Setting up an online store is hard. You spend ages taking photos and choosing the right font. Finally, you hit publish and breathe a sigh of relief. After all, the hard part is over.

Except that it’s just beginning. You can’t sit back and wait for customers to arrive, you need to draw them to your site. And, when you get that right, you need to give them outstanding support to keep them enthralled.

But, you only have so many hours in a day. How do you cope if your website takes off? That’s where AI for ecommerce business tools is vital. These smart programs can improve the customer experience by:

• Providing instant answers.
• Giving recommendations.
• Analyzing data.
• And a lot more.

In this post, we’ll look at how you can use gen AI in ecommerce to automate support and boost sales.

Where Can We Use AI for Ecommerce Business?

You can use these tools in lots of ways. Let’s look at the most popular of these.

Gen AI in Ecommerce for Customer Support Automation

You’re probably already familiar with these tools. Many have been around for ages. The difference now is that we’re now incorporating gen AI in ecommerce, making these tools a lot more efficient.

Generative AI is capable of doing a lot more than its predecessors. Unlike previous iterations, it can create unique content from scratch. Let’s see how this might look in an AI for ecommerce business setting.

Gen AI in Ecommerce Powering Chatbots and Virtual Assistants

Modern bots are a lot more capable than their predecessors. In the past, the customer had to use predetermined keywords to get the right response. Today bots can understand the context of a query, making them much more powerful.

You can task bots or virtual assistants to:

• Handle frequently asked questions.
• Deal with tasks like order tracking and processing returns.

The advantage here is that you have a representative available 24/7. Unlike a human agent, the bot can handle multiple queries at once. You can easily manage it if you get a flood of support requests.

Automating Repetitive Functions

AI handles tasks like responding to emails or reordering stock. AI doesn’t get bored or have a bad day. This means that it handles the tasks accurately and quickly. Productivity increases and the number of errors drops.

AI and Ecommerce Voice Assistants

Natural language programming has come a long way. This means that AI is better able to understand what we say. Going forward, we’ll see more AI-driven voice support. Customers appreciate this option because it makes it simple to ask questions.

AI Ecommerce Personalization

Customers today expect companies to know something about them. This is fair enough considering how much information we gather on the average client. However, personalization today has to go deeper than simply using the customer’s name.

You need to give them highly relevant offers and recommendations as well. If you get this right, you’ll increase your conversion rate. You’ll also increase the chances of your clients actually reading your marketing blasts.

AI Ecommerce Personalization Through Product Recommendations

Let’s see how this might work in a real company. Take Netflix, for example. The algorithm analyzes what you watch and what’s on your watchlist to recommend similar shows. The longer you’re on the site, the more accurate the algorithm becomes.

You can harness AI for ecommerce business in a similar way. The machine can analyze past behaviors on the site, purchase histories, and even abandoned carts to recommend new products. It can use this information to serve up advertisements or content to your clients so they’re more likely to buy.

Another smart way to use gen AI in ecommerce is to give your clients personalized discounts on items they usually buy. It’s a great way to show clients you appreciate them and encourage them to look around your site.

Dynamic Pricing Algorithms

Do you know what prices to set for your products? Is there a competitor offering a better deal? Would a slight discount be all that you need to get that customer to buy?

AI for ecommerce businesses can analyze these factors and make real-time price adjustments. This is especially useful if you’re a drop shipper and the price of goods might change at a moment’s notice.

AI for Ecommerce Business Searches

How easy is it for your clients to find what they need on your site? Can they find the answers they need just by looking, or is it a little more complicated? If you incorporate AI into the search function, you get a smart search.

It’s like if you misspell a word when searching Google. Google will say “Including results for …” and give the correct spelling. AI for ecommerce business fills in the gaps here, and can for you as well.

This can boost sales because it makes your site less frustrating for visitors. They can find what they need easily, and so are more likely to hang around rather than shoot off to a competitor.

AI for Ecommerce Business for Sales and Marketing Optimization

How can you use artificial intelligence to boost sales?

Automated Email Marketing

You start with AI ecommerce personalization to send personalized promotions based on customer behavior. For example, if the customer compared the prices of sneakers on your website, you could set up a promotion for similar shoes. You could also look at matching outfits.

It doesn’t just have to be a sales message. What if a client is in the research phase rather than just buying? Say, for example, you sell water filters and a customer reads your blog about the different types but doesn’t click through to buy. AI might decide they need more information and so point them to relevant content.

