eCommerce Chatbots:
Drive Sales and Customer Retention

The growth of eCommerce over the past two decades revolutionized the retail sector, forever transforming the way we buy and sell. But amidst the convenience and speed of online shopping, one key element was missing – namely, the personalized service offered by a friendly and helpful sales clerk or customer care representative at a physical outlet. This is a gap that Conversational AI can now fill, through eCommerce chatbots.

TRANSACT: Driving Sales Through an eCommerce bot

As we’ve discussed, an eCommerce bot brings the experience of interacting with a helpful and knowledgeable sales clerk to the digital world. The eCommerce chatbot can interact with customers, understand their requirements based on the conversation, and offer relevant product recommendations. 

Timely and effective post-sales customer service is a key factor in building a long-term relationship with a customer and driving repeat purchases. And eCommerce chatbots are a great asset to online retailers in this regard.

A major source of customer frustration is how long it takes to get hold of a customer care representative, over traditional support channels such as phone and e-mail. eCommerce chatbots solve this problem of long wait times. They are not bound by ‘office hours’ and are available 24/7 to resolve customer queries and issues.



80% or more of inbound queries that eCommerce brands receive are routine queries around order tracking, refunds & cancellations, payment issues etc. eCommerce chatbots can swiftly and seamlessly resolve these queries end-to-end.

READ MORE: 5 Reasons eCommerce Brands Have Made Chat Their Primary Customer Service Medium

With the bulk of their query resolution being automated, eCommerce brands can benefit from a massive reduction in their operational costs, as they do not need to maintain a large customer support staff (and incur the high recruitment, training and retention costs associated with that). AI automation also makes it easier to swiftly scale up customer care.

Through integration with a Live Chat system, eCommerce chatbots facilitate an AI + Human hybrid approach to customer care – with the chatbot handling routine queries and FAQs, while complex customer issues are escalated to a human agent for detailed attention. This approach enhances the productivity and efficiency of human agents as well, allowing them to focus their attention on solving problems that require their dedicated attention. 

Chat has increasingly become the customer’s preferred medium for seeking support from brands, as it combines the real-time, synchronous nature of calls, the easy-trackability of e-mails, and the depth and breadth available on an FAQ page. This makes it all the more crucial for online retailers to leverage eCommerce chatbots to better serve their customers.