plus, users don’t even have to go to a special website. They can directly shop from within the app while messaging their friends.
2. Run an Innovative Loyalty Program
Retaining old customers and getting repeat purchases is one of the best ways to grow your business quickly. Using AI-enabled chatbots, you can run loyalty programs online easily.
To encourage customers to make another purchase, you can offer access to exclusive deals and discounts. Offering rewards can do wonders to drive customer loyalty and boost sales. It’s a strategy that is commonly used by hospitality companies.
Big brands like Marriott International are already leveraging this strategy to retain their customers.
Their chatbot loyalty program is available on two platforms — Slack and Facebook Messenger. Their loyalty program lets users collect loyalty points which also gives them special discounts for future bookings.
The bot is designed using a simple guided response interface. Through the chatbot, existing members can check out the benefits that they can get based on their membership level.
They can also explore FAQs on it. In case they have a question that cannot be answered, the bot connects them to a customer service representative.
Check out the interface in the screenshot below:
Image via SingleGrain
3. Offer Instant Customer Service
Did you know that 52% of consumers are willing to pay more for better efficiency and speed in customer experience? In a nutshell, customer service is indirectly related to your sales and revenue.
That’s where chatbots can give you the ultimate edge. Using chatbots, you can be available 24/7 for your customers.
Typically, customer service representatives only work for specific hours on certain days. When they are not available, providing customer service can be an issue for businesses. One of the ways around is to employ people in double shifts. But it isn’t a feasible solution for all businesses.
Chatbots make it possible to be available at any odd hour of the day. And catering to users from time zones isn’t a major customer service issue with chatbots.
What’s more, chatbots can handle hundreds of queries simultaneously. All users can get answers to their queries almost instantly. Since they don’t have to wait for a long time, it enhances the overall customer experience as well.
For instance, Domino’s has a chatbot that enables users to place new orders, reorder, or track a previously placed order. It also offers an option to estimate the time of delivery.
Image via TechCrunch
4. Provide Personalized Content
It’s important to engage your prospects before you nudge them to make them a purchase. AI-based chatbots already know their preferences based on an analysis of their questions. So, they can gauge the kind of content that they might be interested in.
While it’s not an aggressive sales technique, sending personalized content can definitely help move users along the marketing funnel. It can also be a smart way to drive traffic, views, and engagement on your content.
Sephora uses this strategy to grow their business. Their chatbot asks users a series of questions on Facebook and Kik to get a better understanding of their content preferences. Based on it, it redirects them to relevant resources.
Image via LinkedIn
To further boost engagement, they also send push notifications every time they publish new content. It’s a great tactic to build an engaged community for your brand.
5. Send Reminders to Complete Purchases
Attention spans are getting shorter. So it’s not really surprising that many users abandon their carts right before completing a purchase. They may have changed their mind or been simply distracted by something else.
Either way, reminding them to complete the purchase can help you recover a lost sale. Typically, businesses send cart abandonment emails to remind users.
On messaging platforms, chatbots can also send similar notifications to minimize cart abandonment. Additionally, bots can also offer limited-time discounts to drive sales.
Conclusion
Chatbots are making it easier for you to reach out to your customers on different channels. They provide a great platform to engage with consumers and market your products.
This, in turn, can help you boost your overall sales. Furthermore, you can run loyalty programs and provide virtual assistance and customer service to enhance the overall experience. If you’re thinking about leveraging chatbots to grow your business, the time is now!
Do you have any questions about using chatbots to boost sales? Please mention them in the comments section below.