How does ChatGPT help with eCommerce?

ChatGTP for eCommerce: How to use AI to save time, boost sales, and enhance buyer experiences

Picture this: you’re managing an eCommerce business, and you're constantly grappling with handling customer inquiries, managing inventory, processing large amounts of data, and more. Now, imagine tools that can not only help with these tasks but also significantly boost your customer service by generating engaging, human-like responses.

This isn't science fiction: it's the reality with ChatGPT and other AI technologies in eCommerce.

ChatGPT, with its proficiency for dynamic language generation, has brought innovative solutions to the eCommerce industry on a grand scale. Let's explore what it is and why eCommerce enterprises need to sit up and take notice.

What is ChatGPT and why does it matter in eCommerce?

ChatGPT, a development from OpenAI, stands as a titan in the realm of generative pre-trained transformers. This AI language model can effectively mimic human conversation based on prompts, creating seemingly organic text with stunning accuracy.

For eCommerce businesses, this utility has opened a wealth of opportunities. We can’t overlook the multitude of queries that eCommerce businesses face from customers — questions about product specifications, shipping and delivery details, and more. ChatGPT comes as a perfect solution.

Able to generate truly human-like responses, for example, it can be used to create an entire FAQs section for an eCommerce website, more compelling product descriptions, and even content marketing, resulting in customers feeling more understood and valued. Imagine seamlessly crafting catchy headlines, taglines, and persuasive product descriptions that can significantly up your conversion rates.

By incorporating AI into eCommerce platforms and eCommerce workflows, it's possible to increase customer engagement, streamline operations, and drive sales.

Photo by Mojahid Mottakin on Unsplash

How to use ChatGPT (and other AI) with eCommerce

AI technology is driving a substantial shift in the eCommerce landscape. Its potential is immense—from enhancing customer experience through personalized and efficient communication, to better understanding market trends, and creating compelling content. For businesses in the eCommerce sector, embracing these AI-powered tools may indeed be the way forward.

With the advent of social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and the ever-shrinking attention spans of digital age consumers, AI-driven platforms that serve up content based on machine learning are also fast becoming indispensable for eCommerce success.

However, the adoption of AI in eCommerce comes with its own hurdles. The technical complexity, lack of experienced professionals, and the need for training can all be challenging.

Despite these obstacles, the rewards of AI integration far outweigh them with enhanced shopping experiences, cost-efficient operations, and all-around improved customer service. The key lies in identifying the areas of your eCommerce business that can benefit from automation and safeguarding data privacy in the process.

Below we explore just some of the ways you can start using AI today:

1. Use ChatGPT to help generate product descriptions
2. Use AI for product tagging
3. Use bots and other AI-powered tech to help with customer service
4. Use AI for product recommendations
5. Quickly create ads, emails, and social media posts for your products
6. Enhance store search and discovery using AI

1. Use ChatGPT to help generate product descriptions

As an eCommerce retailer, you know that compelling product descriptions are the secret sauce to boosting sales. But let's face it, coming up with engaging, SEO-friendly descriptions for each product can be a daunting task. That's where AI comes into play, specifically the model called ChatGPT, which can be a game-changer for your business.

ChatGPT can be a great tool to generate and improve product descriptions. Imagine having a tool that could take your current product descriptions and not just enhance them, but make them more engaging and informative. This could be a lifesaver, especially if you have a large inventory that needs regular updates.

Consider this hypothetical situation…

You've got a product—let's say it's a hairbrush.

You could ask ChatGPT, "Write a 100-word catchy product description about a hairbrush."

And voila!

It churns out an engaging description highlighting the unique selling points of your product.

Even if you need help with your product title or bullet points, ChatGPT has got you covered. With a prompt like: "Write a detailed product title for a [product type][brand name] [product attributes] [keyword(s)] [marketplace]," you'll get a fair title in no time. The key is giving ChatGPT the details it needs to describe your product realistically.

It's not just about writing product descriptions though. ChatGPT can also help you understand your market better. For instance, if you are planning to launch a pet products eCommerce store, you can ask about the size and growth trajectory of the pet products market. Or, you could use it to generate a list of potential customers who might be interested in your product.

