As 65% of holiday shoppers turn to online retailers this year, sellers need to step up their service to meet demand. With the influx of customers comes an increase in queries, ranging from shipping costs, to return policies, and product information.
Even with increased temporary hiring for the holidays, customer service teams have trouble keeping up with calls, emails, and chats coming in all at once. eCommerce chatbots alleviate that pressure by answering simple questions and assisting multiple customers simultaneously.
Here are a few more eCommerce chatbot benefits.
Immediate Response Times
Nobody likes being put on hold. Unlike a traditional customer service call in which wait times accumulate quickly, eCommerce chatbots respond immediately.
Even in online conversations with live agents, there’s often a lag as customer service pros look up account details and find the right information. With chatbots, all of that information is readily available in the database, allowing for immediate responses.
Accurate, Dependable Service
The holiday season is a busy time for retailers, causing them to ramp up hiring quickly. This hiring rush makes it difficult to get everyone trained and up to speed on product offerings, processes, and service demands.
Without sufficient training, customer service agents will have a hard time delivering a high level of service. Often, this results in unbalanced assistance between customers, depending on which agent they’re paired with and what level of training they’ve received.
eCommerce chatbots provide reliable service every time. Once they are provided with the product knowledge base, they’re ready to go. They don’t require days of training or refreshers, and always provide the same standard of care regardless of external circumstances (if you’ve ever been helped by someone who was obviously having a bad day, you’ll get why that’s important).
Adding an eCommerce Chatbot to the Team
A chatbot isn’t meant to replace your customer service team, but to add to it. By having the chatbot answer simple questions and provide basic assistance, trained staff members have more time to handle complex issues.
Adding an eCommerce chatbot to your digital strategy helps teams focus on pressing issues and deliver exceptional experiences. It also gathers customer feedback and information to further help managers make informed CX decisions moving forward.
Learn how an eCommerce chatbot will help you reach your goals this holiday season.