Are you scared of adding live chat to your website? It's understandable, especially if you're used to working with your customers over email.
If you're running a small e-commerce operation, you know how important it is turn every visitor into a repeat customer. You can make every visitor feel like a VIP online by using a real time communication tool like live chat.
According to MarTech, 51% of customers are more likely to purchase from a site that offers live chat and almost half are more likely to return to a website with a live chat option.
Live chat changes the game. It moves conversations into almost-real-time and create new opportunities for delivering exceptional customer services.
Let's talk a look at the 5 benefits/advantages of using live chat with statistics.
1. Helps Manage Customer Expectation
Every customer expects an email response within a 24 hours duration. But most times to their disappointment its usually longer than that.
Incorporating a live chat means the customer should expect a chat response within a minute or two at most. Carefully consider the design and operation of your chosen chat system so you do not disappoint your customers by not meeting their expectations for responsiveness.
Review your chat setting tool to look for option that best suit your capacity and manage customer expectation;
Can you only show the chat option during certain time window (when you're most likely to be available)?
Can you publish specific chat hours, so they are visible to your customers?
Can you have the chat window fall back to a "send a message" option if there are no staff available for live chat?
Create a live chat would help manage customer's expectation and deliver a fast response.
2. Allow for More Questions
Customers tend to have questions about your product or service before they proceed with their purchase.
Live chat allows you to respond to their interest and also allows you to ask questions about their goals, about your products and services and feed that information back into your decision-making process.
3. Delivers Long Term Value
Where a purely email thread can feel formal, a discussion that move fluidly between real-time chat and messaging approach allows the conversation to be more natural, moving easily from topic to topic.
What begins as a "support" query can often turn into new sales as you get alongside your customer and really understand what they need and how you can help them get it.
4. Delivers Customer Satisfaction
44% of online consumers say that having questions answered by a live person while in the middle of an online purchase is one of the most important feature a website can offer.
Live chat boasts the highest satisfaction level of any customer service channel with 73% happy with their experience with live chat compared with 61% for email and 44% for phone.
So having a live chat is a good way to deliver customer satisfaction.
5. Drives Sales
Live chat not only delivers customer satisfaction, it can also lead to sales.
Leading web-based shipping solution Shipstation shared that one of their customer's Paleo Treats estimates that as much as 20% of their sales occur after a live chat conversion.
And others, such as Vita student, are seeing more than 42% conversion with people they are chatting with on their website.
Conclusion
If you want to drive sales and be above your competitors, it would be a great way/benefit to use live chat on your website. Just remember to set the hours you would want to display your live chat so as not to disappoint your customers.
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