6 Ecommerce Chatbot Examples to Help Drive Sales on Autopilot

Not having a chatbot could be costing you sales. Not doing it right could be costing you more. Latest statistics show how useful people find chatbots:

• 40% of millennials say they chat with chatbots on a daily basis.
• 64% of internet users say 24-hour service is the best chatbot feature.
• 67% of US millennials said they are likely to purchase from brands using a chatbot.

But what does a high-converting, genuinely useful chatbot look like? We looked at six of the best ecommerce chatbot examples to find out. And help inspire you in creating your own sales-driving on-site bot.

SEE ALSO: 3 Examples of Retail Brands with Amazing Omnichannel Experiences

Table of Contents

• 1. Chatbot Strategy: The customer journey
• 2. Chatbot examples for engagement
  • 2.1. HelloFresh
  • 2.2. DECEN Muebles Infantiles
• 3. Chatbot examples for education
  • 3.1. Uniquely Accessorized
  • 3.2. BaccOff
• 4. Chatbot examples for conversion
  • 4.1. GearBunch
  • 4.2. Argomall
• 5. Final thoughts

Chatbot strategy: The customer journey

Any business owner knows they must move shoppers through the three stages of the customer journey to make a sale:

1. Awareness
2. Consideration
3. Decision/Purchase

The progression seems so simple on paper. But it can be difficult to bring online shoppers through all three stages effectively. What can you do to help prospects along to the purchase stage more frequently and easily? Answer: Facebook Messenger chatbot - a powerful, yet under-utilised tool that can help you stand out, save time and boost sales. They’re easier to build than you think, and can make an impact at each stage of the customer journey:

• Engage at Awareness stage. A bot can do more than simply introduce prospects to your brand and the problem your product(s) solves. It can engage them in an innovative way that will make your brand stand out, priming them for the next stage.
• Educate at Consideration stage. To help prospects move smoothly through the consideration phase, it’s up to you to educate them - something a chatbot can do well. It can help tell your brand’s story, showcase your products and get potential customers interested in your solution to their problem. Bots can answer their questions, satisfy their objections, and get them ready to buy.
• Convert at Decision stage. Bots can make the buying process easier and more enticing. Plus, they can follow up with those who almost converted, and help get those who did purchase to come back and buy again.

Read on for six ecommerce chatbot examples that are helping brands engage, educate and convert prospects to bring them through the sales funnel. We’ll share exactly what each one did, and how they did it. So you can use these concepts to boost sales for your own ecommerce business.

1. Chatbot examples for engagement

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The first stage of the ecommerce customer journey involves making shoppers aware of:

1. Your brand;
2. its products;
3. and the problem(s) they solve.

The key to success in this stage is to engage prospects in a memorable or meaningful way from the start - something chatbots can do exceptionally well. You know what they say: You only get one chance to make a good first impression. That’s why it’s crucial to make a prospect’s first touch with your business an enticing, positive one. Pique their curiosity and make them remember you. It’ll pay off later when it’s time for them to make a purchase decision - 81% of consumers say that trust in a brand is an important part of their purchase behaviour, so building that rapport and relationship early on is essential. Engage and add value right away - a task that the Facebook Messenger bot is perfect for. Here are a couple of chatbot examples of this in action.

HelloFresh

HelloFresh is a a Berlin-based meal kit company. They send recipes along with fresh, pre-measured ingredients to your door to take the hassle out of cooking meals. In 2017, their US Facebook page launched a highly successful chatbot called Freddy. It helped them:

1. Get more messages from prospects.
2. While simultaneously decreasing their response time.

These impressive results all began with their bot engaging visitors in a unique way as they passed through the Awareness stage. It used fun, seasonal content to draw prospects in. On Thanksgiving Day, they posted a question on their Facebook page, inviting users to share their guesses. They equipped the bot to acquire new users from comments on that post, meaning Freddy sent every commenter a message immediately. The message contained an instant reward for the user’s participation, in the form of discounts on HelloFresh products. HelloFresh’s bot campaign paid off in three main ways:

1. They enjoyed a 64% conversion rate on Black Friday from this campaign.
2. Once set up, this process of sending discounts, gathering leads, and making sales was basically fully automated - saving them time and energy.
3. It gave users a memorable, enjoyable experience with the brand, making them more likely to convert and/or re-engage in the future - a vital aspect of this phase in the customer journey.

