They are light, they are useful and they can take care of your sales funnel 24/XNUMX: chatbots are the latest frontier of customer service in e-commerce, and they simplify the life of those who have a Online shop.

This is because they automatically perform essential tasks:

• They chat in real time with the customer (automatic live chat, which can also be on Whatsapp or Facebook) 
• They provide virtual assistance on products, and in good Italian
• They offer the customer product recommendations: a useful action especially for those who have e-commerce with many items 
• Data proves that chatbots (in Italian or not) prevent cart abandonment.

Let's see how an automatic live chat plugin, or chatbot, works and discover together the top 5 chatbots in Italian for e-commerce.

What is a chatbot?

The meaning of "chatbot" is literally "chatting robot".

The chatbot, or automatic live chat plugin, or chat app, is a real virtual assistant. You can integrate it into your e-commerce and your customer management software (CRM) in various ways, the most common of which is through plugins.

“Chat” refers to its ability to interact with human users in a messaging interface. “Bot” indicates that we are talking about a machine, capable of automating responses.

Benefits of having an automated live chat in your e-commerce

The real touch of style of the chatbot is given by artificial intelligence, which gives it the ability to speak just like a clerk would do in a physical store.

L'Artificial intelligence allows a live chat app to:

• Start a conversation with the customer who enters the shop
• Learn from your mistakes 
• Analyze customer behavior, and then lead them to purchase.

Extra features for customer support

In addition to the essential functions listed above, there are others that make the live chat app the best ally for customer support in e-commerce.

For example, good quality chatbots can carry out concrete customer nurturing in the various stages of acquisition.

How to create a chatbot in Italian

1) Evaluate how well you can program

The process of creating a chatbot depends on the assistant you choose and your e-commerce platform. In general, you can choose between:

1. A completely do-it-yourself solution, integrating your e-commerce with plugins in Italian;
2. A solution where you need to have some programming skills.

It goes without saying that the second solution is the best: a chatbot programmed by you will always be more attentive to the specific needs of your shop, while with a pre-built chat it can be a bit more difficult.

There is a middle ground: DIY chatbots that follow some automatic procedures, which are easier than programming from scratch. It takes time, but these chatbots are a great solution, and they are not difficult to set up at all.

Before moving on to our top 5 of this type of Italian chatbot, let's make a few brief technical introductions.

2) Evaluate your e-commerce needs

Your e-commerce has specific needs, which the chatbot will have to accommodate. For example, you will have to take into account:

• Your number of potential and actual customers: in chatbot price lists there is almost always a monthly user limit;
• Scalability: If your business plans to grow, it is a good idea to choose a virtual assistant with differentiated plans based on customer flow.
• The number of domains you have.
• Ease of use and integration: One aspect to consider in commercial chatbots is obviously the possibility of integrating it with your e-commerce.

3) Choose only Italian chatbots with these requirements

• Natural language: the chatbot can have different levels of sophistication. The best for your e-commerce is a chatbot that uses advanced NLP algorithms (Natural Language Processing) applied to Italian. This makes the live chat more natural and gives your customer the impression of interacting with a "real" person;
• Do you need help?: The virtual assistant can be programmed to intervene only at certain moments in the e-commerce shopping experience. For example, when the customer leaves an inactive page, or when he or she lingers on a particular section of the site. The chatbot will arrive at the moment in which the customer feels hesitant, and will ask: "Do you need help?";

• Upselling and cross selling: based on the user experience, the chatbot can recommend a product to the user to purchase, or indicate an offer;

• Ticketing: the chatbot could be able to assist human operators in technical support. For example, it could screen user requests and direct them in the form of tickets to human operators; 

• Chat Transfer: in the same scenario described above, the chatbot could transfer the too “difficult” chats to a human operator, to do a live chat;

• Chat Transcript: for greater control of customers and their desires, as well as to make an adequate follow-up, it is always useful to have an e-commerce chatbot that stores the conversations made, and perhaps can even tag them by category;

• Email Campaigns: some chatbots are able to manage the automatic sending of emails to customers, for example by sending periodic offers;

• Concrete help in marketing and sales funnel: some chatbots - even in Italian! - are able to classify potential leads and present you with detailed reports.

Let's start with our top 5.

The 5 best Chatbots in Italian for e-commerce - 2021

1) SmartSupp

For who: for companies of various sizes that use a more niche e-commerce, but still want to try virtual customer assistant functions at an affordable price.

Main advantages: 

• Chat with customers
• Email messages
• Video recordings showing the customer's location on the web page
• reports
• Very easy ecommerce plugin installation
• Various customization possibilities

Free trial available: there is a free forever plan, but the coolest features are premium

Compatible with: many e-commerce platforms, even the lesser known ones.

2) Laila

For who: companies of various sizes looking for a virtual customer assistant, willing to spend for a high quality service.

Main advantages: 

• Real help from AI
• Natural language conversation skills
• Ticketing
• Help with lead generation 
• Transfer chat to human operators
• Integration with different CRMs/ERP and e-commerce

Free trial available: you must request a demo directly, which is carried out with Laila operators in a protected environment

Compatible with: all major e-commerce and CRM platforms

3) oct8ne

For who: for those who need customer support services for e-commerce or websites, which is easily scalable based on the number of customers and without spending too much.

Main advantages: 

• Ticketing
• Unlimited Chats
• Predictive segmentation
• Conversational Chatbot
• Data export
• Highly customizable

Free trial available: 14 days

Compatible with: all major e-commerce and CRM platforms, as well as Analytics and BI

4) Tidio Cat

For who: for companies that want a scalable offering from an international provider, or are looking for a good free chatbot

Main benefits: 

• chatbot
• Unlimited answers
• Email support
• Possibility to change language depending on the client's browser

Free trial available: There is a completely free plan, although some features are reserved for premium subscriptions

Compatible with: all major e-commerce and CRM platforms.

5) Personalized Chatbot - The Best Solution

For who: asking a software house or your trusted developer to write you a custom chatbot is the best solution in terms of customization, scalability and costs.

Main advantages:

• Possibility to communicate directly with the developer, requesting custom functions
• One-time payment option, rather than a recurring subscription
• The supplier knows your company and your product directly: he is not just offering a standardized service
• Support: Without taking anything away from other e-commerce virtual assistants, direct developer support is a huge added value.

Free trial option: trials and tests are carried out during the development process

Compatible with: everything you want.

Are you interested in the topic of e-commerce? Then you might be interested in our 5 technical tips for a successful e-commerce!