Analyzing 5 billion website visits: How e-commerce customers use chat

This scenario isn’t just hypothetical – it’s playing out thousands of times daily across e-commerce websites. At Smartsupp, we’ve analyzed data from over 175,000 accounts and nearly 5 billion website visits throughout 2024, and what we’ve discovered is eye-opening.

While the biggest European e-commerce businesses already trust Smartsupp’s live chat, chatbots, and AI for their customer engagement, smaller e-shops are often missing critical opportunities to convert browsers into buyers.

Key findings from our study

Looking at the numbers from 2024, we immediately noticed several interesting trends that significantly stand out, highlighting the clear competitive advantages of automated customer support tools.

• The chatbot effect is real: E-shops using chatbots handle 89.2% of inquiries versus just 71.2% for those without, nearly 20% more satisfied customers who might otherwise walk away empty-handed.
• The multiplication factor: Websites with chatbots handle 6x more customer conversations (444.3 monthly conversations versus just 74.71).
• The Monday morning avalanche: 80% of Monday inquiries get answered, but only 53.9% on Sundays, reflecting a massive backlog of unanswered weekend questions that could have been sales.
• The March madness no one prepares for: While everyone staffs up for Christmas, March shows the year’s lowest service rate (48.4%) despite high volume, a hidden opportunity for the prepared.

Global Smartsupp data overview for 2024

Throughout 2024, our presence across e-commerce websites generated insightful engagement statistics:

• Total website visits: 4,781,933,240
• Total Smartsupp accounts: 175,438
• Total conversations: 40,085,914
• Conversations with chatbot/operator interaction: 28,890,773
• Average conversation rating: 4.3 (out of 5)
• Percentage of customers using live chat: 0.84%
• Chatbot conversations: 3,527,836 (8.8% of all conversations)

Continental Breakdown: Where Chatbots Shine

Asia leads the pack with an astonishing 92% of inquiries answered – and paradoxically, this happens despite having the lowest chatbot usage of any continent. This impressive performance might stem largely from lower labor costs, allowing e-shops to maintain strong coverage during weekends and night shifts without automation.

Tied for second place with 78% of customer inquiries served are Australia & Oceania and Europe, but they’ve taken a completely different approach. Rather than relying purely on human agents, they’re leveraging chatbots, AI, and automation to achieve their high service rates.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is Africa, where chatbot adoption remains as low as in Asia. However, unlike their Asian counterparts, African e-shops rarely offer customer service during nights and weekends, resulting in the lowest overall service rate of any continent.What language do Smartsupp clients’ customers speak most often?

Smartsupp feels right at home in Europe, which is why European languages dominate our top 10 rankings.

1. English (en): 19,733,921
2. Czech (cs): 7,311,521
3. Spanish (es): 3,166,742
4. Polish (pl): 3,021,531
5. Italian (it): 2,134,194
6. French (fr): 1,424,685
7. Dutch (nl): 872,466
8. German (de): 851,968
9. Hungarian (hu): 733,009
10. Slovak (sk): 341,459

The efficiency gap: Chatbots vs. Human-only support

Let’s be frank: if your e-shop doesn’t have a chatbot in 2025, you’re essentially running your store with one arm tied behind your back. Our data exposes a striking reality – websites equipped with chatbots successfully address 89.2% of customer inquiries, compared to just 71.2% for those without automated assistance.

But it’s not just about the number of resolved conversations. Chatbots serve far more customers overall. As we mentioned earlier, while the average e-shop without a chatbot handles just 75 live chat conversations monthly, an e-shop using chatbots and automation averages 440 conversations per month. That’s six times more opportunities to convert curious browsers into paying customers!

When a customer asks about product specifications at midnight and your chatbot immediately provides the answer, that’s the difference between a completed purchase and an abandoned cart. When hundreds of customers simultaneously flood your support during a flash sale, your chatbot ensures everyone gets attention while your human team handles the complex cases.

