What are E-commerce Bots
Recently, more and more companies are turning to bots to transform the traditional consumer experience into a rewarding and personalized interaction. Engaging consumers has always been the priority in companies’ marketing plans, and now the use of digital channels is becoming the norm for faster and easier purchases.
Currently, one of the dominant trends in e-commerce is the fusion of online shopping and messaging applications. This model is called “Conversational Commerce” and is literally changing the way people shop online.
Chatting with a virtual store assistant adds personalization to traditional online shopping. Customers appreciate it for the new experience it creates.
Benefits of Using Chatbots
- No other apps download: This is one of the main benefits, as today’s users are tired of having an application for every little thing. Most chatbots are built on existing messaging platforms, so if you have a Facebook Messenger installed, for example, you’ll have all Facebook-based chatbots within the same app.
- No registration: Linked to the previous point, many chatbots are connected to messaging platforms to which you are already registered, so there is no need for yet another registration
- Information in one app: All the information you need is in the chatbot, just ask
- Increase in sales: Many brands have noticed an increase in sales since they use a chatbot that guides customers to buy.
A brief history of chatbots
How did chatbots come about?
ELIZA is considered the first chatbot in the history of computing developed by Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT. It was in 1994 that the term “Chatterbot” was coined. ELIZA operated by recognizing keywords or phrases and then producing a response using those keywords from pre-programmed responses.
In 1995was born ALICE developed by Richard Wallace. Unlike Eliza, ALICE’s chatbot was able to use natural language processing, which allowed for more sophisticated conversations.
These bots were the basis for everything that came after, below we leave you some examples of how chatbots are used now.
Business examples
A chatbot is a computer program that simulates the conversation with users to complete a service.
Chatbots for e-commerce are typically designed to:
- Complete shoppers’ purchases
- Offer customers product recommendations
- Provide support
Here are some examples of how chatbots can help e-commerce:
Sephora
Sephora’s chatbot on the Kik bot platform offers users makeup tips and provides product recommendations based on their quiz answers. It also redirects users to the Sephora app or site to complete purchases.
H&MH&M
The clothing brand has created a Kik chatbot that asks users questions about their style and offers photo options for users to select. With this information, the bot creates a profile of each user to make suggestions and direct the user to purchase.
Technologies for chabots
Technology is developing rapidly, below is a list of tools with which you can create a chatbot:
CHATFUEL
With Chatfuel you can have a complete chatbot in 10 minutes without programming.
Companies like Adidas, MTV, TechCrunch, BuzzFeed, British Airways, and ABC News have all used Chatfuel to create their chatbots. Currently, the platform has 17 million users around the world who have created 360,000 chatbots.
TELEGRAM BOT
Telegram is an instant messaging service created by the Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov which, in addition to using the cloud, is free. This platform has always been at the forefront of technological innovation and wouldn’t be outdone with chatbots. Telegram bots are like ordinary accounts, with the difference that they work through computer programs. Thanks to Telegram’s comprehensive HTTP bot development interface, creating a chatbot is very simple.
CHATSCRIPT
The name of what is often referred to as the best tool for chatbots is ChatsScript. It was born in 2009 when Bruce and Sue Wilcox started working on a project to create interactive game characters.
Since then, ChatScript has evolved to include many advanced features. Thanks to this tool, Bruce Wilcox has won the Loebner Award for Artificial Intelligence three times. This project is open-source, written in C and C ++, and publicly accessible on GitHub for anyone to study and use. It is especially perfect for chatbots designed to have natural conversations with the user.
Analitycs
For advanced metrics, consider using a third-party analytics service to integrate with the bot. These vendors focus solely on analytics, so they can track a lot of insights into the bot.
Here are some analytics services:
Chatbase: Google’s chatbot analytics platform, Chatbase shows basic metrics, such as active users and conversations, as well as advanced metrics, such as a Funnel report to indicate conversions.
Dashbot: This analytics provider supports chatbots on Facebook Messenger, Kik, Slack, and Twitter, as well as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice assistants. Dashbot offers a free plan with a report covering engagement, user demographics, retention, and more. It also offers bot transcripts to analyze individual conversations.
Botanalytics: This analytics service supports 13 platforms and assistants, including Facebook Messenger, Kik, and Twitter. It takes a deep dive into basic metrics by identifying the best re-engagement times for users and the most commonly used conversation phrases.