In recent times, consumer expectations have reached new heights. To differentiate their business and improve customer experience, companies are providing support through phone and email. You may have used the live chat function on consumer or business sites to question about a product before you bought it. But, have you considered adding a live chat to your own business’s customer service tools?Live chat has a lot to offer to companies which market their products on the web. In today’s age of instant gratification, by answering a customer’s question instantly will help you to reinforce the fact that your company cares about the customers, helping you increase sales and profits.
Offering assistance to online customers
Live chat is very convenient for the customers. One of the troubles of online shopping is that the customers are disconnected from someone who will answer the questions in real time. Live chat can provide appropriate answers which customers want, while also benefitting the bottom-line of companies. Several online customers want help from a live person when they are shopping online. They have several questions when they are in the middle of a purchase. Customers get an immediate access to help through a live chat system.
The many benefits
Advantages of a live chat system are many. The wait times are significantly lesser as compared to call centers and the customers can multitask with ease. With live chat support, customers can carry on with their daily tasks while waiting for that ping which assures them that the agent has replied. Research reveals that a significant number of customers are likely to return to a website which offers live chat. This attitude is more prevalent among consumers who engage in online buying weekly.
Cost efficient and improves efficiency
A live chat software can cut down the expenses. It saves the employees phone expenses and the task time. Employees spend less time on the phone and they can multi task instead .Cost per transaction with chat is significantly lower than the cost of other communication vehicles such as a social media community or a call center. Additionally, a single customer service person can interact with multiple customers simultaneously, offering a one-to-one service. As live chat representatives can handle multiple chats at the same time, it reduces the need to hire more executives. This decreases the staffing needs while improving the efficiency simultaneously. A live chat can reduce the overall contact center’s costs by lowering the average interaction cost.
Lowers bounce rate
A general trend reveals that live chat can lead to improved sales numbers. Customers have someone who can walk them through a sale immediately. If they get confused, or have a question which can make or break a sale, customers can expect immediate assistance. Chances of customers bouncing away from websites is lower when a business adopts a live chat software. Do not be surprised if you witness an increased opportunity for upselling products. When customers are engaged with employees who understand their needs, the employees are in a strong position to recommend additional purchases which are a perfect fit for the customer.
Gain an edge over your competitors
Live chat will give you an edge over your competitors. As you tap into the customer pain points gathered from the chat, you can turn the pain points into opportunities. When customers use live chat, they try to ensure that a product performs as advertised or a promotion will provide exactly what they want. This will give you an insight into their worries. With live chat you can get your representatives to talk to customers and find out ways to improve the company’s products and services.
Increase your business potential
You can leverage a live chat software by training the team. Your representatives should be informed about the website navigation and the inventory. You can provide them with a list of cheat sheets or FAQs which will help them to answer customer queries at once. You should be aware about the shopping hours. Being robotic will not help much. The main purpose of live chat is to help the customer’s with their shopping experience. It is a good idea to include sales people instead of customer service representatives. The sales people will lead customers towards purchases increasing the chances of upselling.
For Live chat success
It is important to boost social. It is a good idea to remind customers about liking Facebook pages and leave a comment on them. Customers need to be provided with helpful chat features. They should be able to request a transcript of the chat or modify the font size. Live chats are mostly about short sentences which get right to the point. Long paragraphs will not work. The key to a successful chat lies in knowing when to ask a question and when to offer a solution.