Smartsupp tip for AI automation

If you’re looking for a quality AI chatbot that delivers these benefits, consider Mira AI Shopping Assistant. Easily deployable in just minutes, it automatically gathers knowledge by scraping your website and product feed, allowing it to recommend suitable products and automate up to 80% of customer inquiries without complex setup.

While your competitors struggle with basic redirection bots, your AI assistant can actively guide purchase decisions and solve problems in real-time, turning potential abandonments into completed orders.

Weekly conversation patterns: big Mondays, flat Sundays

These numbers tell a story that should concern every e-shop owner. Monday isn’t just slightly busier – it’s an avalanche of frustrated weekend shoppers finally getting answers to questions they had days ago. By then, many have already gone elsewhere.

The weekend service gap is costing you real money. With service rates dropping to 53.9% on Sundays, you’re essentially telling half your potential Sunday customers, “We don’t want your business right now.” In today’s instant-gratification shopping and purchasing behaviors, that’s a luxury few can afford.

Also, notice that each day of the week, without exception, a smaller percentage of inquiries is served than the day before. And this isn’t related to their volume. Even though Friday sees about a quarter fewer inquiries than Monday, the percentage of inquiries served on Friday is significantly lower as well.

Monthly conversation volume: the surprising March opportunity

Everyone expects the December rush, when e-shop owners pull out all the stops, hire seasonal staff, and prepare for the onslaught of holiday shoppers.

But look at March! With a service rate of just 48.4%, it represents the year’s biggest missed opportunity.

Here’s what’s most likely happening: After recovering from holiday spending, customers return with renewed enthusiasm during spring sales. Unlike December, however, most e-shops aren’t prepared for this surge. While your team is operating at standard capacity, customer inquiries are nearly doubling, and more than half go unanswered.

Smart e-shop owners who recognize this pattern can gain a significant competitive edge. By bolstering support resources during March, either through additional staff or enhanced chatbot capabilities, you can capture sales that competitors are leaving on the table.

And then there’s December. The numbers don’t lie: e-shops handle more inquiries during Christmas than they do in the entire preceding year combined.

It’s like running a corner store 11 months of the year and suddenly becoming a shopping mall in December. Without robust, scalable support systems, this volume is almost impossible to manage effectively.

Conclusion: the competitive edge you can’t afford to ignore

Our analysis of customer interactions in 2024 reveals a clear competitive advantage: businesses with strategic customer engagement platforms that integrate live chat, chatbots, and AI aren’t just serving customers better, they’re capturing sales opportunities their competitors miss daily.

The most successful online retailers now see customer communication as a revenue driver, not a cost center. The data is conclusive: comprehensive engagement solutions using AI and chatbots handle 6× more conversations while resolving 89.2% of inquiries automatically.

In today’s digital marketplace, the difference between growth and stagnation often comes down to how effectively you engage customers at critical decision moments.

The question isn’t whether you can afford to optimize your customer engagement strategy: it’s whether you can afford not to.

Strategic actions: What should online stores do in 2025

Going beyond the raw data**, what can you do to be better in 2025?**

By examining the patterns in customer engagement across thousands of online stores, we’ve identified three strategic actions that can transform your e-commerce performance:

1. Automate the basics, humanize the complex
   The most successful e-shops aren’t choosing between bots and humans, they’re strategically deploying both. Your chatbot should handle routine questions about shipping, returns, and product specifications, freeing your team to provide high-touch service for complex inquiries. This isn’t just theory, our data shows this approach results in 6x more customer conversations.
2. Don’t leave weekends to chance
   If your competition closes their chat support on weekends while you maintain 24/7 coverage through chatbots, you’re not just providing better service – you’re actively capturing sales they’re losing. Remember, Sunday service rates average just 53.9%, meaning nearly half of all customer questions go unanswered.
3. Prepare for the spring season in advance
   While everyone staffs up for December, smart e-shop owners recognize March as a hidden opportunity. With service rates at the year’s lowest (48.4%) despite high inquiry volume, there’s an open field for those who prepare.