ChatBots

To stand out during the high-stakes holiday season, merchants should start a conversation with shoppers — literally. Conversational commerce that combines human and machine intelligence is crucial to delivering the interactive customer experience shoppers crave. The conversational commerce revolution is underway. Fueled by the swift adoption of voice-activated “smart speakers,” which Microsoft predicts 75 percent of…

Analysts predict that spending on artificial intelligence (AI) in the retail sector will reach $7.3 billion by 2022, a majority of which will be poured into customer-facing conversational solutions like voice assistants and chatbots. That’s not surprising, given how the power of conversation is poised to fundamentally transform customer experiences across industries. The use of…

Brick-and-mortar retail is getting dissed by millennials, who increasingly prefer to shop online. With millennials representing an estimated $1.4 trillion in purchasing power, brick-and-mortar retailers can’t afford to ignore their needs as e-commerce and subscription services eat into market share. In the words of Vanilla Ice, retailers need to “stop, collaborate and listen,” brick-and-mortar retail…

Conversational commerce is the latest trend taking the retail industry by storm. By leveraging human brand specialists, artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and augmented reality (AR), conversational commerce delivers a more simplified and personalized shopping experience for consumers on participating retailers’ online stores and social media platforms. This model provides consumers with a seamless, on-demand shopping interface…

Regardless of industry, consumers today are faced with a tremendous number choices when shopping — more commonly becoming known as choice overload. Choice overload is what happens when we're faced with more possibilities than we can clearly or easily comprehend, clouding purchase judgement and often leading to overall frustration. When consumers find they're running into too…

As more and more retail transactions move online, chatbots are becoming the sales associates of choice. When built effectively, these human stand-ins, made of software configured, programmed and embedded in apps, websites and SMS, can closely replicate and simulate human conversation, driving engagement and improving overall customer satisfaction. On-call 24/7, 365 days a year with…

One of the biggest challenges for retailers is not acquiring customers, but keeping them. Loyal brand ambassadors are the backbone of growth. However, building long-term interest in a brand is no easy feat. Customers want personalized experiences and services that make them feel that they are the most important customer. A 2018 Bond Brand Loyalty…

Most consumers today have encountered an automated “helper” that’s routed them to the correct support representative or even suggested complementary products for them based on the items in their digital shopping cart. What used to be an experience uniquely associated with brick-and-mortar store sales associates asking, “how can I help you?” has now reached e-commerce…

Traditionally, on-site chat widgets were used to target two ends of the e-commerce funnel: web visitors with general questions, and purchasers with customer service needs. But with the turn of 2018, what was once mainly just “hype” regarding artificial intelligence, chatbots, and their potential has now turned into an evergreen solution for marketers. Chat boasts…

Digitization is occurring at such a rapid pace that many industries are finding it hard to keep up with how quickly customers are adopting new technologies. The retail industry is no exception. The question retailers must face is how can they keep up with the trend of an ever-evolving technology landscape, while still providing customers…