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Why your business needs Live Chat

By Kayleigh Reid

Published 13 May 2020

Increase Customer Satisfaction, simplify the support process and drive sales leads. Start the conversation with Live Chat.

There’s a shift happening in the way we communicate. Think back 15 years ago, a phone was just a phone – you made calls on it because that’s what a phone was. Now your phone is your lifeline, with no end of communication methods; apps, text, video calls, emails, social media… the list goes on. Even the way we communicate with the phone itself has changed. You don’t even have to type, just say “Why do I need Live Chat?” and your virtual assistant will bring up a list of articles to tell you.

But since you’re already here, we can answer that question for you…

Live Chat is the epitome of how communication has changed. It has quickly become an agile business tool with flexible functionality to support many areas of the business. With benefits for everyone from IT Support to Marketing, it’s no wonder the up take in Live Chat is now an expected functionality on most websites. Basically, it’s a whole world of possibility hidden behind an inconspicuously brainy speech bubble button!

 

Your business needs Live Chat because Customers expect it to be there.

The digital shift is here and in the age of impatience and instant messaging, your customers want answers now. – They do not want to be redirected to an FAQ page.

According to 99firms.com, 79% of customers prefer Live Chat communication as it allows for almost instant responses and the ability for the customer to multi-task.

Many customers see Live Chat as a channel as the quickest and most convenient method of getting an answer to their question, while still retaining an element of human to human support and contact. What’s more, with API technology, Live Chat can link to your existing ticketing system, and auto distribute to your agents to integrate with your existing processes. Customers get the answer they want quicker, and you can give to them in a process that suits you.

 

Your business needs Live Chat because you can use it for IT Support.

Put yourself in your client’s shoes. Something has gone wrong or they have a question. The client goes on to your website, finds the Contact Us button, writes an email, then has to wait for a response and have their workflow interrupted when they get a reply.

But what if they went to your website and a personalised chat icon popped up with a proactive “How can I help you?” message? Their question is resolved immediately, and they can get back to the rest of their day.

 

Your business needs Live Chat because you can use it for Customer Services.

Similar to IT Support, Customer Services can also be rejuvenated by Live Chat. A study from 99firms.com reports that Live Chat tops the charts as the channel with the best customer satisfaction rating with companies on average experiencing 92% – 82% positive ratings. This is mostly attributed to the speed of which customers get their answers.

Customer Services often require a delicate hand and the human touch rather than the robotic arm of auto ticketing and scripted responses. Live Chat can integrate with your CRM system to give your team a more personal insight into the customer and their relationship with you. Live Chat can also offer intuitive insights as to which pages your customer is on for you to better understand their interests.

 

Your business needs Live Chat because you can use it to increase Sales.

Live Chat is a window into customers browsing your website, it’s a real-time view of real people who are interested in your business. Give your sales team the chance to do what they do best and turn more prospects into leads.

Did you know that people who interact with Live Chat on websites are 85% more likely to convert than the ones who don’t?

Furthermore, Forrester noted that a 10% increase in the average B2C order value when reviewing the sales from customers who engaged in a chat before purchasing, than those that didn’t.

Some of the more intuitive Live Chat systems out there will even integrate online calendars and documents to allow potential leads to book meetings for a demo or view a brochure.

 

Your business needs Live Chat because you can use it in ways you didn’t even realise.

The real beauty of Live Chat (as we’ve hopefully demonstrated) is its versatility. You can plug in key words triggers, scripting metrics and auto tickets to equip your agent the speed and effectiveness of a bot, whilst giving the user a bespoke service. In this way Live Chat can be used as a self-service tool, customers can navigate through a cleverly designed web of scripted FAQ style responses to get the answers they need themselves, saving your agents time and increasing your customer satisfaction rating.

Live Chat can also be used in an account management style to nurture a relationship and prompt growth within an existing client. When a ticket is resolved, why not add a link to a relevant blog link, white paper or product if appropriate? Encouraging users to stay on the website and engage with your brand’s content is a great way to show your clients that you’re the experts on what you do and build trust.

There is also a lot to be learnt from insights that your marketing team can gain from Live Chat usage. Stats such as what topics are frequently asked about can prompt inspiration for blogs. While analysis of which features people have the most issues with is a simple form of troubleshooting your business to feedback and strengthen your overall offering.

 

But before you implement Live Chat make sure that…

 

  • Your business can handle the volume of enquiries. Live chat needs to be live, if a query isn’t answered within 2 minutes, most users will get impatient and leave the page. Often having a slow responding Live Chat function can be more damaging than no Live Chat at all.
  • You have a distribution system in place to manage different types of queries. Live Chat avoids the “press 1 for sales, 2 for support” and unanimously irritating hold music that follows. You need to ensure a ticketing system is in place to send IT Support issues to your Tech-sperts your Sales leads to your best deal closers.
  • You can give the user and instant answer. Customers come on Live Chat to quickly find the answer they want. If they’re made to fill out form after form and sent an FAQ link or impersonal scripted responses, they won’t be happy. The key to Live Chat is to balance this intuitive technology with having a Human brain sat behind it.

The bottom line? – Live Chat is a powerful form of technology with all the API and AI cogs churning in the background. But when done right, all the customer should experience is a personal Human service, which is why it’s quickly becoming the most popular communication tool. Influential technology, with the Human touch.

Want a demonstration of how Live Chat can do all this and more for your website? Request a demo with us at Hello@Connexone.co.uk (…or on our Live Chat button!) and let’s talk Chat.

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