Did you know that AI chatbots can be a game changer across almost every industry?
Yes, AI-powered chatbots have been the hottest topic in different sectors for various reasons. They have the potential to revolutionise the way customers interact with businesses, and the e-commerce industry is no exception. From personalised product recommendations to streamlining support to abandoned cart recovery, these bots are empowering WooCommerce store owners like never before.
The combination of chatbots, AI and WooCommerce is a powerful formula that not only drives results but also builds trust and loyalty among customers.
In this article we will cover how AI chatbots solve major WooCommerce challenges. In addition we’ll share some of the best ways to use AI chatbots to boost your WooCommerce online store.
But before we continue, check out these incredible statistics about Woocommerce:
- As of 2024, WooCommerce has a market share of approx 66.70%
- As per the BuiltWith report, approximately 6,165,961 websites have been built using WooCommerce.
- Another research from BuiltWith shows that around 14% of websites use WooCommerce among the top 1 million websites.
- AI for e-commerce delivers over 25% advancement in customer satisfaction, cost reduction or revenue.
I’m sure these mind-blowing stats will help you demonstrate the growing importance of AI in the e-commerce industry.
Let’s learn more.
How AI Chatbots Solve Major WooCommerce Challenges?
Running a WooCommerce store comes with its share of challenges, but AI chatbots can tackle these obstacles with unmatched efficiency.
Below, I am highlighting the top challenges that AI chatbots can solve:
- 24/7 Multilingual Support
When running a WooCommerce store, owners like you often face problems in delivering 24/7 customer support to their customers. In this busy world, customers expect to get an instant response to their queries at any time of the day or night, regardless of location or time zone. Still, several companies fail to do so because the majority of customer executives can’t respond to a question during non-working hours.
When a company fails to provide 24/7 customer service, it leads to poor customer experience. According to stats, 65% of customers have changed their brands due to poor customer experience. Therefore providing 24/7 customer support is necessary but can be a major challenge for WooCommerce.
AI chatbots are a solution to this problem. They enable continuous 24/7 customer support unlike humans, as they don’t require breaks. Moreover, these bots allow customers to get instant assistance at any time, even outside working hours. In addition, it decreases waiting time and customer frustration which leads to a better customer experience.
- Increased Customer Satisfaction
In every business, lower customer satisfaction is one of the most common challenges. The same goes for e-commerce businesses. AI-driven chatbots can help you solve this issue and improve customer satisfaction. As I already mentioned above, they can guide your customers through the complete purchase journey, answer purchase-related queries and order history and more. All these capabilities result in improving customer satisfaction.
- Personalised Product Recommendation
Offering personalised product recommendations can be challenging for WooCommerce stores because it requires personal customer details. Privacy concerns often make customers hesitant to share this information. However, AI chatbots like SmatBot can help solve this issue. They use advanced algorithms and data analytics to provide customers with personalised product recommendations without compromising their privacy.
- Simplified Online Purchases
A complicated purchasing process is one of those problems in the WooCommerce sector that can lead to increased cart abandonment and business failure. As per the stat, 87% of customers abandon their cart during the checkout process if the procedure is longer or complicated. Thus, having an easy and streamlined online purchase process is essential to make your WooCommerce store a big success.
AI-enabled chatbots are the perfect tools that you can use to tackle this challenge. They simplify the purchase process by assisting your customer through product discovery to checkout. In addition, these bots seek contacts, provide product details and perform other helpful tasks to make your store’s purchasing process easier.
- Reduced Order Return
Generally, e-commerce stores face a common challenge with order returns. You might be shocked to know that the order return rate of these stores is more than the physical store. As per the stat, the average return rate for e-commerce was 17.6% in 2023.
If your e-commerce or WooCommerce store is also facing a high return problem, you can fix this issue with the help of an AI chatbot. When a customer initiates the return process through these bots, they start recommending similar or better products than the product they are returning. It helps customers to exchange or swap their products instead of refunding.
- Reduced CAC
Higher Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is another major problem faced by WooCommerce stores. Remember, the CAC is the cost that companies spend to acquire or attract customers. If your CAC is higher than the money earned through these customers, it indicates that your company is flawed.
AI chatbots can help you decrease the overall CAC in various ways. They provide timely solutions, reducing the time and resources spent on repetitive issues by handling complex customer queries efficiently. Additionally, these bots can identify and retain valuable customers, further helping to lower CAC.
