5 Tips for Selling On Shopify With Conversational AI
It should come as no surprise to anyone that in light of the global pandemic, consumer habits have shifted immensely worldwide—with more consumers spending online than ever before.
Experts have even coined the 2020 pandemic as the fifth industrial revolution with the supply and demand for necessities like groceries, cleaning supplies, etc.—and more indulgent items like skincare, fashion, and other consumables—increasing at an unprecedented pace.
Shopify is for all of us
For some, though, the pandemic has also meant the opportunity to indulge in entrepreneurial pursuits. Be it your cheese curdling side hustle or finally launching your own tufted rug store, the world is turning toe-commerce platforms—like Shopify—to start their own thing.
Throughout the pandemic, the number of newly launched Shopify storefronts tripled between March 2020 and January 2022, with the platform’s merchants reportedly amassing $175-billion in 2021—that’s a 47% increase from the year prior (and a whole lotta cash).
But in this digital world, launching your own store on Shopify hasn’t come without its challenges.
There is now an increased pressure to succeed on the platform (it is estimated that 1.75-million Shopify merchants are now using the platform to sell goods and products worldwide). And pairing this with increasingly high expectations from consumers to offer an above-and-beyond shopping experience (a 24/7 storefront, free shipping, you name it) Shopify merchants must be integrating the latest technology in order to stay competitive.
But as a Shopify merchant/one-person-show/solopreneur (that’s you!) this is no small feat. You may be asking yourself:
How do I stay connected with my customers without hiring an entire team? Is there a chatbot that can help me communicate with my customers when I’m away from my desk?
Trust us, we’ve been there. And these are all the concerns that we took into consideration when launching Heyday by Hootsuite’s Sales & Support Chat for Shopify in 2020.
Communicating with your customers quickly and 24/7 is more important than ever before
Heyday helps merchants just like you grow and scale their businesses with automated responses to customer questions in real-time. And one core tenet we always return to when coaching our Shopify merchant community is that online sales are made within seconds. ⏰
The good news is that the tool for actively selling within those fleeting seconds comes down to one thing: communicating with your customers in real-time.
Is Jono from Italy looking for a cozy onesie in size XXL? Is Ariel from Florida looking for an update on her order? The ability to respond to your loyal customers in a quick, efficient manner is what will set you apart from the competition, and foster stronger relationships with customers that keep them coming back time and time again.
So, how does one ensure 2022’s customer expectations are met on Shopify (and around the clock, for that matter)?
If there’s one integration to add to your Shopify store in 2022, let it be conversational AI.
Below, we outline 5 tips for selling on Shopify—and just how Heyday’s Shopify chatbot can help you tackle the global retail space and skyrocket sales to achieve the business of your dreams (because doing your own thing is worth it).
1. Motivate Buying Decisions With Product Suggestions
We all have witnessed the wonders of a salesperson in real life. Upselling from one pair of trousers to two, sharing the latest trends in hat wear, or showcasing their favorite skincare products via in-person tutorial. Salespeople will forever be angels on earth when it comes to recommending personalized products (and of course as a store owner, helping you sell more).
So, why would you overlook this tactic when it comes to your Shopify storefront?
Right now, product recommendations often account for 31% of e-commerce revenue. The good news for you is that this is essentially our jam here at Heyday—our Shopify chatbot is your turnkey personal shopper that can automatically present customers with an entire product catalog, in real-time, in any time zone.
Particularly when consumer attention spans are at an all-time low, the ability to quickly showcase your product catalog can make or break the sale (and with a carousel-like visual experience, which is proven to drive more engagement, who could say no?).
2. Tackle Online Shopping Hesitations
Product recommendations are great and all—but this must be accompanied with speed and a sense of urgency to drive sales on Shopify. And did you know that 90% of shoppers say an immediate response is crucial when they have a purchasing question (with two out of three expecting a response within 10 minutes)?
This is particularly important if a customer has items in their cart and is ready to checkout but has an objection, quick question, or a minor hesitation.
One of the best Heyday features is that our conversational AI can swoop in and answer any last-minute questions to remove friction from the buying process.