In other words, AI can play a significant role in nurturing leads and driving conversions by providing relevant offers and information.

AI-Generated Ad Campaigns

There can be hundreds of things that make one ad campaign better than another. This is why we perform split testing, to see which elements make the most impact. Traditionally it’s time-consuming because you have to create several versions of every ad. You can only change one factor at a time.

This is another area where AI and ecommerce are a good match. You can apply the principles of AI ecommerce personalization to optimize PPC and social media ads. You could, for example, have AI create different versions of the same ad, tweaking something small.

More importantly, AI can make real-time changes based on your customers' behavior. Say, for example, that you sell cars and you have a young mother looking at family SUVs. Serving her an ad showing a handsome guy in a flashy sports car would probably fall flat.

Instead, AI could create a picture of a mum strapping her baby into a car seat. This would display the room interior and show how safe the vehicle is. Then, of course, if you have someone browsing flashy sports cars, you could serve them the other ad.

Does this level of personalization seem unrealistic? With AI ecommerce personalization it’s perfectly possible. You can even set up the parameters and let the machine run on autopilot.

Chatbots for Sales Assistance

Where AI for ecommerce business comes in most handy is when it comes to providing real-time support for your clients. Your bot can handle simple questions like:

• What is the biggest size in this style?
• Does this come in other colors?
• Is there stock in my local store?

Generative AI for ecommerce businesses can go a step further and even take on the role of a personal shopper. A customer might, for example, want advice on what to wear to a wedding. The bot can ask questions like:

• What is the color scheme?
• Is it a formal wedding?
• What style do you want to wear?

The bot can then help the customer refine their choices. The advantage here is that the client gets the support they need at any time of the day or night. They don’t have to wait for normal business hours and can shop when it’s convenient for them.

While they’ll probably know they’re dealing with a bot, they’re getting a level of AI ecommerce personalization that’s appealing.

AI and Ecommerce Inventory and Order Management

What’s one of the most disappointing things for clients? For most of us, finding the perfect product is exciting. Not being able to order it straight away dampens the thrill. There’s nothing quite like seeing that “Sold Out” sign to make you scurry away.

There are a few ways that AI for ecommerce businesses overcomes this issue.

Predictive Analytics for Demand Forecasting

In a perfect world, you’d always have everything in stock. But the downside is that you may then sit with merchandise that doesn’t move. AI and ecommerce make a good team here again because the machine can determine which items sell best.

It can analyze past data to forecast demand, thereby preventing overstocks and stockouts. This is where AI ecommerce personalization comes in particularly handy for you. It can analyze data from many sources:

• Customer interactions.
• Behavior on your site.
• Internet trends.

It’ll then give accurate ideas about upcoming demand.

AI-Powered Order Processing

You can make fulfillment much quicker and easier using AI for ecommerce business. The machine can automate the process, improving delivery speed and accuracy. There’s no chance of transcription errors or missing items from the delivery.

Another reason that AI and ecommerce are so good together is that the system can update your clients every step of the way. Take the fashion website Shein, for example. After the customer places the order, the system:

• Sends it for packing.
• Updates the client when the item is shipped.
• Gives the customer the tracking number.
• Updates the client whenever there’s a change in status, such as when the item leaves China.

This improves customer satisfaction because they can see every step in the process. They have a better experience and are more likely to order again as a result.

Enhancing Customer Retention with AI

So, can the machine help you reduce churn? It starts by improving the customer’s overall experience. But there are several other ways AI and ecommerce work together here.

Sentiment Analysis and Customer Insights

AI can scan thousands of data points to find stumbling blocks in your service delivery. It can also analyze trends online to help you gain valuable insights into what your clients really want.

Proactive Customer Support

AI can identify data points that suggest a customer is at risk. Then it can take steps to alert your team so they can reach out to your customer. Say, for example, your client isn’t using all the features of a particular product. They might look for a replacement. But you can save the sale by offering support proactively.

AI-Driven Loyalty Programs

We’ve touched on this already. You can win customers over by giving them discounts on products. You win fans by giving them discounts on products they buy regularly.

Conclusion

AI and ecommerce have a lot to offer each other. Many tools can improve the customer experience. Some do this by supporting the client in making decisions and finding answers. Other AI for ecommerce business tools can automate repetitive tasks and improve efficiency.