From customer journey to user experience: chatbots for Shopify explained
In our last blog article, "How chatbots can improve the customer journey", we covered the general benefits of chatbots in customer care. In this article, we look at how Shopify chatbots improve the user experience and create a unique customer experience.
How relevant the topic really is becomes clear when you look at forecasts for future online shopping. Some statistics predict that 95% of all purchases will be made online by 2040. Against this background, you quickly realize that websites/stores and their user experience will play a decisive role in how successful a business is.
Besides the basic question of what a chatbot is, we go into the specific benefits for the Shopify shop system and explain how to set up a Shopify chatbot easily. So it pays to stick around!
What is a chatbot and why should you build one?
If your head is already spinning after the first paragraph, don't worry – here's a quick recap of what AI chatbots are. A chatbot is a computer program that can process and understand natural language. Chatbots can be used to communicate with people in real time and provide them with information. They're often used on social media, websites and messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp – and more and more in online stores.
The use of chatbots has grown strongly in recent years, especially in areas such as customer service, marketing and sales. That's mainly because they're an effective way to get in touch with people and provide them with information.
In many cases, chatbots can also help save time and money. You'll find a detailed explanation in our blog article "What are chatbots and how do they work?".
How can Shopify chatbots improve your store experience?
Why Shopify chatbots: service, customer acquisition & conversion
There are a number of reasons why Shopify merchants should build a chatbot. First of all, chatbots can help improve customer service. They can make sure customer questions are answered faster and problems solved sooner. Chatbots can also help win new customers and strengthen ties with existing ones. And they can help increase your store's conversion rate by helping potential customers find the right product or service.
Ultimately, the big advantage of brick-and-mortar retail is personal advice. E-commerce generally has the problem of being purely digital. Shopify chatbots can bridge the gap between personal and digital. A Shopify chatbot that recognizes customers and recommends the right product is a decisive step.
Personalized buying experiences with a product advisor feature
It's no wonder chatbots are used more and more in e-commerce. Customer expectations keep rising. They want a personalized, individual shopping experience – and that's exactly where a Shopify chatbot comes in as a personal product advisor. Shopify chatbots let companies enter into direct dialog with their customers and offer a personalized buying experience. Your Shopify chatbot can adapt to your customers.
For one, it can recognize how long customers have been on the website and send them a personalized offer at the right moment. For another, the chatbot can recognize which subpage customers are on and provide the right content to influence their purchase decision positively.
A Shopify chatbot can also recognize your existing customers by whether they're logged in and offer them personalized discounts depending on their status. In short: Shopify chatbots acting as product advisors are a smart way to increase your sales and improve the customer experience in your online store.
Support relief & automation via the Shopify integration
Besides boosting sales, Shopify chatbots can, as mentioned above, also optimize your customer service. The bigger your store's range, the more questions your customers have. About 80% of customer requests in e-commerce are standard requests. Most questions are about product details, shipping and orders. Most of these are already answered by FAQs or information on the website. But your customers want an answer as quickly as possible and don't have time to click through a website maze. So they'd rather send you an email or fill out your contact form. Your customer requests pile up and your support is quickly overloaded.
With Shopify chatbots and an integration, these requests are easy to intercept. By integrating your bot with Shopify, your bot can access order numbers, delivery addresses and your products. That lets you control standard processes and sales easily via the bot, without having to read data out of Shopify manually. Customers also get answers to their questions as quickly as possible and your support doesn't have to lift a finger – a clear win-win.
What added value does a chatbot offer over other marketing tools?
A chatbot can offer your Shopify business significant added value over other marketing tools. A chatbot usually offers more value than other marketing tools because it can hold a direct, personalized interaction with customers.
Chatbots can also help you understand customers better and offer them the right products or services. On the one hand, a chatbot can help your customers identify more with your brand. On the other, chatbots can help improve customer service and increase the conversion rate.
Existing marketing tools are static and don't adapt interactively to the customer journey based on information. Here, Shopify chatbots have the big advantage of interacting with the shop system and recognizing customers. This makes the bot a dynamic element on the website that adapts flexibly to customer needs.
How do I install a Shopify chatbot in my store?
In the first part of this blog article, we looked at why a chatbot can be so useful for your Shopify business and some of the best reasons to build one. Now let's look at how you can build your own chatbot for your Shopify store!
With a chatbot, you can help your customers quickly find the right products, answer questions and even place orders. All you need to do is connect the bot to your Shopify store and let it interact with your customers. If you don't have a chatbot yet, there's no time to lose. Follow the guide and learn how to build your first chatbot in just a few minutes.
- Sign up with melibo for a 30-day free trial.
- Log in to your Shopify account.
- In the left navigation bar, click "Online Store" and then "Themes".
- Now click "Edit code" in the Actions drop-down menu.
- In the theme.liquid script, paste your chatbot's code before the closing body tag (</body>) at the end of the file. To get it, go to "Chatbot Styler" in your melibo account and click Installation.
- Finally, click Save at the top right.
How do I integrate a Shopify chatbot with my store?
Now that your chatbot is visible in your Shopify store, you can also connect it directly to your store's back end.
Simply follow these steps:
- Go to "Settings" in your melibo account.
- Click "Integrations" in the left column.
- Now select Shopify.
- Enter the login details for your Shopify account and click Save.
- Et voilà, melibo is now connected to your Shopify account.
- Now you can import the Shopify templates for order status, returns and product availability and edit them if needed. Your bot can then answer these questions.
Tips for building a successful Shopify chatbot
To wrap up, here's a guide to setting up your Shopify chatbot the right way.
1. Identify your chatbot's purpose
Before you start building a chatbot, it's important to identify its purpose. Do you want to support your customers while they shop? Help them find products? Give them information about your company? Once you've identified the chatbot's purpose, you can start building it. Decide whether the focus should be on sales or support.
2. Keep it simple.
A successful chatbot should be simple and intuitive. Remember that the people using your chatbot may not be technical experts. You don't want them to struggle through a complex interface. Instead, try to make the chatbot as simple as possible.
3. Keep it short and to the point.
People are busy and often have little time for small talk. So when your chatbot holds conversations, try to be as short and to the point as possible. The more time your chatbot takes up, the less likely people are to use it.
4. Test the chatbot before launch.
Before you launch your chatbot, it's important to test it thoroughly. Check all of its features and make sure it works properly. Also make sure the chatbot looks good and is easy to use. If possible, have other people test the chatbot and listen to their feedback. This can help you fix bugs before launch and improve the chatbot even further.