DECEN Muebles Infantiles

DECEN Muebles Infantiles is a baby brand based in Mexico that sells cribs and related furniture. While their bot has brought the brand success in a number of ways, it’s a strategy they used for engaging potential new customers with it that really stands out. Prospects are typically expectant mothers. So DECEN Muebles planned a crib giveaway to engage that demographic. Here's what the process involved:

1. DECEN Muebles created a Facebook post to announce the giveaway.
2. Soon-to-be mothers simply had to comment on the post with the month their baby was due.
3. The bot then sent those who commented but didn’t win a message, asking them to review the brand.

Because the giveaway was so engaging and well-tailored to its audience, these users were happy to submit reviews. 93% of consumers say online reviews impact their purchasing decisions. So using a bot to gather more was an important move for DECEN Muebles. And there's no doubt this engagement method worked:

1. DECEN Muebles doubled monthly sales as a result of the giveaway, after the bot engaged even those users who didn’t win.
2. They built an engaged, interested prospect base as a result of the unique experience the bot provided. Gaining over 4,000 qualified new leads from the campaign to use for future retargeting.
3. They gained over 100 positive reviews of their brand, thanks to the bot’s follow-up message.

2. Chatbot examples for education

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Now we’ve seen some examples of engaging ways to get the attention of prospects and make your brand stand out, we’re on to the next step: Educating shoppers on your offerings. This stage is your opportunity to showcase products and how they solve the prospect’s problem(s). It’s when you can share what makes your brand special, and show the shopper which items in particular may be right for them. It’s also a great time to tell more about your brand’s story to create an emotional connection and continue to build trust. These tasks can again be accomplished with a Facebook Messenger bot - and we’ve got two prime chatbot examples of this.

SEE ALSO: Ecommerce Teardown: How Alphalete Used Content & Community to Grow a Multi-Million Dollar Apparel Brand

Uniquely Accessorized

Uniquely Accessorized is a family-owned jewellery brand based in Alaska. They sell rings, necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, plus a selection of fashionable smartwatch bands. Meaning they have a pretty large product catalogue, full of items with potential for repeat and multiple purchases. So their bot primarily acts as a virtual shopping assistant to help people find what they want. Just as a brick-and-mortar store associate would, the bot asks the prospect questions about their taste and preferences and shows products to match. The bot can also answer 80% of FAQs about the products and the buying process. Plus, if a user has a question the bot doesn’t understand, they can always request to connect with a human agent instead. A HubSpot Search Report shows that, of 71% of people willing to use messaging apps to get customer assistance, many do it because they want their problem solved quickly. Offering answers to FAQs within a bot speaks to this customer need. The Uniquely Accessorized bot is simple, but effective. It guides and personalises the shopping experience, and as a result:

1. The user is more likely to find the product that suits them, making them more likely to convert.
2. The bot can answer most common questions the prospect may have, providing instant customer service with no waiting involved.
3. The user feels unique and valued. This experience creates positive feelings about the brand in their mind, potentially making them more inclined to buy now or in the future.

