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Conversion

How to create an ecommerce product recommendation quiz for your chatbot

What is a conversational product recommendation quiz?

A conversational product recommendation quiz is simply a series of questions that your chatbot asks a website visitor so that it can provide personalised product recommendations to each person based upon their answers to each question. The aim is to help your website visitors to quickly discover the right product for their needs so they are a lot more likely to complete a purchase (and less likely to return their order later).

Our mission at Maisie is to make ecommerce a little more human. So you can think of a conversational quiz as analogous to walking into a bricks and mortar store and asking a sales assistant for help choosing the right product. They'll ask you a series of questions and based on your answers, will help find the right product for you. 

Why do I need a product recommendation quiz for my store?

According to research, 54% of US consumers have not made a purchase because choosing the right product was too difficult.

And for those who do decide to purchase, many will end up returning the items if it's not quite right for their needs.

So the harder you make it for people to decide on the right product for their wants or needs, the more money you're leaving on the table.

Using Maisie to provide personalised product recommendations, in a natural conversational manner, is one way to make it easier for shoppers to decide which products are best for them.

Online stores who have created a conversational product recommendation quiz using Maisie have enjoyed increased conversion rates and average order values, whilst seeing returns drop.

How do I build product recommendation quizzes?

We'll explain step-by-step how to build conversational product recommendation quizzes for your online store. You can watch the video below or continue reading beneath the video for detailed instructions.

Firstly, log into your Maisie Dashboard.

On the left of your screen, click Website Bots then Convo Modules.

It's always best to build any conversational quiz as a module first. This means you can easily insert it into your chatbot Convo Flows on any page on your site.

Next, you'll see your Convo Modules main screen.

Click the CREATE NEW MODULE button at the top right of your screen.

Next, you'll see a new Convo Module screen.

If you're not familiar with building conversation flows in Maisie, please check out our help article on how to use the Maisie Chatbot Builder.

To create the first message in your quiz, click the Message Text element.

This will open the text editor where you can type your first message. You'll see the message in the preview window on the right update at the same time.

It's a good idea to explain to shoppers what they can expect from completing the quiz.

In this example, I'm building a product recommendation quiz for an online fashion store.

Once you're happy with the first message, click the Save button at the bottom of the editor.

Now, I'll add in some quick reply options for the customer to choose from. Hover over your message in the preview window on the right then click the plus + button.

On the left, select the Quick Reply element.

Now the Quick Reply editor will open and you can add a number of quick reply options by clicking the + icon on the bottom right of the editor.

If you'd like to jazz up your quick replies, you can add emojis. You can click the smiley face icon at the bottom of the Quick Reply Editor to see the available emojis.

If you wish to change the order of your quick replies, simply click in the quick reply box you'd like to move then click the up or down arrows until it's in the position you want.

Once you're happy, click the OK button to save your quick replies.

Now, you need to build a conversation flow branch for every quick reply you just created.

In the preview window on the right, select the quick reply you wish to add a conversation flow beneath. It will be highlighted once selected.

Next, click the + icon on the right then select a message element on the left.

I want to add another question so I'll select the Message Text element, type in the text and click Save.

Under this question I wish to offer another range of options from which to choose.

I'll add some new quick replies in the same way as I did previously above.

Again, for each of the quick replies I just added I need to add conversation flow branches beneath them. You can keep repeating this process for as long as you like - it depends upon the products you sell and the level of personalisation you wish to offer your customers. The more questions you ask, the more tailored the product recommendations will be for each customer and the more likely they are to make a purchase.

Once you reach the end of a conversation flow branch it's time to recommend some products!

To do this, select the quick reply option in the preview window on the right, click the + icon, then select the Product message element in the middle of your screen.

Now you'll see the Products Editor. Simply type a search term into the search box and click the Search button to search your store product catalog.

A box will popup with all products matching your search term. Select the checkbox next to each product you wish to add then click the Add Products button at the top right of the popup.

Now you'll see the products you just added listed in the Products Editor and also shown in the preview window on the right.

You can repeat this process to add any other products you like. To ensure an optimal customer experience, we have limited Maisie to show a maximum of 5 products in each Product Element.

You can edit the title of each product if you wish as Maisie will pull the full product title as per your catalog.

If you wish to show customers the price of each product they see, as well as include add to cart and buy now links, simply select the checkboxes next to each product listed.

Once you're happy, click the Save button on the Product Editor to save your changes.

You'll need to repeat the same process for every quick reply option and conversation flow branch in your product recommendation quiz Convo Module.

Now, once you're happy with the product quiz you have built, make sure to give your Convo Module a name then save all your changes by clicking the Save button at the top right of your screen. In fact, we recommend you regularly save your changes as you go rather than waiting until the end.

Now that I've created and saved my product recommendation quiz, the next step is to insert it into a Convo Flow.

To do this, select Convo Flows from the menu on the left of your screen.

Next, click the edit icon next to the flow into which you wish to add your new product recommendation quiz.

Next, you'll see your Chatbot Convo Flow Editor.

Decide where in your Convo Flows you'd like to add your new product recommendation quiz. I selected an existing branch of my Convo Flow and added a new quick reply option for the quiz.

After selecting the newly added quick reply in the preview window on the right, click the + icon then select the Custom convo module option.

This will popup a box where you can choose your quiz from the dropdown list. Click Save to add your quiz Convo Module to the quick reply.

Now, in the preview window on the right, you can see your product quiz added into the Convo Flow.

Once you're happy, click the Publish button at the top right of your screen. This will save your changes and update the Convo Flow on your website.