Conversion rates: Can Chatbots Make More Sales Than Humans?

Some organizations report huge sales growth from chatbots and others report a drop: it all comes down to using the best technology that is suitable for your business.

After seeing so many organizations step up their marketing ROI thanks to a good combination of pay per click and chatbot technology that moved in tandem to produce a great result, I’d like to share some important tips for CTO’s and CMO’s who would like to improve their metrics.

The idea of taking any “me too” chatbot and bot platform to skyrocket your sales is an unqualified assumption – and businesses seeking to improve sales and conversions through chatbots, need to select the right platform and specific bots, or custom chatbots, to provide a precise solution. Besides, what sense does it make for an organization that can save millions in operational costs and see more sales conversions, to be skimpy on the type of technology they deploy?

What chatbot research are you looking at? Is it a comparable example?

Firstly, before adopting just any findings as “the law”, I ask the question: can we generalize based on new research or surveys, for example where large numbers of citizens are researched on the payment of taxes and fines that are mandatory – and apply these findings to luxury retail and busy e-commerce stores? Of course not, we need to compare apples with apples.

So let’s look at the use of RPA – and then how chatbots can actually increase sales and conversions. We will start with what might be a slightly outdated example, albeit from 2018:

The closer convergence between RPA and AI chatbots brings substantial benefits to organizations. According to a Gartner report, the RPA software market grew by 63% in 2018. Contradictory to the market growth, studies published in Marketing Science found that customers grew curt when they were informed upfront of a bot’s presence, leading to an 80% drop in sales. On the other hand, according to the same study, when the bot disclosure was made at the end of the conversation, they outperformed the upfront disclosure group, and the group that performed best was the nondisclosure group. No matter how one interprets the figures, it gives the perception that consumer attitudes toward chatbots have improved since their introduction a few years ago. Back then bots were considered less knowledgeable and unfeeling was, and consumers could not wait to speak with a real person.

Today the picture has changed: more sales with smarter AI bots:

As chatbots become more intelligent and can match their conversation to an experienced salesperson, consumers are becoming more receptive to them in customer service and sales.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA): A definition

RPA is a software robot or bot that can replicate repetitive and standardized tasks, previously carried out by humans, in a shorter time. RPA can be used without companies needing to change their existing IT infrastructure and is an investment worth making in any business because of the benefits it offers. These include efficiency in solving tasks and cost-saving, allowing employees who formerly did these tasks to concentrate on other important areas. If you are catching up with RPA – this article will help you make the most of it.

How can Chatbots make more sales?

RPA and its AI technology can help retail and e-commerce make more sales, and it is paramount to understand why any business should be without intelligent chatbots right now. Business needs vary, but here are a few examples of how sales can be boosted:

Welcome messages

A welcome greeting to your customers leaves them with a positive feeling and creates the right mood for shopping. It is quick – almost instant, and helps to lower bounce rates on highly qualified leads.

Customer Service

While shopping, your customer can have an instant, pre-built response to any queries about the product. An instant response is more likely to lead to a purchase and an employee does not have to be on 24-hour standby for these types of customer queries.

Abandoned Cart Recovery

Sometimes customers put items into their carts and forget about them as they ponder whether to buy or wait. Chatbots remind them that they have these items saved, increasing the chances of the customer following through with the purchase.

Upselling

Based on previous purchases or items already in their cart, recommended upsells will make customers aware of the availability of other items.

Loyalty Campaigns

Discount codes or limited time offers can be programmed into the chatbot and these campaigns can be aimed at first-time customers or to return visitors. Customers like to feel that they are getting a deal made exclusively for them, increasing the chances of making a sale.

The benefits of using chatbots in sales

The right chatbot can boost your sales, as many businesses will attest. As technology advances so do customer expectations increase and they demand real-time interactions, a need satisfied by chatbots. The major advantage offered by chatbots is that they are always present and can answer most inquiries regarding purchases instantly. Companies are finding that the need for call centers is decreasing, and human interaction is only needed if unusual problems arise.

Speed is essential in e-commerce and in an American Express survey, more than 60% of their customers expressed that they prefer digital self-service tools to answer their simple queries. Online customers don’t like to wait longer than 5 minutes for a response and chatbots have an average wait of only 45 seconds, well below the 11 minutes that it actually takes to call a company.

Chatbots are the ideal tools for transitioning leads from consideration to purchase and their builders need to determine which tasks the chatbots will be undertaking. The secret to success lies in finding the correct measurements of the tasks, testing, and training of the bot to ensure that the dialogue is optimized.

How SnatchBot brings RPA and Chatbots to business

With SnatchBot there is no need for coding skills, even for more complex NLP models, and businesses can start building testing and using chatbots instantly after registering. Once the chatbots are ready they can be launched across as many channels as the company desires, simultaneously.

Initial registering and the features that are needed to get started are for free, including the ability to make NLP bots, but as the bots start to perform their tasks, the SnatchBot Pro-Plan provides a whole range of extra benefits and Premium Support to deploy these bots into more areas than just the sales department. Besides increasing sales, RPA is proving to be invaluable in providing improved customer service, unique customer experience, data collection and accounts reconciliation.

Intelligent bots are transforming companies by efficiently co-coordinating a whole range of menial tasks while empowering sales teams to focus on other important matters. The competitive market of today makes this technology indispensable.

Suggested reading: Avi Benezra on CEOWorld