{"id":140770,"date":"2020-07-08T15:23:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T14:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/?p=140770"},"modified":"2020-08-07T13:55:58","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T12:55:58","slug":"6-chatbot-best-practices-for-e-commerce-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/customer-relationship-management\/6-chatbot-best-practices-for-e-commerce-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"6 chatbot best practices for e-commerce sites"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chatbot increases conversions, not just dialog, which is why you need to understand how best to use chatbots<\/h2>\n

Live chatbot is not just for customer support anymore; it\u2019s a proven engagement and revenue booster. Kayako.com shares some compelling statistics<\/a> that show just how powerful live chat can be when it comes to engagement and conversion.<\/p>\n

\"Live<\/p>\n

Analytics and conversion expert Neil Patel also shares some\u00a0conversion math related to chat<\/a>. He asserts that, with chat available, 10-50% of your visitors will engage with you on your website. If implemented correctly, one-third of those visitors should go on to become buyers.<\/p>\n

Even using his conservative estimates, that means a conversion rate of 3.3% through the use of chat. That\u2019s nothing to scoff at. For large-volume sites, these conversion rates and revenues add up quickly.<\/p>\n

Here are six tactics you can use now to drive up your live chat engagement.<\/p>\n

1. Include a pre-chat survey to optimize your chatbot experience<\/h3>\n

A key aspect of any good user experience is efficiency \u2014 smoothing your website visitors\u2019 interactions so they can accomplish their tasks more quickly. For online chats, this means first determining what kind of contact you\u2019re dealing with \u2014 sales, support, or something else.<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s a sales contact, you want to know a bit more, like what type of sales contact it is. The sooner you learn this, the better you can tailor your sales pitch (or offer empathetic support).<\/p>\n

To learn these things, your initial chat window should include one or two pre-chat questions that serve to qualify the contact and clarify their intent. For an e-commerce site that sells low or moderately-priced products, good questions to ask are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What do you need help with? [options: Sales question, Support question, Something else]<\/li>\n
  2. What is your question concerning? [for a Sales question, the options could be: finding the right product, viewing product features, ordering, checking out, something else]<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Note that the second question is based on your visitor\u2019s response to the first question (\u2018sales\u2019 in this case). To keep follow-up questions relevant, your chat app should accommodate such \u2018conditional logic.\u2019<\/p>\n

    For an e-commerce store that sells higher-priced products with a longer sales cycle (e.g. a \u00a335,000 car), and whose purpose is to generate sales-qualified leads, you could ask:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. What can I help you do? [explore a specific vehicle, get an overview of {Brand X}, schedule a test drive, get customer service\/help]<\/li>\n
    2. A follow-up question dependent on the answer to the first question<\/li>\n
    3. What\u2019s your email? (with a clear \u2018we respect your privacy\u2019 disclaimer).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Think about these questions carefully so you don\u2019t ask too many questions (you\u2019re just seeking clarification, not conducting a grand inquiry). A good rule of thumb: don\u2019t ask more than three questions before allowing a visitor to start their chat.<\/p>\n

      \"Chatbot<\/p>\n

      2. Use a typing indicator<\/h3>\n

      Okay, I\u2019ll admit it, I\u2019m an impatient chatter. I like to think that I am the only person the agent is chatting with (when I know, as a UX designer, that often is not the case). I want personal and super-responsive replies to my questions. If I don\u2019t get them, my attitude sours.<\/p>\n

      You should assume that everyone using your live chat feels the same way. This means, your communications need to be fast, even like they\u2019re happening in real-time (like on a Slack channel). To do this, configure your chat app so that:<\/p>\n