How AI Improves Customer Service on Shopify

The growing presence of AI in eCommerce is revolutionizing customer service. As AI technologies improve, providing great customer service with platforms like Shopify is becoming easier than ever. This innovation helps merchants reduce the burden on human support teams. It also enables quicker, more proactive responses to customer concerns. In this article, we’ll examine how AI can improve customer service on Shopify.

Benefits of Using AI for Customer Service on Shopify

Using AI for Shopify customer service can yield many benefits. Here are some of the most significant advantages of leveraging AI for customer service functions:

1. Faster Response Times

AI can answer customer queries much faster than human reps. Traditional customer service replies can range from several hours to over a day. AI, however, responds almost instantly. This speed can lead to significantly better customer experiences. According to a Hubspot study, 90% of customers rated immediate responses (under 10 minutes) as an important factor when dealing with customer support issues. With AI, merchants can meet these expectations to benefit from higher satisfaction rates and repeat purchases.

2. Lower Staff Workload

AI-handled customer support saves your staff valuable time. By taking over repetitive tasks, AI frees human representatives to focus on more complex, business-critical tasks. This not only reduces staff workload but also improves morale by eliminating mundane tasks and monotony from their daily workflows.

‍

AI-powered customer support also ensures that Shopify merchants can meet the expectations of consumers who expect companies to be available around the clock. Research shows that over 50% of shoppers expect companies to be available at all times. AI chatbots satisfy this audience’s demand by answering customer queries 24/7.

3. Scalability

AI-powered customer service solutions are highly scalable. An AI chat can handle many conversations at once. Human agents can only effectively handle one or a few conversations at a time. This means an increase in the volume of customer inquiries requires a proportional increase in staff. AI eliminates the need for additional staff, allowing you to scale your Shopify sales channel without constraint. 

‍

Now, don’t think that adopting AI means completely eliminating the possibility of human input. A well-designed AI solution, such as Rep AI, also allows for seamless human intervention. For example, if the Rep AI chat encounters a question it can't answer, a human agent can step in to assist. The AI also logs these unanswered questions so that customer service reps can later provide the AI with the information to answer future questions. This ensures that customer needs are always met efficiently.

‍

4. Improved Data Analytics

Another unique advantage AI offers over human-led customer service is the ability to collect valuable data with every interaction. AI systems track customer behavior, language, and sentiment during conversations. By further analyzing the data, AI can provide insights into common issues and preferences. The AI does this automatically while the same data processing with a human would require extra work or more personnel.

‍

Better insights into audience preferences help you refine your customer support strategies. They also assist in crafting shopping experiences and optimizing product offerings. Rep AI, for example, makes it easy to analyze the products and promotions with the best chat engagement.

How is AI used for Shopify Customer Service?

With vast functionality, there are various ways to leverage the power of AI for eCommerce customer service. Let’s examine a few of the most common ways to implement AI customer for Shopify:

Answer Customer Questions Via AI Chat

Chat is the most common method of using AI in eCommerce customer service. AI chat can answer customer queries and process requests within seconds. As a result, customers can solve their issues without human interaction. This helps merchants meet important customer expectations. According to Zendesk, 67% of customers prefer self-service options like AI chat over speaking to a human representative.

‍

There are two primary types of chatbots: rule-based and conversational. While rule-based chatbots are limited to answering predefined questions, AI-powered chat such as Rep AI continuously learns from interactions and can handle a wider range of queries. For example, Rep use behavioral analytics to display highly-targeted product recommendations. It can also intuitively detect when a visitor may leave the site or abandon their cart to reengage them and continue the conversion funnel.

Support Ticket Sorting and Management

AI can streamline traditional help desk functions by sorting and prioritizing support tickets. This ensures that critical issues are addressed promptly. AI-powered helpdesks, such as Gorgias, intuitively manage support requests across multiple channels, improving the efficiency of the customer service process.

Predictive Analytics

AI-powered predictive analytics analyze consumer behavior patterns, trends, and potential issues. With predictive analytics, merchants can preemptively anticipate customer needs. This enables proactive customer support. For example, AI service tools can predict when customers may need to restock a consumable product. AI can also tailor responses based on previous interactions and customer preferences to provide a more personalized experience.

Customer Support Automation

As AI becomes more powerful, some eCommerce solutions can now automate customer service functions. For example, Rep AI includes AI automation to enable end-to-end customer self-service. Users can complete common support-related tasks right from the chat conversation. This allows for immediate responses to crucial tasks without having to wait for human support.

‍

With these AI automation features, Shopify merchants can significantly improve their customer support experience. By addressing common needs quickly and accurately, you can build trust and encourage repeat business. Removing the human element from common support functions also reduces the need for large support teams. This can save your team even more time and lower operational costs by reducing the number of support tickets needing manual input.

‍

Here are some of the efficiency-boosting customer service automation features provided by the Rep AI Support Skills:

• Cancel order: With the Cancel Order Skill, customers can ask to cancel an order directly in a chat conversation. The AI then cancels the order, nearly instantly. This fast support helps both the customer and merchant prevent completed deliveries for unwanted orders.

• Track Order: With the Order Status support skill, customers can use the AI chat to receive instant status updates about their orders based on one (or several, depending on the merchant's set up) of the parameters they have at hand, name, order number or email.

• Returns and exchanges: The Returns and Exchanges Support Skill lets customers complete a return request via chat. They simply need to provide the AI with their order details to receive a link to complete the return process and receive a return label.

• Change of address: This Support Skill lets customers use the AI chat to update their order address. This can prevent orders from going to the wrong address by allowing customers to quickly update the order details without waiting for a human representative.

Examples of Impactful Shopify AI Customer Service

Here are some great examples of companies using AI to level up the customer service options for their Shopify store:

Fuller Brush

Before AI, the cleaning goods brand Fuller Brush struggled to deal with a high volume of customer inquiries. As a century-old brand, the company’s customer base includes many elderly consumers who prefer interacting with customer support during the buying process. Unable to promptly keep up with all the inquiries, Fuller Brush implemented Rep AI to help automate support responses. The result? 96.24% of inquiries were resolved without human intervention

GoSun

GoSun, with its small team, struggled to handle a growing number of complex inquiries. By integrating Rep AI, the company reduced its support team's workload by 40%. With fewer tickets to answer, the team was free to focus on other areas of the business. Plus, by actively engaging customers, the AI helped generate $20,000 in AI-assisted sales within the first month.

Eye Candy Pigments

The pigment brand Eye Candy Pigments faced similar challenges in fielding all customer questions. After implementing Rep AI, the company saw a 50% reduction in support emails and phone calls. Beyond answering customer questions, Eye Candy Pigments was able to use Rep to improve its knowledge base. By analyzing the AI conversations, the company quickly identified gaps and problem areas to then enhance the articles to improve the self-service information available to customers.

Final Thoughts

As AI continues to evolve, its role in eCommerce customer service will only grow. Businesses that integrate AI into their customer service strategies are better equipped to meet customer expectations now and in the future. Start improving your customer service today with a free trial of Rep AI and see how your business can benefit from best-in-class AI.

‍