However, as amazing as ChatGPT is, remember that it doesn't know your audiences or SKUs as well as you do—and the information it is trained on is not quite current. Always review the generated product descriptions for accuracy before putting them up in your store. (Also, ensure that the content produced is unique and not copied from other sources to avoid any legal issues or penalties.)

If you treat ChatGPT as brainstorming partner instead of just a writer, you can get some strong ideas. For instance, it can also help with inventory management by analyzing customer behavior to generate personalized product recommendations. It can also assist in brainstorming unique branding identities for your products, and even help with creating engaging ad copies.

Remember, the key to harnessing the power of ChatGPT for product descriptions lies in providing specific instructions and prompts and spending the time reviewing the results to ensure they fit your needs.

2. Use AI for product tagging

If you manage an online store, a lot time can be wasted manually inputting metadata. Automated product tagging is a clever bit of tech that can automatically tag items based on images or other media. This means your products can be sorted into groups, subgroups, and tagged with specific attributes without you lifting a finger.

And the cherry on top? Most AI tools are now savvy enough to use copywriting principles to write human-like descriptions and seamlessly integrate keywords.

Product metadata is the informative label on every item in your inventory. This can include images, titles, attributes like style or color, prices, descriptions, availability—you name it! Once you've got your strategy and budget sorted, AI can help you dive into the data and identify the most relevant use cases for your business.

For example, AfterShip Personalization can support automated product tagging powered by AI to benefit eCommerce retailers. It uses AI to generate product tags including gender, color, and product type. As a result, you can create product metadata swiftly, and save time and resources needed for manual work tremendously.

This smart product tagging featuring can capture meaningful product attributes, and extract product information from both texts and images. With automated tags, retailers can implement more merchandising strategies and actions to manage inventory and boost sales.

3. Use bots and other AI-powered tech to help with customer service

One of the most transformative applications of AI in e-commerce has been in customer service, particularly through the use of bots.

These AI-powered chatbots can quickly respond to frequently asked questions about deliveries, refunds, or discounts. This not only enhances the customer experience by providing immediate responses but also frees up your customer service team to focus on more complex issues.

An excellent example of AI in action is personalized recommendations. AI can analyze customer data to offer tailored product or service suggestions, providing a shopping experience that feels more personal and intuitive.

With that said, we need to recognize that AI-powered bots like ChatGPT aren't all-knowing. They're brilliant for taking care of repetitive tasks and handling common queries, but there are still areas where the human touch is needed.

For instance, Lowe’s, a home improvement store, has managed to strike a good balance between AI and human interaction. The store introduced LoweBot, an autonomous robot, in 2014. While the robot could help customers with simple queries, human staff were still available for more complex assistance. The same thing can be done with your chatbots.

Chatbots are becoming increasingly popular in eCommerce. According to Dashly, 58% of B2B and 42% of B2C companies actively used chatbots in 2022. Also, 69% of customers were satisfied with their last interaction with a chatbot.

4. Use AI for product recommendations

AI‘s ability to analyze and predict customer behavior makes it an invaluable tool for personalized product recommendations. But there's more to it than just suggesting items in a shopping cart or checkout page.

Let's delve into how AI can enhance your eCommerce store experience and why personalization is key:

1. Custom-tailored Recommendations for Each Customer: AI can track customer interactions and suggest relevant products accordingly. Imagine a shopper who just purchased a razor from your store. An AI bot could recommend related items such as shaving cream, aftershave, or replacement blades. By doing this, you significantly increase the chances of upselling as customers are presented with highly relevant suggestions. It’s a win-win situation: consumers get a personalized shopping experience, and retailers see an uptick in sales.
2. Enhancing Overall Customer Experience: AI can be used across the entire customer journey, from browsing to purchasing. Tools like AfterShip Personalization can generate personalized product recommendations. For instance, if a customer buys a specific type of clothing, AfterShip Personalization can suggest similar or complementary items, fostering customer loyalty and driving sales through personalized recommendations.
3. Visual Merchandising: AI can assist in assigning products to the correct categories, deciding what goes where on a webpage, and suggesting the next item to show a website visitor. AI can uncover connections that humans might overlook, making it an invaluable tool for eCommerce.
4. Personalization in eCommerce: AI algorithms can analyze shopping patterns and provide personalized product recommendations. In other words, uses AI to enhance customer engagement and drive sales by offering tailored product suggestions.
5. Improving Conversion Rates: AI can identify common elements of your best-selling products, helping you expand or improve your product line accordingly. For example, AI might spot that your top-selling items in a sustainable activewear store are all made from eco-friendly materials, suggesting that your customers value sustainability.

