What’s your strategy for Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2022?

Black Friday and Cyber Monday strategies that work

What’s your strategy for Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2022? In all likelihood, you’re going to see your website traffic double (exciting), conversion rates go up (hooray), and nearly a third of your customers return their purchases (scary).

The peak season will add extra stress on your employees and, if not correctly dealt with, may reduce customer loyalty and lifetime value; even with regards to returns, 92% of customers who make returns will come back to your webshop if the process is straightforward and smooth.

We know that growing an ecommerce business is hard, now more than ever. Without the correct preparation, Black Friday and Cyber Monday can make it even tougher; so, we’ve put together a few insights and strategies!

AI chatbot adoption insights

• Depending on the time of year, WISMO (where is my order) inquiries can amount to 40% of all customer inquiries. This can become a sunk cost for brands.
• Visma relies on an AI chatbot for 87% of all inquiries
• During Black Friday, the Fragrance Shop’s artificial intelligence chatbot handled 10000 orders

AI-enhanced Chat Bots work for your business 24/7/365, delivering qualified responses and resolving customer issues as quickly as possible. Building a bot that can generate leads right away and then automate the next steps based on customers’ needs is worth it. More and more brands realize that customized chatbot solutions speed up customer acquisition and retention and often turn website visitors into repeat and loyal customers.

In 2020 and 2021, over 40% of physical sales in shops were lost as a result of the pandemic. Despite the decline in offline sales, online sales surpassed $100 billion for the first time during the Thanksgiving season. This record is in part due to the increasing use of mobile devices by shoppers. Chats and text messages have over 98% open rates and provide the highest level of engagement. How cool is that?

Why does AI-driven chatbot marketing work?

Using AI-driven human-like chatbots, customized to your brand’s specific needs, can provide great on-demand customer service to your clients. It can be also an excellent way to build and enhance customer relationships.

Communication that involves both parties is a great way to keep your customers engaged. Prospective customers ask questions about your services all the time. In addition, they also expect to receive immediate assistance. Brands gain people’s trust when they deliver a quick response to their inquiries. Increased customer satisfaction will cause loyalty and happy clients will return again and again.

Thinking about implementing a brand interaction platform that automatically adapts to customer needs, while still preserving human agents for more complex interactions? We can help. Certainly’s AI-driven platform is especially powerful when used in e-commerce.

Second, in today’s on-demand economy, retail and e-commerce must embrace change. Email and phone channels are dying out as methods of customer communication because they’re slow and inconvenient. In the age of mobile experiences, consumers expect brands to provide on-demand content. Chatbots are here to meet that demand.

If you want to create your own Conversational AI Assistant and deliver frictionless e-commerce, you are in the right place. We automated millions of customer interactions last year and helped retailers gain insights and prepare for this holiday season. Check out these key takeaways.

Chatbot usage statistics and trends:

• In the next two years, chatbots will save businesses about 8.4 billion hours and $8 billion in costs. Source: Juniper Research
• E-commerce transactions generated by chatbots are expected to reach $100 billion by 2023. Source: Juniper Research
• Currently, 23% of companies use AI chatbots for customer service. Source: Salesforce
• A chatbot has been used by 80% of people at some point. Source: Userlike
• According to this year’s Chatbot Marketing revenue report, $83.4 million was generated globally. Source: Statista
• Around 69% of the time, chatbots can handle full conversations. Source: Comm100
• Chatbots are mostly used to answer customer questions quickly. Source: Drift
• Digitally advanced brands are using chatbots more than any other communication channel. Source: Drift
• Chatbots are more popular in Europe than in the US and Japan. Source: Drift
• A whopping 40% of consumers don’t care if it’s a human or a chatbot. Source: HubSpot
• Chatbot adoption rates are highest in online retail stores. Source: Invesp
• Chatbots generate in 90% of the cases positive or neutral user experiences. Source: Drift
• Chatbots can lower customer service costs by up to 30%. Source: IBM
• The chatbot Market is expected to reach $14.9 billions by 2027 Source: AllTheResearch

What brands need to consider before Black Friday

First, delivering a positive customer experience is a great way to excite customers about a brand without relying solely on discounts. E-commerce companies need to evolve to the extent when they connect emotionally with consumers to turn prospects into satisfied customers. Relevant and satisfying on-demand communication can make a difference.

Second, every interaction with a customer is an opportunity to establish rapport, earn new business, and represent the brand. Currently, industry leaders should seek scalable approaches to having more interaction with customers at every point of the customer journey and empower their customer experience teams to become proactive, personalized brand ambassadors instead of passive support agents. Making sure that your email marketing journeys are completely set up and optimized well in advance of BFCM, as Hustler Marketing outlines here, will go a long way in establishing that connection with the customers and make sure no gaps are left from turning site visitors into first-time customers and them into repeat buyers

And last, the AI SaaS solution from Certainty helps e-commerce companies support their customers quickly and easily via chat and self-service. AI-powered chatbots transform customer experiences. Today, bots handle 80% of all support inquiries. Transform your customer journey into a human-like experience. A measurable, AI-based chatbot solution can increase sales and improve customer service.

There are many reasons why innovative brands use AI chatbots to lower operating costs while increasing efficiency and customer satisfaction. By choosing conversational platforms, they prioritize personalization and scalability of operations and as a result, reap significant results not only for the brand but also for the customers.

If you are not sure why you should upgrade your e-commerce website, here’s a list of 10 reasons why you need a conversational user interface to stay ahead of the curve.

For more information about our ai chatbot solutions, feel free to visit our website, check our blog, download our latest ebook, schedule a demo or start a free trial and enjoy Certainty’s easy-to-use and affordable chatbot builder with pre-made templates and integrations.

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Author Anastacia Balova

Designer George Radu