Do you remember the last time you tried to call a company but got a busy signal? Or maybe you were trying to solve your problems via email, but it was taking ages. Blessed is the one who can’t recall any irritating customer service experiences.
But don't always blame the business for poor customer service expectations. Many times they are the result of growing customer expectations. Modern consumers want to connect with brands on their own terms and resolve issues as fast as possible. These demands pose challenges for companies. There is no better way to meet them than communicating through chat.
Live chat is a great way for customers to connect with you easily and quickly – just what they expect. And that's not the only benefit. Live chat has much more to offer.
Curious what? Let's dig in.
Get ahead of your competitors
Chatting shortens the distance between people. It lets you omit fancy formalities in favor of a friendly style that fosters genuine relationships. And the better the relationships you build with customers, the more likely they will stick with you.
Also, the data shows that 75% of users prefer to chat with brands than to contact them via phone. Because the growing number of consumers shop on mobile devices, they find it more comfortable to connect with someone while browsing. They want to multitask and resolve issues right away, no matter if they’re at home or on a crowded bus.
Interestingly, the study of a thousand sites revealed that only 9 percent of companies use live chat as a primary or secondary customer communication channel. So plenty of brands are still failing to meet customers’ expectations.
Their loss could be your gain – offering live chat support will give you a competitive advantage. It lets you capture leads before your competitors get a chance to pick up a phone or respond to an email.
It’s also worth noting that over 44% of customers say that having their questions answered by a customer service agent while shopping is one of the most important features an online website can offer.
Provide real-time, effective support
Some businesses fear live chat in the false belief that it generates more work. Just the opposite is true, it'll save you time. Customers experiencing a problem will try to contact you no matter the support channels you offer. By covering channels that don’t let you work fast and efficiently, you risk losing a customer due to slow reaction time.
Tools like LiveChat let you systematize your work. The app gathers all website queries, Facebook questions, and after-hours tickets in one place. You won’t have to jump between different services to handle your cases. It also notifies you about all the customers who need your help urgently.
The upshot is that you can deal with customer problems as they appear, easily update a customer on a case and make sure no customer is neglected again.
Ease customers’ fear and irritation
People hate waiting just as much as the feeling of the unknown that accompanies it. It triggers anxiety and anger. What’s interesting, customers perceive the wait time to be longer than what it actually is. However, when they perform some activities and are occupied while waiting, they don’t feel like they wasted their time.
Live chat helps you rid of these negative feelings associated with listening to on-hold music or awaiting a resolution. The chat streamlines your services allowing you to reply to questions in real-time and speed up handling time. Your customers will be more satisfied and will come away thinking positively about your brand.
Chatting is also a good pick if you provide services in multiple countries. It’s much more convenient for users who are afraid of speaking in a different language and prefer to write about their issues. This easier form of communication makes them more likely to reach out to you.
Simplify your work
Customers aren’t the only beneficiaries of live chat. Chatting is a great way to make life easier for your support team too. The agents will speed up their work by handling multiple cases simultaneously.
Live chat also lets you share files with customers to explain technicalities, provide answers using canned responses (pre-defined answers to popular questions) and quickly share knowledge base articles. All these tools make daily support tasks less repetitive. It’s a win-win.
What’s more, you can connect your live chat app with plenty of popular tools. Automate dull tasks like passing data to your CRM and email marketing systems. Use the time you’ll save to solve more interesting and challenging tasks.
Impact on your sales
All business owners know that supportive shop assistants can have a significant influence on the shop’s success. They not only help customers find the right products but also assure indecisive customers they are making a good decision.
Chatting lets you achieve the same effect. Reach out to customers who are currently browsing your website’s offers. Strike the iron when it’s hot, offer your advice, suggest products matching a customer’s needs, and make sure they have the information they need to make up their mind.
Live chat is also a great pain reliever. Customers can use it connect with you any time they experience a problem. Quickly resolve issues that hold them back from adding items to the cart and pressing “buy” that crucial last time. Thanks to it, you can make sure no order is lost due to trivial technical problems.
Even better, forming relationships with customers via live chat is profitable itself. The data shows that customers who chat with the brand representatives spend up to 60 % more than customers who don’t interact with a chat agent.
Takeaways
Providing excellent customer service is challenging. More and more products are purchased online so more and more cases need to be resolved quickly and efficiently.
Live chat is not a cure-all that will eliminate all your support problems. However, by supporting customers in real-time via live chat, you will meet their expectations and show them you care. It will be easier for you to boost sales and build customer relationships at a time when fierce competition is making that harder and harder to do.
If you add live chat to your website, you won’t understand how you were managing customer communication without it.
Curious to learn more?
Check out the LiveChat integration for PrestaShop and find out how you can change your customer service for better.
