Live chat is a form of customer service that typically can only be done in person. However, live chat has exploded over recent years thanks to its easy-to-implement convenience and cost savings. Today, many businesses are turning to live chat to provide better customer services; this trend will likely continue for some time yet. Live chat is a customer service tool that allows for real-time communication between customers and companies. Live chat can be implemented in many ways, but email, phone calls, or web chat are the most common. Live chat has been proven to provide better customer service than other methods of communication. It’s no secret that companies must place a premium on the client experience. Keeping your consumers pleased will, in the end, help your company grow and succeed. 80% of customers believe they would be prepared to pay extra for a superior customer service experience. As a company owner, you must be aware of this and adapt your strategy appropriately. Consider if your present customer service technique is more convenient for you or your clients. Here’s what I’m talking about. It’s more convenient for you if the sole method to reach a customer care representative at your firm is via phone during business hours on weekdays. However, if a client can contact you on weekends or after hours, you will be able to give them a better customer service experience. It’s possible that improving your customer service could cost you more money. I realize how disheartening this is for some of you. On the other hand, customers are prepared to pay extra for this experience, as previously said. As a result, you may raise your rates proportionately. Let’s look at some of the most crucial aspects of the client experience:
If you go over all of the replies, you’ll see a similar thread. Customers want quick responses. If they have a problem, a need, or a complaint, this is crucial. However, it would help if you offered brief answers to general inquiries. Customers want to talk to people who know what they’re talking about. They also want to be able to contact customer support agents at any time of day or from any place. Finally, the contact mechanism must be quick and straightforward to utilize. All of these issues are addressed by using live chat. If you’re not already utilizing live chat to communicate with your consumers, you should start. I’ll show you how live chat can enhance your clients’ service and, as a result, help you earn more money. Here’s all you need to know about it.
Steps to enhance your clients with live chat:
1. Customers prefer live chat.
Now that we’ve looked at the components of a positive customer experience, we can take those findings a step further. Based on such replies, it’s reasonable to believe that live chat would suit the consumer’s demands and wishes. Is it, however, what your consumers want? Absolutely. Consumer satisfaction with live chat is 92 percent, according to research. This has the highest ranking compared to phone help, social media, and email. Consumers also said that live chat is their favorite mode of customer support contact when questioned directly:
Live chat isn’t a brand-new technological innovation. It’s been around for a long time. In customer service, though, we’re witnessing a surge in its availability and appeal. Experts predict that live chat for customer service will increase by 87 percent in the next 12 to 18 months—your best to put this in place right now before your rivals do. With the rise in the popularity of live chat, customers will be more inclined to choose firms that provide this popular mode of contact. If you don’t get on board with this trend, you risk slipping behind the competition and losing consumers.
2. Make your live chat feature simple to find.
Let’s imagine a consumer has a query, needs assistance, or has a problem to be resolved. So, what’s next? To locate a representative, they shouldn’t have to spend a lot of time browsing and scrolling through your website. This is a navigation blunder that must be avoided. The live chat component must be accessible at all times; otherwise, it will be ineffective. A live chat pop-up in the corner of your page is ideal for achieving this. Take a look at this Warby Parker example:
Even if a website visitor doesn’t want to interact with a human, your live chat option should be simple to locate. Simply knowing that this choice exists will enhance their experience. They may dismiss the chat window and continue browsing if they don’t want to utilize this function right now. I particularly appreciate Warby Parker’s live chat feature: it’s enormous yet not too intrusive. Even if the chat box is open, website visitors may still explore and utilize the site. Customers may easily tell your live chat agents precisely what they need if they have a question about anything particular on your website.
3. Timely responses are essential.
Consider the last time you contacted a company that didn’t provide a live chat option. How did you get in touch with them? You most likely utilized one of the following techniques: I’ve waited over an hour on the phone many times to talk with a person. We’ve all been in similar situations. You walk about the room, listening to dreadful hold music or an automated voice stating, “Your call is important to us.” To say the least, it’s aggravating. Communication through email isn’t any better. This might take many days or even weeks. I wrote an email to an airline a few months ago, and they didn’t react for three weeks. However, live chat allows you to answer to consumer queries as quickly as feasible. Here are the top reasons consumers think live chat is their favourite way of communication:
As you can see, getting quick answers to their queries came #1 on this list. Simply adding live chat isn’t enough if your reps are taking an eternity to react. As a result, ensure your representatives are sufficiently staffed to manage the number of consumer communications. Even if an agent isn’t available to answer right away when a new chat session begins, there are still methods to keep the consumer satisfied. You can take advantage of automation. Ask the consumer what they need assistance with and set up rapid replies utilizing artificial intelligence technologies. Based on their response, you may link the consumer with the next available and competent staff person, but we’ll go over that later. Once the conversation has started and before a natural person responds, you may obtain further information about the consumer. Inquire about specifics such as:
- name
- mobile phone number
- number of the account
- number of the order
- number of shipments
- code of the product
This not only saves you some time, but it also provides additional information to your chat workers, allowing them to help the consumer as quickly as possible.
