Let’s begin by saying customer support is about the way your business interacts with your customers. The faster and more helpful it is, the better your customers feel about your business. When your customers feel good about your business, they tend to spend more money on your products and services.

But is customer support all about just communication? Barely.

It is about quick problem solving, timely delivery and providing products and services that are of high quality.

It is also about going that extra mile to delight your customers, giving your customers more than what is expected.

Customer support is essentially high customer satisfaction. Customers should feel that it’s easy to access your brand and your staff is well-trained on your products. They should feel that they are treated with respect and understanding. It is at this point that you deliver exceptional customer support.

Studies have shown that customers are willing to spend more for brands that provide superior customer support.

Now the question is how to provide a superior customer support experience.

All deliberations, studies and data point toward one customer support toolkit. Live chat.

There has been a shift in communication with messaging services and applications leading the way how people stay in touch with each other. Customers are also expecting you to adapt to the new ways of interaction. The live chat tool makes it relevant and efficient.

Here are some of the reasons why live chat is way ahead in the customer support race.

It’s super convenient

Live chat connects your customers with an agent in no time. No queue, no waiting period and no need to press buttons to reach the right person to talk to. It allows the customers to multi-task, and a lot of people like live chat for this reason. They can go on with doing something else while they chat with the agent.

It’s convenient for the agents also as previous interactions can be referred back for context while guiding customers through some issues. Often customer issues are resolved quickly in one session.

It saves valuable time

Live chat helps to grow your business by letting you do more in less amount of time. Let’s see how.

Traditionally, when you look at the response times and the time spent to resolve customer issues, they would have taken hours and days, sometimes weeks. Live chat helps you to cut back significantly on these. While analyzing 85k chats, a study found that on average a customer query is replied to in 23 seconds by an agent. The average resolution time is 42 seconds.

This shows that live chat has the fastest response time compared to any other customer support channel. As they say, time is money, and with live chat tool, you save a lot of it.

It has higher ROI

A great way of growing business is to find cost-effective solutions. Customer service is no different. The live chat tool can greatly help with it.

Popular methods of customer service like phone and email take time and resources to maintain those platforms, and it can be frustrating with long queues and going back and forth several times.

The live chat tool is cheaper to implement and maintain. Moreover, it offers real-time engagement with customers and resolutions of issues, addressing multiple queries at a time and all these convert to a higher ROI for your business.

It enhances customer engagement

When you make live chat readily available for your customers, your overall customer interaction increases. How? Live chat is 24/7. It’s more convenient than phone or email and thus customers might switch to using live chat when they want to talk to your brand. When they realise they can get real help and quick, they might be more inclined to buy your brand.

The conversational chat style brings a likeability towards your brand and it helps you engage with better your customers; helps you understand the solution from a customer point of view.

With enhanced customer engagement, the impression your brand makes in your customers’ minds becomes powerful. It gives a good enough reason for your customer to stick around. This special feeling of a brand giving value to the customer through meaningful engagement is the real edge you get over your competition.

It increases the possibility of sales

The live chat tool is a great way to connect with prospective customers. It gives them the confidence they need to use your service or product. Forrester studies conclude that customers who use live chat are 2.8 times more likely to convert.

Most of the customers need some kind of support when they are thinking of making an online purchase. They expect to get their queries answered quickly. They look for assurances and reassurances. This is the reason people prefer buying from websites with live chat.

When many customers feel the need to talk to a real person before making an online purchase, you lose them without the live chat tool. Live chat significantly increases the possibility of sales by delivering a superior customer service experience.

It builds long-term relationships

For a successful business, building long-term relationships with customers is critical. When customers feel that they are listened to, they feel they are valued. Here, bonding is formed followed by brand loyalty.

Live chat is an excellent way of building long-term relationships as agents can quickly build rapport and establish a friendly and helpful relationship. When the chat is ongoing, an agent can observe the tone and sentiments of a customer and adjust the conversation style to match the situation.

The first impression is the best impression – this adage carries a lot of weight for customer service, especially while creating a great experience for your customer. At the first visit, if you’re able to provide superior customer support, you will mostly get a customer for life. This kind of loyalty-building is possible through the live chat tool.

Live chat leads the way

A quirky definition of live chat is that it is basically an instant messenger with a professional twist. Your customers get their queries answered quickly and accurately, and they don’t have to pay much attention while it’s happening.

Live chat is one of the most dynamic methods of connecting with your customer. It is a vital tool to support your customers, offer product advice and generate leads for your business. You can’t do without it if you take your customer service seriously.

Also Read: Why Live Chat is the Most Powerful Sales and Lead Generation Tool

• Author Details

Author Details

Tracey Horey

CEO of Live Chat Agent

Tracey Horey is a 20 year veteran of the Automotive industry and has been writing Automotive content and helping Dealerships optimise their digital space for over 15 years. Her experience working with various sized dealerships and her passion for exploring and understanding new tools for the auto industry has given her an in depth understanding of the challenges all dealerships face in a changing landscape.

accounts@livechatagent.com.au

1800 332 428