Imagine, your customer is loading up their cart on Black Friday—but there’s only 5-minutes until the annual promotion has closed. Heyday’s Shopify chatbot provides immediate access to everything they need to know about a product—think product fit, size, and color—making it all too easy to decide between the pink or blue t-shirt (because we can’t always have it all).
Automation is no longer just a luxury for big enterprises (like our friends at Dynamite Decathlon, and MAKE UP FOREVER)—with a Shopify chatbot critical for launching businesses of all sizes into the future.
3. Answer frequently asked questions around the clock
We mentioned earlier that responding rapidly to your customers is going to result in big wins (thanks for listening!). And this ties into our FAQ feature: our templated, semi-customizable responses shared with customers directly in the Shopify chatbot.
The FAQ component works upon app download and can automatically answer common questions your customers have, like “do you have this in size L? What’s new in store? Is my order on its way?”, as well as welcome messages, wait time responses—all with a friendly, on-brand tone of voice and demeanor. The best thing is that it can work around the clock (while you’re on vacation, or while you’re asleep).
For our Shopify merchants that are currently seeing great success with their storefront and scaling like it ain’t no thing (congrats on hiring a fresh new customer service team!) Heyday also perfectly pairs up with your human team.
Our seamless agent transfer is designed for the more sensitive, complicated queries sent by your customers (cue, “I would like to speak with an agent”) and also takes us to the next big thing here at Heyday: that all conversations from across your sales channels are kept neatly under one, tidy Heyday roof.
Did someone reach out on social media? Via email? This unified inbox allows for consistent conversation with your customers and means never missing a message again. Save time? Check. Drive your biz to new heights and close more sales at scale? Check, and check.
Build Trust With Instant Reassurance
We’ve mentioned that Shopify is an increasingly competitive platform to sell on. And often in the overwhelming, global retail landscape that we spoke about earlier (so many options!) it is also the trustworthiness of your brand that can turn customers into loyal brand advocates (can I get a return-customer-purchase-amen?).
But what exactly is brand trustworthiness, and how can you achieve this on Shopify?
Two of the five components outlined here on the Shopify blog states that customers associate trust with your store’s ability to provide essential information immediately and offer easy and transparent transactions.
Especially amongst the Gen Z and Millennial generation, there is also a desire for an immersive and enjoyable online shopping experience meaning branding, messaging, and tone of voice, all rank highly in e-commerce currency.
To quickly secure leads, your Shopify store must step up to the bat with an optimal customer service toolkit. Heyday’s powerful conversational AI equips you with automated reassurance for things like order updates.—because no one wants to lose track of their precious goods.
Heyday integrates seamlessly with Shopify order tracking apps so that your customers can get instant updates on where their products are. That holiday jumper they ordered 24-hours ago for their annual office party tonight? Heyday can track precious cargo down so that weekend plans go ahead unscathed—ensuring that customer satisfaction continues to skyrocket alongside them sales.
5. Understand Customer Pain Points
In the case of 2022’s online retail landscape (hello, social commerce) we know that knowledge is power—the more information you have about your customers, the easier it is to serve highly-targeted experiences. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous data can mean juicy, juicy, juicy sales.
The cool thing about Heyday is that it can help you discover key customer pain points by monitoring common queries, including how your customers interact with FAQ responses. If shoppers continue to ask about shipping methods, it might be because you haven’t been clear enough about them on your site.
You can also look into customer purchasing paths to understand where your customers are dropping off (was it something we said?) and ultimately inform how you customize your FAQ templates to be sent via the Shopify chatbot.
This in-depth data analysis (bye, Google Analytics) paired with Heyday’s CSAT score tracking (this measures customer satisfaction) also means knowing how your human team is managing, and where to improve.
Conversational AI is the Future of Selling on Shopify
As a Shopify merchant/solopreneur/one-person-show we get it: selling is hard. Heyday’s Shopify chatbot is not only going to make your customers happier—but help you sell more with every conversation. And, it’s a pretty big flex to add to your Shopify store (bye, competitors) as you reach for the business success of your dreams. Need we say more?
We could chat for days about the Heyday – Sales & Support Chat for Shopify. Reach us at help@heyday.ai .