Live Chat is increasingly being used by many companies, as an additional means of connecting with customers, yielding impressive results. If you’ve been wondering whether live chat can be a business asset to you, here are some of the most important benefits to consider for both you as the service provider, and for your customers as the end-users:
Benefits for the Customer
- Customers are increasingly expecting faster response times, simply because of the easy availability of alternative choices online. They are more likely to purchase a product or service if there is instantaneous, positive agent support available to help them make up their mind.
- With live chat, your customers know they can count on you, which has a great impact on customer retention. When your customers know they can connect with you anytime, any where with your live chat option, they will likely continue their loyalty to your brand.
- Customers don’t enjoy waiting for lengthy periods of time using email or IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems. Time is a valuable commodity in our fast paced world. Quick and easy problem resolution is now a necessity. The ability to chat with a live person and get immediate feedback greatly adds to the customer experience.
- The option of live chat online, which is available across multiple channels and devices, provides the benefit of added convenience to customers. Simply being able to land on the website and connect instantly to a live support representative is a very attractive option when compared to trying to locate email addresses, contact numbers, or physical locations and not knowing when exactly you can establish a connection. Therefore, the live chat option can make your customer support a lot more accessible and approachable.
Benefits to the Company
- Live Chat gives you that extra competitive edge, as many top companies have yet to adopt the technology. Being an early adopter of tools that offer more benefits to customers will always rank you higher in the customer’s mind.
- The cost of installing live chat functionality on your website and allocating some staff to manage it can offer some real cost savings. However, you must bear in mind that live chat support should be an addition and not the only alternative for customers.
- Contact Center Agents are able to multi-task while managing online chats but it is important to maintain focus and response times while managing real-time chats.
- Your sales conversions can increase exponentially simply by the use of a live chat support feature. Customers appreciate having the opportunity to connect with an agent while they’re considering making a purchase online. When the interaction is positive, a customer will be inclined to go ahead and make the purchase.
- Live chats are also an extensive source of customer information. Since the information is in written form, it can make it easier for different agents to see what was discussed with the customer previously. This can prevent the customer from having to re-explain details to a new agent that might enter the conversation. Details about a customer and automated post feedback chat surveys offer a wealth of information that can help you improve your product, service, and ultimately the user experience.
Are you considering using live chat for your business but not sure how it will fit into your omni-channel contact center strategy? Or maybe you have live chat in place, but aren’t quite seeing the benefits? Contact CH Consulting Group today so that we can learn more about your contact center and help identify ways we can help you save time, increase revenue, and cut down on costs.