BaccOff

BaccOff sell safe alternatives to smokeless tobacco products, designed to help people wean themselves off of the nicotine and quit for good. The key to selling their alternative to smokeless tobacco begins with raising awareness about the dangers of addiction to the regular, nicotine-containing product - and helping people want to quit. And their bot does a great job educating prospects on the subject. It starts by asking questions about what type of smokeless tobacco they currently use: Then shares a video about their programme designed to help users quit - which involves use of their product:

The BaccOff bot even checks in weekly to help guide the person through the quitting process. If the user doesn’t take action right away, the bot follows up with more information - offering a coupon code for 10% off to entice users to buy. It also shares details about the discount available when customers subscribe to regular purchases instead of buying only once. The BaccOff bot’s education process accomplishes the following:

1. Taps into the user’s emotions right from the start with a video about the importance of quitting tobacco to improve health. Presenting this information in a conversational way via bot can be more effective in building trust.
2. Makes the buying process more enticing to lead customers to purchase, thanks to discount codes and subscriptions.
3. Keeps the user engaged week after week, showing them support for their journey while encouraging sales of the product that will help.

3. Chatbot examples for conversion

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Once you’ve engaged with prospects and educated them on your story and products, the final step is to convert them. Key message: If you don’t make it easy and enticing for them to buy, you’ll lose the prospects you worked so hard to get. A Messenger chatbot can help you convert visitors to customers in a number of different ways. Here are two brands that do it effectively.

SEE ALSO: 6 Checkout UX Tricks to Boost Ecommerce Conversions

GearBunch

GearBunch is a US-based clothing company that specialises in items with unique prints. Their best selling products are women’s leggings, but they also sell shoes, hats and accessories. And they created a bot called Betty to help boost sales. Like the Uniquely Accessorized bot, Betty acts as a personal shopper to recommend specific products for users: However: Betty also takes action when a user fails to convert. As a result, prospects that might ordinarily be lost can be reengaged and enticed to buy. If a shopper doesn’t convert after their first interaction with Betty, the bot will target them with hard-to-resist offers later on.

1. Coupon codes. GearBunch uses Facebook’s Sponsored Message option to send users sale notifications and coupon codes. Since 48% of consumers say they’re more likely to make a purchase sooner than normal to use an offer, this is a highly effective strategy for GearBunch.
2. Abandoned cart recovery. If a visitor adds an item to their cart on the GearBunch website but doesn’t buy, the bot will follow up with them as well. It’ll send a cart abandonment reminder within Messenger, plus a link to bring the shopper back to where they left off.

Take a look at this in action: GearBunch’s bot accomplishes several tasks that help it promote conversions, including:

1. Providing a personalised shopping experience that helps the customer find the right product, increasing the likelihood that they’ll convert.
2. Using incentives to win back shoppers who didn’t purchase the first time.
3. Keeping the brand top-of-mind with follow-up messages.

Argomall

Argomall sell a variety of tech products, including smartphones, tablets and computers. Like many of our other chatbot examples, the Argomall bot also provides a guided shopping experience - but in a different way. What sets it apart is a feature called Site Search. This connects the entire Argomall product catalogue to the bot. Using this, customers can ask the bot for a specific product (like “Samsung Galaxy Tab S6”) or a product category (“black laptop”), and it will return relevant results in Messenger: As you can see on the right-hand image, the bot also makes the buying process simpler too. Users can actually place an order for delivery right within the Messenger app. Argomall operates on a COD (cash on delivery) system. So no payment is exchanged digitally, although bots can be equipped to do this. Their chatbot simply gathers the user’s address and contact information, and shares an invoice and a delivery estimate. The Argomall bot helps promote conversions because it:

1. Makes it easy for users to find what they’re looking for from its vast catalogue of products.
2. Streamlines the buying process by allowing shoppers to order products from within the Messenger app.

Final thoughts

As you can see from these six chatbot examples, there are near-limitless applications for ecommerce businesses. Regardless of product type or price point, a bot can help improve your brand’s performance at all stages of the customer journey. You can build a bot to help:

1. Engage new users.
2. Educate them on your brand or products.
3. Convert them to sales.

Plus, you can save yourself or your team time in the process. Whatever chatbot strategy you choose, your brand can stand out from the crowd and enjoy tangible benefits with this innovative new technology.