4. Type indications should be included.
When the conversation begins, make it apparent to your clients that someone will be available to assist them. When customers ask a question, it may take some time for your agents to read it and find an answer. Furthermore, not all of your consumers will deliver flawless communications. There might be some grammatical and spelling errors. They may not even know how to pose the question appropriately at first since they don’t know your goods and services as well as you do. It may take a moment for your personnel to comprehend the query and determine what the consumer needs assistance with. With all of this in mind, it’s critical to inform the consumer that an agent is on the way. A typing indication is the easiest method to achieve this. Even if they haven’t received an answer yet, this informs the consumer that their query isn’t being neglected. Train your employees to acknowledge all customer communications, even if they don’t respond. Consider the following scenario: someone asks a question, and the agent requires a minute or two to research and write the answer. Instead of taking a minute or two to think, the agent might say, “Yes, I get what you’re talking about.” While the agent continues to type the answer, the client will see the typing indication. The consumer now understands that their query is not being disregarded and that the live chat platform is not malfunctioning.
5. Connect consumers with competent customer service representatives.
When a consumer has a query or an issue, it’s critical that it’s addressed quickly and effectively. You aren’t offering the most outstanding possible customer service if you can’t come up with a solution for your clients. It’s critical to link your consumers with customer service representatives that can assist them with their issues. As a result, before connecting the conversation to an agent, you’ll need to collect additional information about the query. Here’s how Apple tackles the situation:
Apple is, without a doubt, a significant corporation with a diverse variety of goods, software, and services. While their personnel is generally skilled, they have expertise in specific fields. If someone has a query about their Apple Music membership, for example, they will almost certainly be linked with a different agent than if they have a problem with their Macbook software. If your company has several departments, you’ll want to implement a filtering mechanism similar to this. Please do not ask your agents to answer queries for which they are not qualified. If an agent is unsure how to assist a customer, they should be able to transfer the conversation to another representative. For example, assume you own a chain of retail stores that offer a variety of home renovation, furniture, and gadgets. A client initiates a live chat and specifies that they want assistance with outdoor patio furniture. They are subsequently linked with the appropriate employee. After you’ve answered their query, they could have another one regarding putting a sound system in their living room. As a result, the agent may remark that the conversation would be sent to someone specializing in electronics.
6. Send a transcript of your conversation to your customers.
Customers may wish to refer to the dialogue after the chat has ended. This is particularly true if the person was helping them troubleshoot an issue and gave them a step-by-step solution. The conversation transcript also demonstrates that you are entirely honest. It also holds your employees responsible for what they say. It’s essentially the same idea as recording phone conversations for quality or training reasons. By sending the transcript to your consumers, you can demonstrate that you registered and monitored the talks. This may also lessen the likelihood of a consumer seeking assistance again if they have the same query or forget what was told before. Instead, they can go back to the chat room. One of the reasons why live chat is less expensive than phone assistance is because of this.
Furthermore, with live chat, your operators will be able to converse with numerous consumers at once. But, again, this isn’t something that can be done over the phone. But I’ll go into more depth about this topic later. In any case, introducing live chat will improve your client experience and save you money. This, along with the desire of customers to pay more for superior service, is a recipe for increasing earnings.
7. Create a FAQ database.
You may utilize this information to enhance your website if you see typical questions asked through live chat. Create a FAQ page. Fill in the blanks with thorough answers to the questions. Customers may use this website to search or double-check information before contacting a live chat representative. They won’t even need to get your customer service personnel if they spot their query. You may also use the database to better your goods and services. For example, consider the following scenario: you’re selling a product that needs customer assembly, but you’re getting a lot of inquiries regarding the instructions. You may need to revisit those steps. In locations where consumers have questions, make changes. Both you and your customers will benefit from our FAQ database.
8. Make sure your employees are appropriately trained.
Your agents will be handling many chats simultaneously to enhance the productivity of your live chat. Check to see whether they’ll be able to manage it. Provide enough instruction so that they can browse between windows while being organized. Even if they know your brand and goods, it’s pointless if they don’t know how to utilize the live chat software effectively. You don’t want them to be overworked since it will affect the quality of their replies and, in turn, the client experience. Take note of how consumers react to both happy and unpleasant experiences:
They express their emotions in various ways, including positive and negative interactions. They are, however, more inclined to notify others about poor customer service. Make sure your employees are pleasant. They should be taught to be both helpful and understanding. Customers may use inappropriate vocabulary or express things incorrectly. Make sure they don’t feel horrible about it. Please accept my apologies for any trouble your product has given them. Thank you for contacting us and showing interest in our company. Maintain your focus. In response to consumer inquiries, ask the appropriate questions. To be professional, your team should always react with perfect language, even if the consumer uses slang, shortcuts, or acronyms.
Conclusion
A live chat function is a must-have for your company. This will, in the end, enhance your client service. Customers prefer live chat over other contact channels. They want their questions to be addressed as quickly as possible. To indicate to customers that an agent is present and working on a response, include a typing indicator function. Make sure your employees are well-informed. Allow a support person to transfer a conversation to an expert in that department if they cannot answer a query. Send a copy of the chat transcript to your customers so they may refer to it if they have any questions. To create a FAQ database, start with typical issues. Your customer service representatives must be able to handle many conversations simultaneously. Ascertain that they are always taught to be helpful and professional. All of these elements will enhance your income while keeping your clients pleased. Live chat support is a customer service tool that allows companies to provide better customer service by implementing live chat. Live chat can be used as an alternative to phone calls and email, which are often the most common customer service methods.
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