Interested in seeing how personalization can help you boost conversions in your eCommerce store? Get a free guided demo of AfterShip Personalization.

5. Quickly create ads, emails, and social media posts for products

Imagine you're trying to whip up an engaging ad copy for your latest product. With ChatGPT, all you need to do is provide a specific instruction or prompt, and voila, you have a compelling ad copy ready to convert shoppers. For example, you might ask ChatGPT to "Create a Facebook ad heading for our latest sustainable coffee mugs." The AI will generate an innovative and appealing heading that captures your audience's attention.

When it comes to social media, ChatGPT can be your best friend. The bustling hive of social media platforms is a perfect place for businesses to reach their audience and build brand awareness. You can prompt ChatGPT to create content for your social media posts.

For example, you might ask it to “Create an Instagram post idea promoting our first-time launch coupon ‘HAPPYDOGS’ for our newly launched product ‘Dog Beds’.”

But ChatGPT isn't just about ad copy; it's also a game-changer for email marketing. Whether you're reaching out to suppliers, confirming deliveries, or resolving issues, a few prompts can help ChatGPT craft an email within seconds. For example, with the ChatSonic ChatGPT extension for Chrome, you can write emails directly from Gmail or any other email tool you use.

Email marketing campaigns? ChatGPT has you covered there too. Imagine automating your email announcements, freeing up your time to focus on bigger tasks. Tools like AfterShip Personalization use the ChatGPT API to help you quickly and easily generate marketing content for emails and SMS.  (Again, the results may not be perfect—but they’re a good start to clear your writer’s block.)

6. Enhance store search and discovery using AI

If you run a large store or marketplace, AI can also help with buyers find what they're looking for—or even what they're not looking for! Using AI, you can analyze vast amounts of data to understand the shopping behavior and preferences of your customers. This deep understanding can be leveraged to propose items the customer might be interested in or even uncover suggestions they never considered before.

• Visual product search: AI is adept in enhancing the visual search capabilities, allowing customers to search for products using images. This is highly convenient and efficient for customers as they may not always know the exact name or description of the product they are looking for. Visual search powered by AI also improves engagement, as customers can find similar items or styles that could be of interest to them.
• This is particularly good for apparel retailers because one of the common cases would be when consumer sees a product somewhere (for example, a celebrity wearing it on TV or even someone on the street) and want to find it on your site. Instead of trying to describe it, they can simply upload the image of that original jacket and AI will help identify exact and similar products. Tools like Google Lens support this sort of visual search, as does AfterShip Personalization.
• Implementing visual search can be a tremendous competitive advantage, which is why forward-thinking retailers like Fashion Nova have started to integrate these types of searches directly into their sites.

• Search paired with product recommendation: Sometimes an exact match can’t be found or the desired product is sold out. In the above case, even though the consumer might not find the exact one, tools like AfterShip Personalization use AI to suggest other visually similar product by automatically identifying the style, color, and other attributes directly from the photo. In this way, it helps consumers discover products that fit their preferences faster.

AI for eCommerce is the future

As eCommerce retailers, you are always looking for new ways to engage with your customers, increase sales and streamline your operations. Thanks to AI, this has become a reality. AI is transforming the eCommerce landscape.

A great example of AI implementation in eCommerce is AfterShip Personalization. It uses AI to empower merchants with an AI-personalized shopping experience. This save times for retailers on product description generation and help them to get additional revenue to drive business growth.

Through state-of-the-art tools like this one, AI is not just benefiting retailers; it's also transforming the shopping experience for customers.

Want to see how fast you can start using AI-powered personalization can help you boost conversions in your eCommerce store? Book a demo of AfterShip Personalization.