Driving Sales with AI Chatbot Integration in WooCommerce
Integrating the AI chatbots is the best thing you can do to drive sales in your WooCommerce store. According to the stat, 47% of clients or customers would make a purchase through a chatbot. Let us take a look at how chatbots can help you drive sales to your WooCommerce:
- Targets Your Potential Customers:
Chatbots have the ability to target your potential customers by engaging your website visitors with friendly greetings, capturing their contact information and inquiring about their interests in order to drive sales. According to a UserLike report, 68% of users enjoy the speed of chatbots answering queries.
- Cross-Selling and Upselling:
Cross-selling and upselling are among the top ways that anyone can use to drive and improve sales. As per the stats, 72% of salespeople use these techniques to earn about 30% of their revenues. However, performing these techniques adequately is necessary to benefit from them most. AI-powered chatbots can perform these tasks more effectively. Chatbots are able to analyze customer data and behaviour to give personalized product suggestions. They can suggest relevant upsell and cross-sell opportunities by understanding each customer’s preference and purchase history.
In addition to these techniques, AI chatbots enhance how products are presented to customers. Many e-commerce brands showcase their best-sellers first, but AI bots are taking this further. AI chatbots predict which products customers are most likely to buy, similar to how Netflix suggests their shows. These AI bots can enhance category and product pages. In addition, they offer better recommendations and increase the chances of customers adding items to their carts and completing purchases.
- Reduces Cart Abandonment
Cart abandonment is a case that every e-commerce business doesn’t want to face because it can significantly affect their business. The bad news is that the rate of cart abandonment within the e-commerce world is relatively higher. According to the stat, the average cart abandonment rate is 69.99%. However, you can reduce it with the use of AI-driven chatbots.
Woocommerce chatbots are capable of reducing cart abandonment in your ecommerce business. They can effectively guide users through the complete sales process. Chatbots can also send customers or clients helpful messages, save essential details and encourage potential customers to make transactions.
- Post-Purchase Experience
Woocommerce Chatbots are also capable of engaging customers even after they complete or make a purchase from your WooCommerce store. They enhance customer engagement and satisfaction through prompt and personalised interaction by giving instant responses to customer questions and delivering tailored solutions that can meet your customer expectations and needs. This can result in increased engagement as well as a higher level of customer satisfaction.
Ways to Use AI Chatbots to Boost Your WooCommerce Online Store
I have listed the top methods you can use AI-powered bots to boost your WooCommerce online store below:
- Order Tracking
AI chatbot within the WooCommerce store can help you give all the order-related details to your customers. Remember, AI-powered chatbots are equipped with many useful features like GPS, barcode scanning and location tracking to offer up-to-date and relevant details. Customers can use these bots to ask about their order’s location, estimated delivery time or any possible delays.
- Feedback Collection
In any business, feedback is the most essential aspect for improving services especially in the e-commerce world. This is because it helps you identify whether your customers are satisfied with your business or not. However, collecting feedback from your customers is not an easy task because a majority of customers find it boring and time-consuming.
But this is not the case with chatbots. You can use these tools to collect feedback and conduct surveys after completing an interaction. As I discussed above, you can use this data to find an area for improvement. In addition, you can use it to improve the quality of your products or services.
- Place and Process Orders
You might be shocked to know that AI-powered chatbots can be used to place orders and process them. These bots have enabled customers to place orders even while interacting. Your customers only need to send a message to your chatbot to place an order for your products. It can be incredibly convenient for people who prefer a chat-based shopping experience.
- Facilitate Payments and Refunds
AI-driven chatbots can also be used to accept payments from your customers throughout the world. AI chatbots support various payment methods like UPI, bank cards, bank transfers and more. Apart from facilitating payments, they can also streamline the refund process. By instantly identifying and applying the correct scenarios, they significantly reduce human error in refunds.
- Inventory management
In the e-commerce business, inventory management is among the most crucial tasks. However, this task is also difficult because of the unpredictable demand and other crucial factors. You can also use AI chatbots such as SmatBot to manage your inventory. They can give you real-time insights about your inventory, such as stock level, performance insight, and more. In addition, these AI bots are able to perform tasks like ordering supplies, assigning duties and generating reports.
Must-Have WooCommerce Plugins for 2024
With so many WooCommerce Plugins available, choosing the right one that complements your online store can be challenging. That’s why, I have handpicked 5 best WooCommerce Plugins that will surely boost the performance of your online store.
- WC Key Manager
- OptinMonster
- WC Serial Numbers
- WC Min Max Quantities
- Smart Manager
Wrapping Up
As more WooCommerce store owners skillfully integrate AI technologies using chatbot-building platforms like SmatBot, they position themselves as industry leaders in this dynamic market, meeting the ever-changing needs of their customers.
So, what are you waiting for? Try SmatBot and integrate AI chatbots with your WooCommerce store and witness a significant rise in conversion rates and overall growth for your online store.