How Cobrowsing Software Creates an Immersive Retail Experience

A customer visits your website to buy something. With so many product options available, each with its distinct details, the process can quickly become overwhelming. As they start clicking around, a chat window appears asking if they’d like assistance finding what they need. Enter the power of cobrowsing and guiding a customer through their website visit. An automated chatbot can cobrowse with the customer to specific website pages that offer relevant information. Or, the shopper can connect with a live product specialist via text chat or video chat, who cobrowses with them to the exact product page they were looking for in a matter of seconds, without having to search and sort through results. The specialist immediately answers their questions about the product, suggests additional products they might enjoy, and guides them through the checkout process to complete their purchase.

Cobrowsing helps deliver a deeper, more satisfactory customer experience. With this digital hand-holding, customers get the online shopping assistance they need quickly, in real-time, without having to navigate a website on their own. Instead, they receive a personalized buying experience similar to shopping in-store with guidance from knowledgeable agents from the comfort of their homes.

Here’s how cobrowsing software promotes immersive retail shopping experiences and ultimately drives conversions.

What is cobrowsing?

Cobrowsing allows a sales or service agent and a customer to collaboratively peruse a website by viewing the customer’s browser together. When cobrowsing, the agent is given remote access to view the customer’s browser by the customer. From there, the agent can guide the customer to discover product details, provide alternative or complementary product recommendations, highlight special offers and features, and assist with any issues or questions they may have. Complementary sharing technologies include co-form fill, ‘basket assist’ with secure sharing, and file transfer. This digital hand-holding boosts the customer’s confidence to purchase.

For products that are highly customizable, expensive, or require a significant commitment from the buyer, guiding the customer using cobrowsing can increase the speed and likelihood of a completed sale.

In addition to product discovery, guiding a customer through the online checkout process and helping them fill out the buying process with co-form fill increases revenue and decreases cart abandonment.

The importance of an elevated retail experience

With the changing competitive landscape and consumer buying behavior, retailers are pursuing new initiatives and technologies to heighten the retail experience for their customers — both digitally and in-store. Across retail categories from furnishings and appliances to skincare and make-up, consumers who purchase online are expected to grow 15-30% on top of already significant activity during the pandemic. Coveted millennials and high-income earners lead this trend. At the same time, consumers are becoming less loyal, with 75% in the US trying a new shopping experience when they have a bad experience. The imperative to create an elevated, engaging customer experience online is now.

Cobrowsing mimics an in-store experience by offering personalized service in which customers’ questions are addressed, and product discovery is accelerated, reducing shopping cart abandonment. According to Oracle, “between 10 and 15% of customer abandonment happens as a result of complicated checkout processes.” However, when customers have a salesperson to guide and proactively help them through the process, they are more likely to complete their purchase.

How cobrowsing software creates an immersive digital retail experience

Here are some ways cobrowsing can help create an immersive digital experience for your customers.

Cultivating a guided shopping experience from ‘Hi’ to ‘Buy’

For high consideration purchases, in particular, customers can struggle with product discovery and understanding which products are the best fit for their wants and needs. For instance, if a prospective customer visits your website looking for a new watch, they’ll have many options and features to consider, which can be overwhelming. These issues can cause frustration or confusion and ultimately cause a business to lose the sale and possibly the customer altogether.

Cobrowsing software provides a collaborative shopping experience between the customers and sales agents, enabling the retailer to provide education and digitally hold the customer’s hand through the product discovery process. Much like an in-store shopping experience, a collaborative online shopping experience gives customers one-on-one attention to discuss their needs with a sales agent and get helpful recommendations and insight. Customers and agents can securely share files and even fill out forms together as needed, improving both the shopping and purchasing process. To finalize the purchase. ‘basket assist’ allows the sales agent to help the customer fill in the information required for purchase while the customer’s confidential information is masked.

In a collaborative shopping experience, customers can feel confident in their purchase and are empowered by learning how to resolve the issues they’ve been facing. In addition, this support can help customers establish a relationship with a company and develop trust, which, in turn, builds loyalty.

Offering omnichannel engagement

Consumer shopping behavior has changed, shifting to an omnichannel approach to browsing products and purchasing. Creating a robust online presence that mimics the in-store experience is vital for retailers —especially those who sell high-end products that require more careful consideration. And engaging with the customer on their preferred channel, from connecting the virtual to the in-store experience, to connecting directly via social channels, to meeting them from anywhere, is part of the omnichannel experience.

Omnichannel engagement connects and unifies all these channels to create a well-rounded shopping experience for customers, regardless of whether they are consulting an agent through video chat, an in-person visit, or a chatbot. This approach ensures customers have a consistent experience across each platform to allow for a smooth transaction and a positive retail journey. For example, in addition to going deeper in an engagement with cobrowsing, customers may also engage using live chat and intelligent FAQs to get the help they need. Offering customers these options to personalize their shopping experience can tremendously increase conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

Providing video chat for personalized conversations

Video chat offers a face-to-face interaction without being in-person with the consumer. This immersive, personalized experience replicates an in-store interaction, making the customer feel more supported and building trust. Agents can captivate customers by making suggestions for relevant products, demonstrating product features and applications, and answering any questions the customer might have in real-time. This benefits businesses as their average order value increases and shopping cart abandonment decreases.

During consultations, two-way camera options can be utilized so a customer can demonstrate important details to agents, such as the space they have available in their home, to purchase the right product for their needs. From the agent’s perspective, two-way cameras allow them to demonstrate products to ease customers’ concerns or explain features in greater detail.

Online shopping doesn’t need to be impersonal. Video chat combined with the power of cobrowsing gives customers one-on-one consulting services that replicate what they can receive in stores. The results can be great for business, as sales consultants and product experts guide customers to drive sales, deepen relationships, and develop repeat customers due to the exceptional service.

Using “nudges” and AI-powered chatbots

When a customer is browsing a website, “nudges” are a great way to display enticing offers and prompt them to engage with a virtual or live agent to learn more. These prompts can be used to guide customers to relevant web pages or gently inform them of additional assistance that is available.

Chatbots provide convenient customer service while ensuring that the agent’s time is utilized most efficiently. Chatbots are available 24/7 to provide help and answer any questions. AI-enabled chatbots can assist with commonly asked questions, offer product information, and other valuable services that improve a customer’s digital immersive retail experience, often by cobrowsing to a page for more in-depth assistance. While conversational AI can’t answer every question a customer may have, it can guide them to the next steps, such as speaking with a live agent or leading to an informational web page.

Used in conjunction with chatbots, text chats, and video chats, cobrowsing software allows companies to establish deeper connections with their customers while increasing revenue and customer satisfaction. Check out Vee24’s cobrowsing solutions and request a demo to learn how your company can improve your digital customer’s experiences through cobrowsing.