In today's competitive online market, providing instant, 24/7 customer support and personalized shopping experiences is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity. This is where an AI assistant for ecommerce comes in. These powerful tools are revolutionizing how online stores interact with customers, automate tasks, and drive sales.
From answering frequently asked questions to recommending products and resolving issues, an AI assistant can significantly enhance the customer journey. But with so many options available, choosing the right one for your business can be overwhelming.
That's why we've compiled a list of the 8 best AI assistants for ecommerce in 2024. Whether you're a small startup or a large enterprise, you'll find a solution here that fits your needs and budget.
What is an AI assistant for ecommerce?
An AI assistant for ecommerce is a software tool that uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing (NLP) to automate and enhance various aspects of an online business. These assistants can interact with customers in real-time, providing support, answering questions, and guiding them through their shopping journey.
They integrate with your ecommerce platform, CRM, and other business tools to provide a seamless experience. By handling repetitive tasks, an AI assistant for ecommerce frees up your human agents to focus on more complex issues, ultimately improving efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Top AI assistants for ecommerce
Here are our top picks for the best AI assistants that can help you elevate your ecommerce business.
1. eesel AI
eesel AI is a powerful knowledge base AI tool designed to supercharge your customer support team. It learns from all your company's scattered documents, including Google Docs, Notion, Confluence, and Slack, to create a centralized, intelligent knowledge base. Instead of manually creating and updating help articles, eesel AI does it for you, ensuring your support agents and customers always have access to the most accurate and up-to-date information.
Top features:
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Automatic knowledge creation: Learns from existing company documents to build a comprehensive knowledge base.
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AI-powered search: Provides instant, accurate answers to both agent and customer queries.
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Omnichannel integration: Works across various platforms where your data lives, like Slack, Notion, and Google Drive.
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Reduces repetitive questions: Empowers agents to find answers quickly, freeing them up for more complex tasks.
2. Tidio
Tidio is a comprehensive customer experience tool that combines live chat, chatbots, and marketing automation in one platform. Its AI-powered chatbot, Lyro, can handle up to 70% of customer conversations, providing instant answers and resolving issues 24/7. Tidio is incredibly user-friendly, making it a popular choice for small to medium-sized ecommerce businesses.
Top features:
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AI chatbot (Lyro): Engages with customers, answers questions, and solves problems automatically.
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Live chat: Allows human agents to step in and handle more complex conversations.
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Marketing automation: Helps you send targeted messages, recover abandoned carts, and offer discounts.
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Easy integration: Works seamlessly with popular ecommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce.
3. Gorgias
Gorgias is a helpdesk platform built specifically for ecommerce stores. It centralizes all your customer service channels, email, social media, live chat, and more, into a single dashboard. Gorgias uses machine learning to automate repetitive tasks, such as tagging tickets, responding to common questions, and even performing actions like issuing refunds or checking order statuses.
Top features:
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Unified customer view: See all customer data and conversation history in one place.
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Automation and macros: Create rules to automate responses and actions for common inquiries.
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Deep ecommerce integration: Pulls data from Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magento to provide context-rich support.
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Social media integration: Manage comments and messages from Facebook and Instagram directly within the platform.
4. Zendesk
Zendesk is a well-known leader in the customer service software space, and its AI capabilities make it a strong contender for ecommerce businesses. The Zendesk AI agent can understand customer intent, provide instant answers from your knowledge base, and intelligently route conversations to the right human agent when necessary. It's a robust solution that can scale with your business.
Top features:
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AI-powered bots: Deploy bots across web, mobile, and social channels to provide 24/7 support.
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Intelligent routing: Automatically sends tickets to the agent with the right skills and availability.
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Advanced analytics: Gain insights into customer trends and agent performance.
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Extensive integrations: Connects with hundreds of apps and tools to create a seamless workflow.
5. Intercom
Intercom is a customer communications platform that uses AI to provide personalized experiences at scale. Its AI chatbot, Fin, is built on GPT-4 and is designed to resolve customer issues instantly. Fin learns from your existing support content and can handle complex queries, providing trustworthy answers while avoiding inaccurate responses.
Top features:
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Fin AI chatbot: Delivers human-like conversations and resolves a high volume of support tickets.
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Proactive support: Engage with customers based on their behavior on your site.
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Product tours: Guide new users through your product or website to improve onboarding.
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Integrated help center: Create and manage a self-service knowledge base for customers.
6. Drift
Drift is a conversational marketing and sales platform that focuses on creating personalized buying experiences. While often seen as a B2B tool, its powerful AI and automation features are highly effective for high-value ecommerce businesses. Drift can engage website visitors in real-time, qualify leads, and connect them with the right sales representative, making it an excellent AI assistant for ecommerce stores with a consultative sales process.
Top features:
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AI-powered chatbots: Greet visitors, ask qualifying questions, and book meetings.
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Real-time personalization: Tailor conversations based on visitor data and behavior.
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Audience insights: Understand who is on your site and what they are interested in.
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Seamless sales integration: Connects directly with your sales team's calendars and CRM.
7. Zowie
Zowie is an AI-powered chatbot designed exclusively for ecommerce brands. It focuses on turning customer support from a cost center into a revenue driver. Zowie can automate responses to 70% of common questions, but it also excels at upselling and cross-selling by providing personalized product recommendations within the chat.
Top features:
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Revenue-generating AI: Recommends products and helps customers make purchasing decisions.
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Pre-built ecommerce workflows: Comes with templates for common ecommerce scenarios like order tracking and return requests.
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Deep platform integration: Works with Shopify, Magento, and other leading ecommerce platforms.
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Analytics dashboard: Track key metrics like automation rate, customer satisfaction, and revenue generated by the bot.
8. Replicant
Replicant offers a "Thinking Machine" that powers AI-driven contact center automation. While it's a powerful tool for voice calls, it also provides a robust AI assistant for ecommerce through text and chat. Replicant can handle complex, multi-turn conversations and resolve issues without human intervention, making it ideal for larger ecommerce operations looking to automate a significant portion of their customer interactions.
Top features:
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Voice and text automation: Provides a consistent experience across all communication channels.
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Natural language understanding: Can handle complex customer intents and back-and-forth conversations.
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No-code conversation designer: Easily build and modify conversation flows without needing developers.
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Enterprise-level security: Ensures that customer data is handled safely and securely.
What are the benefits of using an AI assistant for ecommerce?
Integrating an AI assistant into your ecommerce strategy can lead to numerous benefits that impact both your customers and your bottom line.
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24/7 customer support: AI assistants never sleep, allowing you to provide instant support to customers in any time zone.
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Increased efficiency: By automating responses to common questions, you free up your human agents to handle more complex and high-value interactions.
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Enhanced personalization: AI can analyze customer data to provide tailored product recommendations and personalized shopping experiences, which can boost conversion rates.
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Improved customer satisfaction: Fast, accurate responses lead to happier customers and increased loyalty.
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Scalability: An AI assistant can handle thousands of conversations simultaneously, allowing you to scale your support operations without a proportional increase in headcount.
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Data-driven insights: AI tools can analyze customer conversations to identify trends, pain points, and opportunities for improvement in your products or services.
Final thoughts
Choosing the right AI assistant for ecommerce depends on your specific needs, budget, and the scale of your operation. Tools like Tidio and Gorgias are excellent for businesses looking for an all-in-one support solution, while a specialized tool like eesel AI is perfect for leveraging your internal knowledge to empower your support team.
The future of ecommerce is intelligent, automated, and highly personalized. By implementing an AI assistant, you're not just improving efficiency, you're investing in a better customer experience that will drive growth and set you apart from the competition.
