“Let me speak to a @#!-ing human!” Let’s be honest, chatbots have got themselves a bad name. But did you know – for some tasks – chatbots outperform humans and it’s not just the boring ones?
Many people hear the word “chatbot” and think of a clunky customer-service assistant; a gatekeeper to the live agent or a digitised FAQ page. It may be surprising that chatbots with unique purposes can out-perform and reinvigorate your customer experience in eCommerce. For an increasingly on-the-go consumer who needs answers FAST, you need to let them instantly chat just like they do on WhatsApp and messaging services.
Did you know a third of customer queries are PRE-purchase and many brands take hours or even days to answer? If you handle these well (and fast) you won’t lose the shopper already browsing your website. A chatbot might be the answer here and could increase your conversion rates.
There are chatbots that increase conversion rates?
Yes, really! Some might be as simple as a customer service bot that helps quell fears of lengthy returns processes, but what really makes the difference is a chatbot that is designed to close the sale – a chatbot called Nibble. Nibble is an award-winning chatbot that lets brands negotiate 1-to-1 with every customer for an instant win-win deal that leaves both the customer and the retailer smiling. It’s fast by design, with most deals being agreed within a minute, and is changing the way retailer’s approach promotions and giving them a discrete way of discounting that doesn’t impact full price sales.
70 per cent of shoppers get to the point of purchase, then go to look for a voucher code or price-check other sites. We’re all aware that too many blanket discounts and flash sales can have a negative impact on the perceived value of your brand. When was the last time anyone paid full price for a Domino’s Pizza? Making a deal within a natural language chat is uniquely placed to offer promotions at the right moment just before the customer abandons their basket in favour of another retailer or to voucher code websites.
Importantly, it can offer a deal AND reinforce your brand values. We’ve seen this in practice when a shopper spoke with Nibble on a premium coffee brand. After a lowball opening offer, Nibble reinforced the retailer’s brand values by responding, “You know they’re paying a Fairtrade wage to their farmers and organic coffee comes at a premium.” The shopper, reminded of the value of the product at the point of purchase, replied, “Fair point…” and converted at a better margin.
Clearing stock with measurable results
This conversational approach to clearing stock has yielded impressive data. One premium gin brand used Nibble to clear old stock this year. They had great-tasting gin stuck with an old label design which meant they couldn’t sell at full price. Ordinarily, the solution to this problem would be a blanket voucher code that gave a flat rate off. Instead, Nibble cleared this stock and managed to improve their margin saving by 27% compared to their voucher code promotions.
eCommerce retailers need to remember that shopping is an emotional experience. As soon as you engage in conversation 1-to-1, people don’t think in percentages anymore. For the consumer, it’s no longer a case of ‘I hope I get 15 per cent off for this.’ Instead, it’s ‘I hope I can get this for under £30.’
For another retailer, Nibble improved conversion by +50 per cent without impacting full-price sales when used exclusively on product page re-visits; a gentle nudge to the discerning customer who just needed a personalised deal to get over the line.
When you engage people in conversation, they open up to you—you wouldn’t believe some of the things shoppers type into Nibble’s chatbot!—and they become more friendly. Nibble’s work with a luxury watch marketplace saw 42 per cent of customers happily provide their email address when asked by Nibble. This is personal shopping delivered at a scale unmatchable by live agents.
Seemingly simple, but underpinned by behavioural science
Negotiating deals with shoppers might seem straightforward, but Nibble is a chatbot built by negotiation experts. There’s behavioural science deep in this bot. How it responds to different offers and how it handles special requests are carefully designed by a passionate team. Anyone can make a simple chatbot; designing one with a specific purpose that it does well is another story.
This is an on-going process, too. The effectiveness of each of Nibble’s responses is measured to see if simple copy changes can have drastic impacts. Earlier this year, changing one line of copy in the chat directly led to Nibble’s conversion rate improving by +45 per cent.
The next time you’re due to run a promotion, think twice before reactivating that tired voucher code. Give customers an experience that will grab their attention.
DCA members who are interested in using Nibble to increase conversion are welcome to a full one-month free trial. Contact us for more information.
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