Business to customer communication has evolved from analog to digital methods. In our technology-driven society previously recommended tools like emails are becoming obsolete with the introduction of faster ones.
According to a Gartner report, 89% of businesses no longer compete on the basis of their product or service but customer experience. Customers are engaging businesses more than ever. Delay in stepping up to the plate earns you a badge of incompetence. And with your competitors hanging by the corner to snatch your customers, your days in business are numbered.
Live chat comes to the rescue by providing real-time customer engagement. A study by Zendesk revealed that live chat provides the highest customer satisfaction by 92% in comparison to others.
Proactive businesses no longer wait for customers to come forward, they reach out to them, asking for ways to be of help. Installing live chat on your website is only half of the solution for great customer service. Using it effectively makes it whole.
Here are seven (7) practices to provide top-notch live chat support experience to your esteemed customers.
Table of Contents
1. Place your live chat window in the right corner
An eConsultancy study found that 79% of customers prefer to live chat for its immediacy. But that only count when you have your live chat application visible. Positioning is very important in using live chat on your website. The essence of having one is for customers to make use of it. This aim is defeated when they can’t find it.
Assume the role of the customer. It’s great to give your customers the opportunity to contact you, but that shouldn’t get in their way on your site. According to research, people browse in an F-shaped pattern, paying more attention to the left side of a webpage.
Place your live chat application at the bottom right of your webpage. Design it with bright colors so it’s conspicuous.
2. Presence of a chat window on every web page
Now you have strategically positioned your live chat application on your site. There’s the tendency to assume that, if the customer needs to make use of it, they’d simply open it. But that isn’t always the case. Sometimes, customers are reluctant to contact you even if they need assistance. They might think that they’d figure it out themselves, or won’t get the help they need. So, they roam around your site for a few minutes, and when they can’t make headway, they use the door.
Automate your live chat with a pop-up message to visitors, asking if you could be of help. A simple, “Hi. Do you need help with anything?” could get a reluctant visitor to open up about the challenge(s) they are facing on your site.
3. Quick response
A Twitter report of over 500,000 interactions showed that customers don’t mind spending more money on businesses that respond to them quickly.
Organizations miss the mark when they install live chat on their site, and go to sleep. Messages sent by visitors are unattended too. By the time they come around, the visitors are nowhere to be found.
If customers expect a response to their emails within an hour, it’s only logical that they expect a faster response with live chat. One of the reasons they prefer to live chat is the instant response it provides. They can get an instant response in as fast as 7 seconds. There’s the assumption that an agent is on standby to attend to them. Falling short of this makes them irritable. Don’t keep your customers waiting.
4. Type Conversationally
A B2B Marketing report revealed that chatting with customers on live chat increases their chances of buying 3X more.
Live chat isn’t a medium for your typical formal conversations. It’s okay to ease up a little and allow your conversation to flow. Don’t pay too much attention to formatting your words. Avoid long sentences; they kill the flow.
Visitors prefer to communicate on live chat just as they do on social media. Break your thoughts in bits as you would in casual conversations. Allow the customer to respond to messages you have sent to them before sending more. If you aren’t clear about something, ask them to expatiate.
5. Add human effect
Despite the rising use of Chatbots in customer service, 8 in 10 US customers still prefer interacting with humans. And that’s because of the natural flow of communication they get with humans.
Visitors like to know that they are chatting with a customer agent and not a robot. Express emotions in your words to eradicate any doubts in their minds that they might be talking to a robot. Talk to them as you’d talk to people face to face. Greet them warmly. Ask about their inquiry in a manner that shows you genuinely care.
Maintaining a friendly tone throughout the conversation is nonnegotiable. No matter how difficult a customer might seem, you aren’t allowed to be anything less than friendly. Acknowledge their challenge, and assure them of your commitment to proffer a solution.
6. Integrate a CRM with live chat
CRM helps you collect and analyze customer data. It can be integrated with live chat for more satisfying customer experience.
Live chat sessions can be interrupted for a number of reasons. When this happens, you may lose previous conversation data, tiring out the customer by making them start all over again. CRM keeps all customer data in the store, making them available for use when the need arises. Agents are empowered to provide accurate and effective solutions to customer problems with the information at their disposal.
7. Understand the inquiry
Putting smiles on customer’s faces by solving their problems begins with understanding the issue(s) at hand. Otherwise, you may waste their time doing the wrong thing.
There’s a provision for customers to type their inquiry in the chat subject bar. Read this carefully to have a grasp of it. If you don’t understand it, seek clarity. Asking questions is better than making assumptions and going off track. To clear any doubts, run the inquiry by the customer for confirmation before you proceed.
As you now got the importance of Live Chat, Start chatting with visitors who need your help.
Conclusion
In Customers 2020: A Progress Report, Walker discovered that customer experience will overtake price and product to become the most important brand differentiator.
The biggest customer complaints can be resolved through effective communication. Most customers just want a brand who offers a listening ear to their concerns. With these live chat practices; you’ll be doing that and more.
