At times, it seems like eCommerce is a never ending search for conversions; for a strategy that leads to sale after sale.<\/p>\n
But, as you\u2019ve undoubtedly realized by now, that\u2019s sadly not possible.
\nSure, you can do something here and something there that will help you out\u2014to a certain extent\u2014but nothing remotely close to an eCommerce holy grail that makes everything as easy as pressing a button.<\/p>\n
(Sigh)<\/p>\n
But, like we just covered, there are definitely some things that can help you out in your quest, which leads us to today\u2019s topic: a strategy that can help you drive more conversions.<\/p>\n
How? Through conversational designs that work on your website 24\/7, taking care of things up front while you optimize everything else in the back.<\/p>\n
Conversational designs are to graphical user interfaces (GUI) what they themselves are to command line interfaces \u2014 somewhat.<\/p>\n
For instance, before we had menus and icons, we had commands. If we wanted to do something on a computer without getting an error message, we had to know the exact commands and their syntax.<\/p>\n
And then came the GUI.<\/p>\n
By allowing us to visually interact with computers through replicated real-life objects that lent what they did for what we could do, things became much easier.<\/p>\n
In other words, instead of relying on recall to get things done, we had recognition.<\/p>\n
Years later\u2014many years later\u2014we still use both command line and graphical user interfaces, but now we\u2019re adding conversational designs into the mix to make things as close to a human interface as we can get.<\/p>\n
As Google<\/a> defines it:<\/p>\n \"Conversation design is a design language based on human conversation (similar to how material design is a design language based on pen and paper). The more an interface leverages human conversation, the less users have to be taught how to use it. It\u2019s a synthesis of several design disciplines, including voice user interface design, interaction design, visual design, motion design, audio design, and UX writing.\"<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s a lot of technical, but the gist is that a conversational design leverages conversation, something we all understand, to smoothen things out and make interactions much more intuitive.<\/p>\n Going deeper into what a conversational designer should do, Google adds that:<\/p>\n \"The role of a conversation designer is like that of an architect, mapping out what users can do in a space, while considering both the user\u2019s needs and the technological constraints. They curate the conversation, defining the flow and its underlying logic in a detailed design specification that represents the complete user experience. They partner with stakeholders and developers to iterate on the designs and bring the experience to life.\"<\/span><\/p>\n Putting it all together, conversational designs are meant to streamline user interactions with your website, and those who design those interactions have to place themselves in their user\u2019s shoes to not only consider what they need, but how they\u2019re going to go about getting that.<\/p>\n Now that we have an idea of what conversational designs are, let\u2019s talk about how to use them to drive conversions.<\/p>\n Think of a traditional online shopping experience. What does it entail? Once there, you open a couple of product pages to compare each until you arrive at what you decide is the product you need.<\/p>\n To finish, you add that product to your cart, fill in your payment information and complete the checkout.<\/p>\n Easy, right?<\/p>\n What if I said it could be even easier? What if I said everything, from landing to checkout, could be completed on the same page?<\/p>\n Get excited because that\u2019s exactly what conversational designs can do with the help of two little somethings called artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re still new to AI and chatbots, feel free to use this post on chatbots to get you up to speed.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t have time for that, suffice to say that chatbots are a \u201ctechnology that allows people like you and I to talk with computers as if they were regular people\u2026 through a conversational interface that can be programmed to be as complex as a real person or as simple as a question and answering tool. The more AI is used in its creation, the \u2018smarter\u2019 and more capable the chatbot will be.\u201d<\/p>\n By including a chatbot in your website, application, social channel, or what have you, you\u2019re essentially giving your users the option of \u201ctalking\u201d with a customer service representative who can help them with everything they could need.<\/p>\n For example, imagine the following exchange, which takes place after landing on a website with a chatbot on the home page:<\/p>\n At this point, the chatbot would suggest a couple of products and, depending on whether you like one or more of them, would either ask more questions to narrow your search, or proceed to checkout by asking for your shipping and payment information, right there in the same chat bubble.<\/p>\n Considering how many carts are dropped right before checkout, it\u2019s easy to see how this streamlined search and checkout process can ease many of the troubles plaguing shoppers.<\/p>\n For instance, let\u2019s take a look at two real-life examples of chatbots in action:<\/p>\n Starting with Sephora on Kik, you can use this bot to learn about makeup with tips, video clips and picture tutorials, and use their shopping assistant to find products, their reviews and ratings. If you find something you like, you can even complete the purchase without ever leaving the messenger app.<\/p>\n Aerie by American Eagle is a clothing and lingerie retailer that\u2019s also making use of chatbots so their users can browse products, but this one is more visual in its use of a \u201cthis or that\u201d feature that asks them to choose between two styles until they\u2019ve narrowed it down to the product that\u2019s right for them.<\/p>\n Whether conversational searches<\/a> or conversational designs, conversations are changing the game.<\/p>\n They\u2019re making things more human.<\/p>\n They\u2019re making it so we can do things more intuitively than ever before, which is helping streamline processes left and right.<\/p>\n For example, driving conversions with chatbots that act as 24\/7 customer service representatives who are always ready to help your users.<\/p>\n To get started, get in touch with a responsive web design firm, tell them what you need, and get the conversation going.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At times, it seems like eCommerce is a never ending search for conversions; for a strategy that leads to sale after sale. But, as you\u2019ve undoubtedly realized by now, that\u2019s sadly not possible. Sure, you can do something here and something there that will help you out\u2014to a certain extent\u2014but nothing remotely close to an eCommerce holy grail that makes… Read More ￫<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":258,"featured_media":16281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-viewpoint"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\nConversational Designs and eCommerce.<\/h2>\n
\nMore often than not, you begin by browsing for products. You have a specific something in mind, and look through categories and subcategories until you arrive at what you were looking for.<\/p>\nBringing Conversational Designs to Life with Chatbots<\/h2>\n
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Real-Life Examples<\/h2>\n
Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n