Any good guide on finding a good website always informs the customer to check if live chat is available. A good site for small business always ensures it has live chat enabled. It is very easy to set up live support; you have several nice software solutions available. Kayako,Livezilla, Livechat, Olark, Zopim are some of the top programs, and all of them are good. You can always browse the unique experiences and choose the program that fits your need.
Do check up the following reasons why Live Chat can be super helpful for your online business.
- Personal participation: People shopping online have more chances of actually buying a product with live support than without it. Customers need some sort of a guarantee to take a positive buying decision. Live chat offers the much-appreciated human element to shopping and people find it easy to participate. Also, customers may find it confusing to choose the right product when there are multiple options.
Efficient real-time support can effectively resolve confusions, helping visitors arrive at a positive decision. The support can even suggest other relevant deals apart from the main purchase. All these benefits translate to good business. Essentially, the ‘human touch’ matters greatly in the virtual world!
- Cheaper than call centers: Setting up a live chat is inexpensive compared to operating a toll-free number. Customer executives communicating over chat also have better chances of having engaging conversations than over the phone. Telephonic interactions imply the need to adjust with a stranger voice. Chat supports are voice neutral and can immediately engage the visitor to helpful interactions. Besides, in chats, you have ready access to customer interaction history, which helps to deliver a highly personalized support to a repeat visitor. Other chat features such as font choices, chat window flexibility, and availability of emoticons add up to deliver a deeply personalized experience.
- A competitive edge: Any online company can easily reap the benefits of the fact that many of its competitors are yet to offer live chat suppport. Even when your competitor has the support, you can still have an edge with a warmer assistance than the other site. All it requires is a proper application of soft skills.
How to offer excellent live chat
You need to ensure certain important things. First, make sure employees have sufficient product knowledge, and a ready access to the inventory details. Next, your employees must be experts in the art of conversation. The support staff must not be inquisitive, but helpful. You need to understand when to talk, and when to be silent to help the visitor arrive at an informed decision. Your job is to provide the information in an attractive manner.
The chat session should be polite, respectful, and helpful. Very importantly, the conversation should not be robotic and cold. Besides the purchase, customers may also contact live chat for returns and refunds. Buyers also chat up to track the order of their deliveries. Your customer support executive should be able to help the visitor with anything!