It’s not a secret that abandoned carts are a big issue for any ecommerce company. The statistics are not optimistic: around 80% of shopping carts across the industry are abandoned. 

Of course, it can be very discouraging for shop owners who put their heart and soul into growing their business. However, even with unprecedentedly high cart abandonment rates, there are still plenty of ways to improve the situation and ensure that the majority of your website visitors convert into paying customers. 

One of the ways to do so is using chatbots. Chatbots are customer support tools that use artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to automate customer service as much as possible. They can answer customer questions and requests, ask for feedback, remind about unfinished purchases, and serve as virtual shopping assistants helping stores improve their customer experience. What’s more, chatbots are available 24/7, speak multiple languages, and are exceptionally fast in their responses. By providing fast and efficient customer support and assistance, as well as notifying about various promotions, incentives, and special offers, chatbots can really lower cart abandonment rates and ensure that businesses get loyal (and satisfied customers).

However, what are the best ways to use chatbots to recover abandoned carts?

Here are some top tips.

1. Choose the right tool

The good news is that the chatbot market these days is as abundant as ever: it is fairly easy to find a tool that suits the needs of any business. Tools vary in prices, capabilities, personalization possibilities, and offered features like different integrations with social media, CRM tools, and even Google Calendar integration. From FAQ chatbots to AI-powered bots to 3D shopping assistants: there is plenty of choice. Ecommerce stores could really benefit from highly customizable and well-designed chatbots, especially those that come with plenty of ready-made templates and don’t require any coding to set them up. Among the most popular solutions that could be worth trying are Tidio, Drift, Ada, and Replica. 

2. Provide omnichannel chatbot support

You have to be where your customers are, whether it’s your website, email, Facebook, or Whatsapp. Relying on only one channel to reach customers who abandoned their carts is counterproductive: the chances of them returning are pretty low if you don’t use multiple channels. As a business owner, it’s important to know your audience and where they are present the most. Is it Instagram? Cool, there are plenty of chatbots with Instagram integrations. Facebook? Even more! The bottom line is that chatbot usage is not limited to your website only: use its full potential to recover abandoned carts and ensure that your website visitors keep returning.

3. Personalize your chatbot communication

Modern-day customers are pretty picky: they value customized messages and communication tailored specifically to them. A well-targeted personal approach can really make your customers go back to their shopping carts and finalize their purpose, so, it’s vital to offer a unique touch that will make them feel special. The good news is that chatbots are highly customizable: you could use ready-made templates or write the bot communication yourself, as well as think about your widget design and how it blends in with the look and feel of your website. 

Personalized chatbot messages that remind customers about what products they abandoned in their carts and why they are worth buying is a sure way to drastically improve your conversion rates.

4. Use chatbots to ask for feedback

Being your virtual shopping assistants, chatbots can smoothly and efficiently gather customer feedback and customer data shared with them. This will save you lots of time on collecting and analyzing feedback simply because you can leave it to AI. Tracking customer behavior and using data to analyze it is a sure way to gain a better understanding of your customers’ actions: why do they abandon carts? What factors influence their purchasing decisions? What could you do differently? 

Being data-driven is integral to building a successful ecommerce business and, of course, to recovering abandoned carts. Improving your processes based on customer feedback will improve conversion rates, retention, and, ultimately, cart abandonment rates.

5. Use chatbots to optimize your checkout process

The truth is, many customers abandon their carts because they get frustrated with the checkout process. Sometimes it’s unclear, too demanding, or too limiting. There can also be not enough payment options or too many steps like creating an account, signing up for a newsletter, and more. You have to make sure that your checkout process is as straightforward and clear as possible. When it’s done, you can leave the rest to your chatbot: advanced bot platforms can guide customers through the checkout process, answer any questions that arise in the meanwhile, and ensure that the customers finalize their purchase with ease. 

Main takeaways

As you can see, chatbots are game-changers when it comes to recovering abandoned carts. They automate your support and checkout, offer exceptional customer service, gather data and analyze it, and can personalize and customize customer experiences. By finding the right solution and tailoring it to your business and audience, as well as listening to your customers and constantly acting on feedback, it’s possible to drastically decrease cart abandonment rates and turn regular website visitors into happy paying customers.