Why Does Your Company Need Live Chat?
In today’s world, quickness is essential. Your clients want things as soon as possible, whether it’s an overnight shipment or rapid access to their favourite service or product, and they usually get them. When it comes to customer service, however, this is not always the case.
According to research, the average response time for a customer care request on social media is about 10 hours. Email responses, on the other hand, can take up to 12 hours or more. Such response times are unacceptable and may lead to customer loss.
So, how can you answer your customers quickly? It’s easy — just use live chat!
Live chat software allows you to converse with your customers in real time while they are on your website. It’s convenient and quick, and clients often prefer it to other contact methods because it’s so much faster.
Live chat software is used by both large and small businesses to better service their consumers and increase response times. It’s no wonder that over a third of customers expect to find a live chat option on every website they visit.
Aside from offering speedy customer service, there are a slew of other advantages to employing live chat software. Here are just a few examples of how live chat can benefit your company.
1. It fosters trust.
When a consumer goes into a store, the salesperson has the opportunity to establish a rapport with them. This aids in the establishment of customer trust and, hopefully, the closing of a sale. You can’t do that, however, when you’re online.
It’s understandable that customers are afraid to buy from people or businesses they don’t know. Live chat, on the other hand, allows you to have a direct dialogue with your customer, allowing you to create trust and bridge the gap between online and offline purchases.
In the business world, trust is essential, and if a customer doesn’t trust you, they won’t share their information with you, and they won’t buy from you.
According to a study on worldwide consumer trends, approximately 90% of customers believe the live chat button provides them with trust that they will be able to get help when and if they need it. Without a live chat option, you’ll have to work considerably harder to earn the trust of visitors to your website.
You may enhance customer trust by having a direction dialogue and allowing them to ask questions through live chat.
2. It lowers the cost of support.
It’s no secret that customer service charges may be pretty high. A customer support agent in a traditional call centre would handle both phone and email requests, but only one at a time. Multiple contacts can be handled at once, which is a huge advantage of live chat.
According to Telus International research, customer support representatives can engage in as many as six chats at once, depending on the complexity of the issue at hand.
Because you can manage multiple chats at once, you’ll require a considerably smaller customer service workforce to answer any incoming requests, lowering your support costs significantly.
If you still need convincing, live chat is roughly 50% less expensive than answering phone calls.
3. Enhances client satisfaction
Live chat is a great way to improve customer service while also giving customers a memorable experience. Customers prefer live chat over email or phone help for this reason.
According to studies, live chat has a 73 percent satisfaction rate, compared to 61 percent for email and 44 percent for phone. The efficiency and immediacy of the encounter are the reasons for live chat’s high satisfaction levels.
Of course, you may still give customers additional options to reach you, but why not engage with them through the channel they prefer? You’ll improve their experience and, as a result, retain more customers.
4. It increases the number of sales and conversions.
Potential buyers can ask inquiries about your products or services in real time using live chat. This may have a significant impact on their decision to buy.
The ability to improve sales is one of the most significant advantages of employing live chat on your website. According to the American Marketing Association, B2B organisations that employ live chat enjoy a 20% increase in revenue on average.
Customers and prospects will most likely have multiple inquiries about your products or services as they read your website. You may answer them right away with live chat software, while the consumer is still on your website. This is one of the reasons why live chat is so effective.
Live chat allows you to take your buyers by the hand and guide them through any objections they may have before making a purchase choice. Live chat is similar to having a sales representative on standby on your website.
5. enhances the user experience on the website.
Customers don’t have to stop what they’re doing to call you or send an email when they have a question using live chat. Instead, customers can have their questions answered right away by a live person using live chat. This is especially true when purchasing or subscribing to a product or service on the internet.
According to Forrester Research, roughly 57 percent of customers will cancel a transaction if they are unable to get a query answered immediately. In addition, the same study indicated that having questions addressed by a live person in the middle of a purchase is one of the most important advantages that a website can provide to 44 percent of online customers.
Clients gain from improved online experiences, but the business benefit is that customers who utilise live chat while on a website are three times more likely to make a purchase-a big increase in your bottom line.
6. It boosts the order value
Live chat may help you not only increase sales, but it can also help you raise the value of a sale.
You can recommend services or products via upselling and cross-selling to boost the order value by using the live chat tool to communicate with a buyer and understand their needs. If a customer wants to buy time tracking software, for example, the chat representative can suggest a solution that will meet their needs, but they can also increase the average order value by recommending that they also purchase scheduling software, which is often used in conjunction with time tracking.
7. Gain a better understanding of your customers.
Understanding your customer’s demands and then being able to give them the appropriate answer is one of the most crucial components of any marketing campaign or sales process. Not only does live chat allow you to make a transaction straight away, but it also helps you to gain insight into the customer’s thoughts by collecting what is known as “Voice of the Customer.”
A common market research tool that can help you understand your business from the consumer’s perspective is voice of the customer data. You can understand their ideas and behaviour by gathering this type of data, which can be utilised to affect the development of your product, your marketing approach, and the way you build your business.
8. Maintaining Contact
Live chat is an excellent way to gather information from potential customers. You can utilise their information to follow up and boost your chances of making a sale.
Unfortunately, not everyone who sees your website will immediately purchase your goods or services. So, what happens when someone comes to visit? Do you merely hope they’ll contact you again at some point in the future, or do you take proactive steps to ensure you don’t lose contact completely?
Businesses that employ live chat can gather information about visitors and convert them into leads quickly. You should ask the customer for their contact information during the live chat session so that you may provide them with more information about your services. This is a great way to get information from customers. This not only assists in acquiring customer information, but it also allows you to deliver a more personalised experience by asking for their name.
Another advantage of having live chat is that, even if you are unable to obtain a customer’s contact information the first time, 63 percent of customers are significantly more likely to return to a website that offers chat.
In conclusion, the majority of clients desire instant and prompt assistance during the purchasing process. The good news is that many businesses still do not employ live chat, making it much easier to differentiate yourself from the competition. So, if you want to succeed in today’s business world, it’s time to take the next step and invest in a live chat solution.
