Chatbot assistants have become a popular tool for marketers, with companies such as Ikea, Klarna, B&Q owner Kingfisher, Mastercard, Uber Eats and L’Oréal launching AI chatbots. However, the impact of these assistants on sales remains unclear.
Ikea's AI Assistant, launched three months ago, has attracted 1,500 users a month, with 20% of interactions leading to visits to the Ikea website. However, only 5% of these visits resulted in a transaction. The AI Assistant primarily engages users by discussing furniture choices and directing them to the Ikea website. Despite the unclear correlation between the AI Assistant and sales, Ikea's chief data and analytics officer, Francesco Marzoni, believes the chatbot is a valuable tool for learning about customer behaviour and testing hypotheses.
In contrast, Klarna integrated its AI assistant directly into its website, where it handles returns, refunds and customer advice. Since its launch four months ago, the assistant has handled two-thirds of customer service queries, amounting to over 6 million conversations. Klarna's integration is typical of current AI experiments, focusing on resolving consumer issues rather than driving sales.
The use of AI assistants has led to a 25% decrease in repeat inquiries and customer satisfaction scores equal to those of human customer service professionals at Klarna. The company estimates that it will add $40 million to its profit margin over the course of 2024.
Despite initial issues with providing accurate advice, Ikea's AI assistant experiment has validated the company's hypothesis that generative AI will change search behaviour. The company plans to further integrate ChatGPT with its search tools, as customers are increasingly favourable to search generative experiences.
