The role of conversational ai in the present and future of ecommerce

A collection of statistics and predictions on the future of eCommerce and the role of conversational AIs

The trend

"According to IBM, 4 out of 5 customer service requests will be handled by virtual assistants"

eCommerce is by its very nature constantly, rapidly evolving. Prominent among the various emerging trends in the industry are the progressive personalization of the customer experience and the efficiency of scalability. In this context, the use of conversational AI is the ideal solution to offer personalized and highly scalable services and experiences to its customers at a very low price.

Virtual assistants and chatbots are becoming increasingly common. In the last 2 years in particular, investment in and adoption of these tools has seen a marked acceleration. Numerous studies have shown that the market has in fact nearly doubled since 2020, exposing many more people to this type of technology. Chatbots and virtual assistants are currently the fastest growing communication channel.

• 92% - Market growth over the past 2 years
• 13% - Growth in chatbot-mediated purchases over the previous year
• 80% - The number of online interactions that will be handled directly by conversational agents

Consumers

Although lower costs and greater scalability of customer services are among the most obvious benefits to justify the spread of agents, it is beginning to become increasingly clear how the change in consumer expectations is the real driver behind this trend.

When customers visit an online store they aim to easily find what they are looking for. Consumers want to receive quick and efficient responses-usually within 10 minutes-but they also expect to be assisted, listened to, and understood through a personalized and natural shopping experience. At the same time, younger generations, who already make up the majority of online shoppers, are increasingly less critical of conversational AI and indeed prefer it in more and more circumstances to human operators to save time.

In short, the need that is emerging is to find a solution that can combine human empathy with the efficiency that only software can offer-and conversational AI aims to do exactly that. It is now clear that virtual assistants and chatbots will play a crucial role in the evolution of eCommerce in the next decade.

• 40% - Customers willing to buy directly from virtual assistants. Already today.
• 87.2% - Consumers reporting positive or neutral experiences with chatbots and assistants, Only 12.8% reported negative experiences.
• 87.6% - Average customer satisfaction rate following chats with conversational AI, 2% higher than for chats with human operators.
• 35% - Consumers who say they would like to see more companies introduce virtual assistants into their eCommerce.
• 53% - Consumers who would be willing to buy more if they could chat with the brand to get more information.
• 83% - Customers who require some form of assistance to complete an online purchase.
  

Early-movers' advantage

Although the adoption of AI-based solutions is accelerating rapidly, not all of its applications have already been fully deployed. As a result, companies that choose to implement conversational experiences now will be able to solidify their position in the market as an "early - mover" for at least the next 10 years.

Less costs more sales

• 55% - The average increase in conversion rate, varying by industry.
• 67% (up to) - The increase in sales seen by 57% of companies that introduced conversational solutions.
• 30% - The average reduction in customer service and support costs.
• 69.2% - Conversations in eCommerce that can be automated through conversational agents.