AI in E-Commerce: More Sales Through Better Customer Experiences? [5 Reading Tips]

AI E-Commerce — Source: Pexels/Tara Winstead

Shopping has to be easy, fast and convenient. Especially online. For a significant proportion of consumers, however, shopping is still more of a chore. The majority of Germans are already satisfied when the products they order arrive at their homes; only about 17 per cent of them expect the online shops they choose to provide satisfying or even enjoyable shopping experiences.

The problem here is that the image of online shops as conveyed by advertising does not always correspond to reality. Fancy interfaces of e-commerce vendors are often deceptive and lead to around 52 per cent of consumers being disappointed by the actual service of the shops. E-commerce vendors should see these dissatisfactions as an opportunity to exceed the expectations of their customers with reasonable measures.

Artificial intelligence can help improve shopping experiences in e-commerce and boost sales. But how exactly?

AI Can Improve Customer Experiences

Artificial intelligence can directly influence customer experiences. This particularly affects communication and interaction with customers. The areas of application below show how AI and machine learning can ensure greater customer satisfaction in online shopping.

AI Chatbots

A successful AI chatbot can help to further personalise customer communication and improve interaction with bots. In addition, different companies can gain insights into customer behaviour and preferences through artificial intelligence and the automated analysis of the answers given, enabling them to better respond to customer preferences. As a result, customers can feel better understood, which could avoid customer frustration and insults.

If you have not already done so, now would be a good time to use chatbots for targeted customer communication. Numerous companies and organisations were suddenly faced with a new situation at the beginning of the Corona crisis: customer service and consulting via phone were not possible in many places because of overloaded hotlines. Moreover, providing customer service while working from home presented many employees with new challenges.

AI Support in Voice Chats

An alternative to text-based chatbots are AI audio systems that make it possible to have spoken conversations. These systems are already better, faster and more efficient than conventional call centres and can provide callers with more convenient and personalised advice.

They perform significantly better and are smarter than previous audio menus, which only use speech recognition technology. They automatically respond to many of the standard enquiries and can forward users to call centre agents if they are not able to deal with the enquiries themselves.

Future-proof AI solutions are also capable of extracting conversation topics and preparing them for further processing by service staff. This means that customers do not have to tell the same story several times – and they also get the feeling that they are experiencing a particularly fast service.

AI Assistants for Shopping Advice

Systems that are capable of learning can also provide individual advice and support to customers. The fashion industry is leading the way: many online boutiques have already integrated photo-based product recommendations into their own apps.

This is how it works: online shoppers take a photo of a pair of trousers or a shirt they like and see somewhere, for example in a shop window or a fashion magazine. An AI algorithm then identifies a certain type, the cut, the pattern and the colour of the garment. Afterwards, the app shows either the product the online shopper is looking for or a specific, AI-based selection of similar outfits.